Financial news

• Biden administration warns natural gas expansion would drive up domestic costs

  17-12-2024 20:28
  
  New study shows LNG exports risk raising greenhouse gas emissions, hampering efforts to curtail the climate crisisThe Biden administration released long-awaited analysis on the economic and environmental impacts of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports on Tuesday, concluding any further expansion would drive up costs for domestic consumers and hamper efforts to curtail the climate crisis.In January Joe Biden paused the Department of Energy’s approvals of fossil gas exports to big consumers i
  
  Read more

• Honda and Nissan to start talks on potential mega-merger

  17-12-2024 19:49
  Japanese car firms embark on negotiations to combat competition from bigger EV manufacturersJapanese carmakers Honda and Nissan will begin negotiations over a potential merger, according to a report.The Nikkei financial newspaper said on Tuesday that the two Japanese companies would start talks to help combat the increased global competition from bigger electric vehicle makers. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• The Guardian view on online safety: ministers must stand up to big tech | Editorial

  17-12-2024 19:31
  
  With a code full of holes, Ofcom has shown that it is unfit to hold the world’s biggest businesses to accountNo one, not even its biggest supporters, thought that last year’s Online Safety Act was perfect. Finding a balance between free expression and digital access on the one hand, and the prevention of various kinds of harm on the other, was a hugely challenging task. The resulting legislation has been criticised as confused. But it was an important first step in regulating some of
  
  Read more

• Cost of HS2 could pass £80bn as estimated bill jumps 15% in a year

  17-12-2024 19:17
  
  Projected bill includes price of building HS2 station at Euston, with a budget of about £5bnThe bill for building the HS2 high-speed railway could pass £80bn at current prices, as estimated costs jumped by 15% since the last parliamentary report just over a year ago.An update expected imminently from ministers will put the budget at building the line from London to Birmingham at between £54bn and £66bn, quoting figures supplied to the Department for Transportby HS2 Ltd. C
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Thames Water wins court approval to secure ‘critical’ £3bn cash lifeline

  17-12-2024 19:03
  
  Decision came after protesters called on judges to block a financial bailout they say will cost customers £250 a yearThames Water has won court approval to secure a £3bn cash lifeline from some of its biggest creditors.The company will need to hold a formal vote to win support from the majority of creditors in January, before its deal is rubber-stamped by the courts in February. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Anger greets UK government decision not to compensate ‘Waspi women’

  17-12-2024 18:46
  
  Minister says flat-rate compensation scheme for women affected by rising state pension age would have cost taxpayer £10.5bn, Campaigners for “Waspi women” hit by the rising state pension age reacted with fury on Tuesday, after work and pensions secretary, Liz Kendall, announced they will not be compensated by the taxpayer.Kendall told MPs the government accepted the parliamentary and health service ombudsman’s findings earlier this year that her department had failed to c
  
  Read more

• UK government blames ‘weak and arrogant’ Post Office bosses for Horizon IT scandal

  17-12-2024 18:04
  
  Closing statements at inquiry from department lawyers claim scandal rooted in ‘institutional and individualincompetence, dishonesty and cover-up’A Post Office led by “weak and arrogant” executives who were “culpably dishonest” and had a culture of “contempt” towards branch operators was primarily responsible for the Horizon IT scandal, the government has said.Nick Chapman, giving the closing statement to the public inquiry on behalf of the Departme
  
  Read more

• Elon Musk is on track to be a trillionaire – if America doesn’t turn against him first | Arwa Mahdawi

  17-12-2024 17:16
  
  He has wiggled his way into power thanks to his wealth. But once he is making decisions that affect people’s daily lives, Musk may find the shine wears offCongratulations to Elon Musk, a genius of truly galactic proportions, who recently made what might have been the world’s savviest investment. The tech billionaire spent more than $277m backing Donald Trump, along with a number of other Republican candidates in the election – and that quarter-billion-dollar investment has paid
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Will the future of transportation be robotaxis – or your own self-driving car?

