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Tougher ethical certification process requires companies to meet standards in every one out of seven categoriesDozens of companies may be at risk of losing their coveted B Corp ethical status after the organisation behind the corporate kite-marking system raised the standards required to qualify.B Lab, which oversees B Corp certification, launched the biggest overhaul in its 19-year history earlier this month, scrapping a system under which companies must gather enough points across multiple categories to qualify. Continue reading......

Trying to make ends meet is an impossible effort, and things are rapidly getting worse. It's time the government listened to people like usElla Michalski is part of Changing Realities, a project working with low-income familiesIn times of war, it is right that we focus on the human suffering of those affected by military action. But its ripple effects have worsened an already dire set of living standards for families like mine, who simply cannot meet the rising costs of the most basic of essentials. With Bank of England research showing that companies are expected to raise prices rapidly over the coming months, we feel genuinely terrified about the costs we'll be facing.What was once considered a temporary fiscal emergency after the invasion of Ukraine is now a persistent, gruelling reality for too many. The term “crisis” suggests something that we could move beyond. But this impossible effort to make ends meet is a constant now for millions. It has been going on for so long that it has become almos...

The president has boasted about cutting prices of drugs, housing, food and gasoline. It's grossly exaggerated nonsenseIn recent months, Donald Trump has made some absurd comments about inflation, saying the affordability crisis is “a hoax” and “I won affordability,” a clumsy, questionable claim meaning that he somehow conquered inflation. Trump recognizes that affordability is a huge issue, and with his war against Iran proving to be a big political loser, he seems eager to score some political points by telling Americans that he's moving boldly to cut living costs. But as with everything Trump says, people shouldn't be tricked by his slick salesmanship.Trump has boasted about cutting prescription drug prices, housing prices, food prices and gasoline prices. All that might be great public relations for Trump, but it's grossly exaggerated nonsense. Trump's much-ballyhooed efforts to fight inflation are essentially diddlysquat. Many of them are mini efforts that have had mini effects in reducin...

As Americans struggle amid the threat of higher inflation, Lockheed Martin, Shell and other companies are experiencing gainsTwo weeks into the US-Israel war with Iran, the White House was fielding heavy criticism that the conflict would drive up gas prices and frustrate voters. Donald Trump turned to Truth Social to appease Americans about gas prices, which were slowly climbing toward $4 a gallon.“The United States is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money,” he wrote. Continue reading......

Companies using heating oil have already begun rationing their fuel use, says Federation of Small BusinessesMiddle East crisis – live updatesThousands of independent businesses across the UK are braced for their energy bills to more than double owing to the sharp rise in heating oil costs as the war in Iran pushed Europe's fuel market prices to fresh record highs.About 7% of all small and medium-sized companies warm their properties and provide hot water using heating oil, which in some cases has more than doubled in recent weeks. Continue reading......

President shifts deadline again for attacking power plants and bridges in expletive-ridden social media postMiddle East crisis – live updatesDonald Trump issued an expletive-laden warning on Sunday that Tehran had until Tuesday night to reopen the strait of Hormuz or the US would obliterate Iran's power plants and bridges.Iran's parliament speaker responded with a warning that the US president's “reckless moves” would mean “our whole region is going to burn”. Continue reading......

Levy on inherited farms and family businesses worth £2.5m or more comes into force 6 AprilA new inheritance tax regime for UK farms and family businesses comes into force on Monday and will present “significant challenges” for those affected, according to accountants.In October 2024 the government announced plans to levy inheritance tax on farms – prompting an outcry in many quarters. Continue reading......

Union says new entitlements, part of Employment Rights Act 2025, will help lower-income householdsUp to 9.6 million UK workers are to benefit from the changes to sick pay rules, according to unions. They say the policy has widespread support from voters despite pushback from some businesses.From Monday, about 8.4 million workers who rely on statutory sick pay – the minimum amount employers must pay – will be paid from the first day of becoming ill rather than from day four, according to an analysis by the Trades Union Congress (TUC). Continue reading......

Meta has just lost a multimillion-dollar legal battle over its failure to prevent children being sold on its platforms. Here's how we uncovered evidence that became part of the case against itIt started with a tipoff. I was reporting on the trafficking and exploitation of migrant workers in the Gulf when a source I had known for more than a decade reached out. They told me that child sexual abuse trafficking in the US was surging. As the Covid pandemic pushed predators online, some were using Facebook and Instagram to buy and sell children.It was 2021 and I was about to begin an investigation with Mei-Ling McNamara, a human rights journalist, that would lead to the tech company Meta losing a multimillion-pound court case in March this year. The company had not yet rebranded and was known as Facebook, and there had not been any reporting on how children were being trafficked on its platforms. Experts from anti-trafficking nonprofit organisations and an American law enforcement official talked me through t...

