Financial news

• RBA interest rates: Reserve Bank of Australia leaves cash rate on hold at 3.85%

  08-07-2025 09:48 via theguardian.com
  Decision will come as shock to financial markets and large majority of experts who were sure RBA board would cut for a second straight meetingFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA divided Reserve Bank of Australia has held rates at 3.85%, in a surprise decision that denies further mortgage relief for millions of households.The split decision came as a shock to financial markets and a large majority of experts who were s
  
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• Roman Abramovich makes claim of ‘conspiracy’ against Jersey government

  16-11-2025 20:30 via theguardian.com
  Move threatens to throw open parts of secretive legal battle on Channel island about ex-Chelsea owner’s wealthThe former Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is making a claim of “conspiracy” against the government of Jersey after the crown dependency launched a criminal investigation into allegations of corruption and money laundering in connection with the original source of the oligarch’s wealth.The latest move threatens to throw open parts of a secretive legal battle on the
  
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• Have courage to create fossil fuel phaseout roadmap at Cop30, Brazilian minister urges

  16-11-2025 20:14 via theguardian.com
  Marina Silva says contentious plan would be ‘ethical answer’ to climate crisis but does not commit Brazil to itBrazil’s environment minister, Marina Silva, has urged all countries to have the courage to address the need for a fossil fuel phaseout, calling the drawing up of a roadmap for it an “ethical” response to the climate crisis.She emphasised, however, that the process would be voluntary for those governments that wished to participate, and “self-determin
  
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• Can Cop30 begin the process of phasing out fossil fuels?

  16-11-2025 20:00 via theguardian.com
  Ending use of coal, oil and gas is essential in tackling climate crisis – but even talking about it is controversial Continue reading...
  
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• German auction house cancels sale of Holocaust artefacts after outcry

  16-11-2025 19:22 via theguardian.com
  Survivors group had called on firm Felzmann to ‘show some basic decency’ and halt ‘cynical and shameless’ eventPoland’s foreign minister said on Sunday that an “offensive” auction of Holocaust artefacts in Germany has been cancelled, relaying information from his German counterpart, after complaints from Holocaust survivors.Radosław Sikorski made the comments on X, saying he and German foreign minister Johann Wadephul “agreed that such a scand
  
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• Wasted public money and Rachel Reeves’s income tax hokey cokey | Letters

  16-11-2025 18:48 via theguardian.com
  Michael Bichard, John Denham, Liam Byrne and Helen Bailey on making better use of current resources, Dan Goss on making the case for tax rises, and Jol Miskin on a U-turnIn discussion of the chancellor’s need to raise taxes and cut spending, there has been too little focus on making better use of current resources. Every day, money is wasted because fragmented public services continue to work in silos and are not organised around the needs of individuals, families and communities. Too litt
  
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• The US has drafted a coin featuring Trump. Here’s a better way to immortalize him | Robert Reich

  16-11-2025 18:00 via theguardian.com
  It is our solemn duty to ensure he is remembered for all he has done and may still do to destroy US democracyThe US treasury has drafted a design for a $1 coin featuring Donald Trump on both sides, for the purpose of “honoring America’s 250th Birthday and @POTUS”, according to treasury officials.Meanwhile, Trump reportedly wants the Washington Commanders to name their planned $3.7bn stadium after him. A senior White House source told ESPN: “It’s what the president w
  
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• Zelenskyy pledges to clean up Ukraine’s energy sector amid corruption scandal

  16-11-2025 17:13 via theguardian.com
  President to overhaul state energy firms after $100m kickback schemealleged by anti-corruption investigatorsVolodymyr Zelenskyy has announced a plan to clean up Ukraine’s energy sector after an $100m (£76bn) kickback scheme was alleged by anti-corruption investigators, in the worst scandal of his presidency.Over the weekend, the Ukrainian president announced an overhaul of key state energy companies including a complete change of management at Energoatom, the nuclear power operator a
  
