Post Office scandal: MPs call for financial penalty for slow payouts
A group of MPs says compensation is not being paid quickly enough for the victims of the Post Office scandal and is calling for the government to face financial penalties if the process doesn’t speed up. The Business and Trade Select Committee said binding timeframes were needed, with any money arising from missed deadlines going…
Woolworths to sell Australia Day holiday merchandise in reversal of 2024 policy
Supermarket chain says it will help customers ‘celebrate the day’ by selling flag-themed items Woolworths says it will mark the Australia Day holiday in-store this year, after it stopped stocking themed merchandise last year amid a “broader discussion” of what 26 January meant to the community. The supermarket chain, which also owns department store Big…
Great Guinness heist: thieves stole truck carrying 35,000 pints
Revealed: lorry with 400 kegs of the Irish stout onboard disappeared from Northamptonshire depot, sources say In the days leading up to Christmas, stout-lovers were left reeling from a nationwide shortage of Guinness so severe that some pubs were forced to ration pints of the “black stuff” as taps began to run dry. Supermarkets remain…
Russia winds down gas supply to Europe via Ukraine as transit deal expires
Exports to cease on New Year’s Day as Europe faces cold snap and higher than usual fall in reserves since September Europe will receive the last Russian gas sent via Ukraine’s pipelines in the early hours of the new year as the continent braces for a plunge in temperatures that could hasten the drain on…
Xi says China’s economy on course to expand by 5% despite Trump concerns
President seeks to allay fears that world’s second-largest economy will falter in 2025 because of high US tariffs China’s economy is on course to expand by 5% in 2025, according to its president, Xi Jinping, meeting official growth targets and rebutting concerns that Donald Trump’s incoming US administration will harm Beijing’s prospects in the new…
Can flood of cheap new EVs coming to Europe save its carmakers?
Analysts argue 2024 is minor blip and that lobbying for relaxation of rules could harm industry in long term Affordable new electric family cars – particularly those that are EU-made – have been tough to come by in Europe for the past few years. There were no launches of homegrown electric models for less than…
For these women, sustainable business is buzzing
Industrious and indispensable, bees are nature’s “essential workers.” Their pollination powers entire ecosystems and food systems — with more than 75 percent of the world’s flowering plants and a third of all crops relying on bees and other pollinators to reproduce. Yet bees are declining at alarming rates. Mass die-offs have been linked to pesticides,…
London-listed miner pauses Mozambique operation amid political unrest
Gemfields makes decision over ruby mining after groups ‘took advantage’ of situation to try to invade its site The London-listed mining company Gemfields said it had temporarily halted its ruby mining operation in Mozambique after groups “took advantage” of political unrest to set fire and attempt to invade its site, resulting in two deaths. Gemfields,…
The peanut farmer who rose to US president and Nobel prize winner
Jimmy Carter, who has died at the age of 100, swept to power promising never to lie to the American people. In the turbulent aftermath of Watergate, the former peanut farmer from Georgia pardoned Vietnam draft evaders and became the first US leader to take climate change seriously. On the international stage, he helped to…