  17-12-2024 15:39
  
  GM is shutting down its robotaxi business, Tesla is creating one of its own – what does the future hold for self-driving?Want TechScape delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereWelcome back. This week in tech: General Motors says goodbye to robotaxis but not self-driving cars; one woman’s fight to keep AI out of applications for housing; Salt Typhoon; and tech’s donations to Donald Trump. Thank you for joining me.Tenant-screening systems like SafeRent are often used in place of hum
  
  Read more

• What price a wonderful Santa memory for you and your kid? Try £24: ‘ho, ho, ho’ not included | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

  17-12-2024 15:04
  
  The ‘blatantly fake beard’, the ‘cheap red suit’? It must be that time of year again – the season of the great fleecingDid you take your kids to see Santa this year? If so, how much did you pay? At one grotto in Winchester, it was £18.50 per child and £6 per adult, so no wonder if people took exception to his “blatantly fake beard” and “cheap red suit” and demanded their money back. “I’ve seen better Santas rolling aro
  
  Read more

• For richer or poorer? BrewDog co-founder may delay marriage to max-out tax relief

  17-12-2024 14:30
  
  James Watt’s investment in I’m a Celebrity winner Georgia Toffolo’s raw dog food venture needs three years as ‘unconnected person’ under HMRC rulesJames Watt, the multimillionaire co-founder of “punk” brewer BrewDog, has said he is considering delaying his marriage to reality TV star girlfriend Georgia Toffolo for three years, to avoid missing out on tax relief for investing in her raw dog food business.The controversial entrepreneur – who built hi
  
  Read more

• Britain’s bumper pay rises show inflation is tricky to shift

  17-12-2024 12:57
  
  Labour market figures do not yet show effects of Rachel Reeves’s tax rises on employers in the budgetUK pay growth leaps to 5.2%, reducing chances of interest rate cutBusiness figures have been sounding increasingly alarmed about the state of the UK’s jobs market in recent days, with the recruiter James Reed claiming it augurs a recession.There were certainly some signs of a slowdown in the latest labour market data, published on Tuesday – but with pay growing briskly, it was h
  
  Read more

• Britvic’s £3.3bn takeover by Carlsberg gets go-ahead, raising fears of job losses

  17-12-2024 12:24
  
  Danish brewer hopes to make £100m savings over five years after buying maker of Robinsons, J20 and R White’sBusiness live – latest updatesThe £3.3bn takeover of the UK soft drinks maker Britvic by the Danish brewer Carlsberg has received the go-ahead from Britain’s competition watchdog, raising fears of job losses.The Competition and Markets Authority said it had cleared the proposed deal, a day before the deadline for the first phase of its investigation into the t
  
  Read more

• UK pay growth leaps to 5.2%, reducing chances of interest rate cut

  17-12-2024 12:19
  
  Rise in wages for skilled workers in manufacturing sector drives increase, but vacancies fall againAnalysis: UK’s bumper pay rises show inflation is tricky to shiftBusiness live – latest updatesUK pay growth accelerated to 5.2% in October, putting pressure on the Bank of England to resist calls for lower interest rates when policymakers meet later this week.The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said annual growth in employees’ average earnings – which had been slowing
  
  Read more

• Training up UK workers may not bring down net migration, Starmer warned

  17-12-2024 11:00
  
  Skilled overseas workers contribute 20 times more than UK-born adults, while some shortages may be due to pay and conditions, say advisersKeir Starmer’s plan to bring down UK net migration by improving domestic training and skills is not guaranteed to work, the government’s independent advisers have concluded.The migration advisory committee also said that the average migrant who comes to the UK on a skilled worker visa contributes 20 times more than the average UK-born adult. Contin
  
  Read more

• Thousands of affordable homes ‘held up by lack of money from providers’

  17-12-2024 09:00
  New homes in England and Wales not being built as housing associations face financing issues, research showsThe delivery of thousands of affordable homes by private housebuilders is being held up because social housing providers are unable to buy them, research has shown.A study found 17,400 affordable homes in England and Wales with planning permission could not be built because housing associations did not have the financial capacity to bid for them. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Bamboo bonanza: how a village in India used its forest to go from poverty to prosperity

  17-12-2024 06:00
  
  Restoring age-old land rights has enabled 300 villagers to build a profitable business and halt the exodus to the cityIt’s late morning and the sound of axes clacking against wood echoes through Pachgaon’s bamboo forest in the central Indian state of Maharashtra. A huge depot, larger than a cricket stadium, is full of bamboo branches, stacked neatly by size in different sections. Nearby is a small, windowless office painted in the colours of the forest – a record-keeper of Pach
  
  Read more

• Labour told to ramp State Pension payments up to £30k by campaigners

  17-12-2024 01:20 via express.co.uk
  
  A petition is calling for the State Pension to be provided to all those at the age of 60 while increasing it to the equivalent of 48 hours of work
  
  Read more

Follow @financialnwsUK on Twitter!