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• Two-thirds of English councils have not prosecuted a single landlord in past three years

  16-11-2025 16:12 via theguardian.com
  Exclusive: Councils prosecuted just 64 landlords despite receiving 300,000 complaints from tenants in unfit homes Two-thirds of councils in England have not prosecuted a single landlord in the past three years, despite receiving 300,000 complaints from desperate tenants living in unfit homes.From 2022 to 2024, nearly half of local authorities responsible for housing did not fine a landlord, while more than a third did not issue any formal action against people letting out homes unlawfully in the
  
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• Merchants’ ‘victory’ over credit card fees will just complicate things more for them

  16-11-2025 16:00 via theguardian.com
  Do small business owners think that Visa and Mastercard won’t just recoup their fees elsewhere?Want to buy a new shirt from your friendly neighborhood small business? In some cases, be prepared to pay out 2.5% more as a “financing” fee because you’re using a credit card. Enjoying that meal at the local diner? Better have cash or you could be subject to the same fee. Grabbing a bag of chips and a soda at the local convenience store? Oops … Unless you’re prepar
  
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• Sky Sports ditches ‘unbelievably sexist’ TikTok channel Halo after three days

  16-11-2025 15:34 via theguardian.com
  Female-targeted account pulled after sports fans criticise posts referencing matcha, Barbie and ‘hot girl walks’Sky Sports has been forced to ditch its female-targeted TikTok channel Halo three days after its launch, following criticism that it was patronising and “unbelievably sexist”.Halo, which was described as the “lil sis” of Sky Sports by the broadcaster, launched on Thursday with a now-deleted post that read: “We’re about ALL sports and cham
  
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• Lost in the plot: how would-be authors were fooled by AI staff and virtual offices in suspected global publishing scam

  16-11-2025 15:00 via theguardian.com
  Book publishing websites in Australia, the UK and New Zealand appear to be using fake testimonials and AI staff pages to lure aspiring writers into handing over their moneyAn aspiring Australian writer met an apparent scammer face-to-face before realising she may have become a victim of a suspicious international publishing venture.Australia’s National Anti-Scam Centre is now investigating the case of a website luring people seeking a foothold in the increasingly crowded space of vanity an
  
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• ‘I was scared’: parents reveal stress of HMRC’s child benefit errors

  16-11-2025 15:00 via theguardian.com
  From incorrect repayment demands to mistaken claims about emigration or non-existent holidays, those caught up in anti-fraud debacle tell their storiesDemands to pay back thousands of pounds in child benefit, claims of emigration after a serious case of sepsis and a complaints unit that is indifferent to the emotional impact of its errors.Here parents tell of their experiences of being caught up in the HMRC anti-fraud debacle. Continue reading...
  
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• How Google’s DeepMind tool is ‘more quickly’ forecasting hurricane behavior

  16-11-2025 14:00 via theguardian.com
  ‘Less expensive and time consuming’ model helps with fast and accurate predictions, possibly saving lives and propertyWhen then Tropical Storm Melissa was churning south of Haiti, Philippe Papin, a National Hurricane Center (NHC) meteorologist, had confidence it was about to grow into a monster hurricane.As the lead forecaster on duty, he predicted that in just 24 hours the storm would become a category 4 hurricane and begin a turn towards the coast of Jamaica. No NHC forecaster had
  
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• Dermatologists criticise ‘dystopian’ skincare products aimed at children

  16-11-2025 13:33 via theguardian.com
  Marketing or celebrity-led treatments for toddlers and upwards described as ‘ridiculous’ and lacking in skin benefitDermatologists have criticised an actor’s new skincare brand, calling it “dystopian” for creating face masks for four-year-olds, warning that the beauty industry is now expanding its reach from teenagers to toddlers.It comes as a growing number of brands are moving into the children’s, teenage and young adult skincare market. In October, the firs
  
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• UK watchdogs need to step in on rip-off bills, which are bad for consumers and the economy | Heather Stewart

  16-11-2025 13:20 via theguardian.com
  From mobiles to insurance and subscriptions, firms are able to exploit the fact they know more than customersEver felt swizzed by the small print in your mobile contract, bamboozled by a plethora of insurance products or locked into a subscription you signed up for by mistake?Then you are far from alone: a paper on the UK’s productivity predicament suggests the way the markets for some key services work is not only a monumental pain for consumers but bad for the economy, too. Continue read
  
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• It’s all gravy: Thanksgiving air traffic to be normal after US government reopens

  16-11-2025 13:00 via theguardian.com
  Experts say air traffic controllers quickly returning to work, with promise of full back pay, and even $10,000 bonusFears that it would take weeks or even months for flight schedules in the US to return to normal in the wake of the US federal government shutdown do not appear to be coming true and the busy upcoming holiday season should be normal for travel, experts say.That is at least in part because air traffic controllers are quickly returning to work, according to the Department of Transpor
  
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• Inside Trump’s scramble to reduce US dependence on Chinese rare-earth metals

  16-11-2025 13:00 via theguardian.com
  The White House has made it a top priority to return the rare-earth industry to US shores. But is it really feasible?Scott Bessent, the US treasury secretary, returned from South Carolina last week brandishing a small piece of metal, proclaiming that it was the first rare-earth magnet made in the US in a quarter of a century.It was, he indicated to Fox Business, proof that the US is ending “China’s chokehold on our supply chain”. Thanks to the South Carolina company eVAC’
  
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• ‘I think the city is falling apart’: Leicester braces for a make-or-break budget

  16-11-2025 13:00 via theguardian.com
  In the local authority where people have the least spare cash there are hopes the chancellor will instil changeAnika* has a full-time job, but says she never eats in local cafes or restaurants and takes her lunch to work. The cost of living is too high for her to buy more than the basics of life.“Everything is so expensive. I cry, and ask myself what more can I do to make things better,” she says. Continue reading...
  
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• UK budget watchdog in danger of strangling economic growth, says TUC boss

  16-11-2025 11:15 via theguardian.com
  Paul Nowak says OBR should be modernised to ditch ‘hardwired’ support for austerity economicsBritain’s budget watchdog is in danger of strangling growth and should be modernised to ditch its “hardwired” support for austerity economics, the Trades Union Congress has warned.Less than two weeks before Rachel Reeves’s autumn budget, the trade union umbrella group said the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) was at risk of being a “straitjacket” on g
  
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• Business secretary backs shift to electric arc furnaces at British Steel plant

  16-11-2025 11:00 via theguardian.com
  Move would secure future of steel production at Scunthorpe but raise questions over future of blast furnacesThe business secretary, Peter Kyle, has backed a shift to cleaner electric arc technology at the state-controlled British Steel plant, raising questions about the future of the UK’s last remaining blast furnaces.Kyle said the government was “keen to see that transition happen”, as he works on a new steel strategy, which is expected to be published in December. Continue re
  
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• Can methane cuts pull us back from the brink of climate breakdown?

  16-11-2025 09:00 via theguardian.com
  With temperatures breaching the Paris limit, experts say tackling the powerful gas could buy crucial time as the clean-energy shift stallsCop30: click here for full Guardian coverage of the climate talks in BrazilFor two years, global temperatures have exceeded the 1.5C heating limit laid out in the Paris climate agreement. This overshooting will have “devastating consequences”, the UN secretary general, António Guterres, has warned.The biggest worry for scientists is that fur
  
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• Bristol to launch world-first ‘clean power hub’ for festivals and film crews

  16-11-2025 09:00 via theguardian.com
  City council and regional authority collaborate to guarantee renewable mobile energy for next summer’s festival seasonArtists including Billie Eilish and Neil Young and festivals across the world have taken action to make their concerts more sustainable by harnessing green power.The concept is being taken a step further in the south-west of England next summer when a “clean power hub” is set up in Bristol that festivals, large gigs and film crews will be able to tap into. Conti
  
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• One of Britain’s biggest housebuilders urges government to support first-time buyers

  16-11-2025 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Taylor Wimpey chief Jennie Daly calls for revival of help-to-buy equity loan scheme to revive property marketThe boss of one of Britain’s biggest housebuilders has urged the government to announce more support for first-time buyers to revive a property market that has cooled in the “very long shadow” of the looming budget.Jennie Daly, the chief executive of Taylor Wimpey, also warned against an “accumulation of regulation”, arguing that a “perverse outcome&rdq
  
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• ‘Ghost broking’: cut-price car insurance isn’t all it seems

  16-11-2025 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Scammers promise cheaper policies via ads on social media and AI-generated websites but the fake certificate leaves motorists uninsuredAfter shelling out on driving lessons, waiting months for your test and taking out a loan to buy a first car, the dream of having your own transport is finally near. But there’s a stumbling block: insurance – and the quotes seem to be huge.You are relieved when you see an ad on one of your socials that promises to cover you for just £1,000. Just
  
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• Life as a food delivery worker: ‘Sometimes men open the door naked’

  16-11-2025 06:00 via theguardian.com
  To earn a living as a delivery rider, some work 10-12 hour days, contending with low pay, exhaustion, accidents, injuries and harassment. Is this a new form of modern slavery?“I earn more cleaning toilets than I do from being a Deliveroo rider,” says Marina, a Brazilian woman who juggles two jobs to support her 12- and 18-year-old daughters.It’s a “bullshit, horrible job”, says Adam, from Sudan, who combines riding for Deliveroo with studying for a law degree. &ldqu
  
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• ‘It’s so demoralising’: UK graduates exasperated by high unemployment

  15-11-2025 17:00 via theguardian.com
  Many question value of their degrees and hard work when confronted with a brutally competitive jobs marketAI, Covid and taxes: what is behind steep rise in youth unemployment?It has been more than six months since Leah Savage, 24, started job hunting and despite applying for almost 100 jobs, she has had just two interviews in that time.“It’s so demoralising. All I do is wake up and apply for jobs. I reach out to different people and everyone says the same thing – they’re
  
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• Have Reeves and Starmer missed the chance to ditch stealth taxes? | Phillip Inman

  15-11-2025 17:00 via theguardian.com
  Retreat from plans to increase income tax means Labour is unlikely to make system fairer and more coherentFor decades now, whenever the British public has faced the prospect of tax rises, large sections of the electorate – so large they sway most politicians – have made it quite clear, let those increases be by stealth.It is a message every chancellor since Nigel Lawson has heeded, with just a few honourable exceptions in the intervening decades. Continue reading...
  
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• AI, Covid and taxes: what is behind steep rise in youth unemployment?

  15-11-2025 17:00 via theguardian.com
  Last year’s employer NICs increase and a weak economy are adding to tricky conditions for young people‘It’s so demoralising’: UK graduates exasperated by high unemploymentYouth unemployment is at the highest level since the Covid pandemic, as younger people bear the brunt of a worsening slowdown in the UK jobs market.Excluding the peak recorded during the autumn of 2020, when the country was entering the second pandemic lockdown, the jobless rate for 16 to 24-year-olds &n
  
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• ‘I have saved exactly £0’: how soaring costs have hit Britons’ nest eggs and pensions

  15-11-2025 16:00 via theguardian.com
  Tales of dwindling savings, frozen retirement pots and stringent frugality to put something aside for the futureAndrew, a writer in his mid-30s from Essex, would be considered middle class by most, but his financial setup is precarious.“I have £4k in my savings account, and around £4k in stocks and shares. With a mortgage, childcare fees and other living expenses to cover, our monthly outgoings are always at least £2,800. Our savings would quickly vanish if our household
  
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