Readers respond to a letter by the GB News co-owner, in which he argued that calling for an end to fossil fuels is impracticalLast week I was among 120-plus Christian leaders who, in an open letter covered by the Guardian, challenged Sir Paul Marshall – a professing Christian, hedge fund manager and owner or part-owner of prominent media properties, including GB News – about climate misinformation on his news channel (Church leaders criticise Christian owner of GB News over channel's climate attacks, 26 March). The letter also called for transparency regarding any financial interests in fossil fuels that Sir Paul may have, as well as transparency from GB News presenters and guests.However, rather than address calls for transparency related to any financial interests in fossil fuels, Sir Paul has now written to the Guardian, claiming that the “net zero consensus is crumbling” (Letters, 30 March). Continue reading......

PM also criticises business figures and opponents of changes, many of which come into force on Monday• Workers, pensioners and children: all better off. Ignore the critics – we really are standing up for working people Keir Starmer has used a series of new workers rights that come into force on Monday to attack the Green party, saying a vote for Labour's rivals puts such progress on sick pay, parental leave and zero-hours contracts at risk.The prime minister also took a swipe at business figures and opponents of what he described as the biggest strengthening of workers' rights in a generation, dismissing “vested interests” who had warned against them. Continue reading......

Members reportedly agree rise of 206,000 barrels a day in May but move symbolic with strait of Hormuz effectively closedMiddle East crisis – live updatesIranian drones struck Kuwait's oil infrastructure on Sunday, causing “severe material damage” that threatened to further disrupt oil supplies already hit by the US and Israel's war with Tehran.It came hours before members of the Opec+ group that represents major global oil suppliers gathered to discuss how to bolster output despite Iran's effective closure of the crucial strait of Hormuz shipping route. Continue reading......

Day-one rights to statutory sick pay and paternity leave begin on Monday, and that fits the pattern. From my own life, I know people's anxieties, and I will respondStarmer attacks Greens, saying vote for Labour rivals puts new workers' rights at riskThis week 27 years ago, a Labour government introduced the minimum wage. At the time, the voices of the status quo lined up against it, but Labour made a choice: to stand up for working people. My government is doing the same.On Monday, the biggest strengthening of workers' rights in a generation comes into force. For the first time, workers gain day-one rights to statutory sick pay and paternity leave. No one should be forced to choose between their health and their wages, or miss those first precious days with their child because of insecurity at work.Keir Starmer is the UK prime minister Continue reading......

Ultra-low rates turned the yen into easy cash for bankers. But the carry trade now binds global markets to decisions in TokyoIn 2015, Clyde Prestowitz's book Japan Restored imagined a Japanese century emerging from upheavals such as an Israeli attack on Iran. While conflict now grips the Middle East, there are few indications of the revolutionary change the former US national security official foresaw. But in one crucial respect this already is a Japanese century – thanks to the yen's role as easy money for global finance.The Bank of Japan's loose monetary policy has turned the yen into the world's cheapest and most reliable funding currency. By suppressing yields on public debt to keep Japan's domestic economy afloat, the BoJ effectively created a publicly subsidised funding pipeline for bankers. They can make a quick buck by borrowing cheaply in yen and investing in higher-return assets, such as US equities. The “yen carry trade” surged after the pandemic, with speculators...

Buzzy workplace trends all point to the same thing: avoiding work while still collecting a paycheckThere's another hot trend in the workplace – microshifting, and it's about to revolutionize the workday by breaking the traditional 9-to-5 into short, flexible and non-linear bursts of activity rather than a continuous 8-hour stretch. Microshifting allows for a better work-life balance. Why not do a yoga class or pop to the shops during work hours? I mean, what is “work” anyway?Like bare minimum Mondays, where workers recuperating from weekend hangovers allow themselves to accomplish the least amount the day after, or coffee badging, which involves taking the time out of the workday to protest an employer's in-office requirements by driving into the office, swiping your badge, having a coffee, then taking more time out of the workday to drive back home, it used to have another name, as the Guardian noted earlier this year: “Taking the piss.” Continue reading......

Jeffrey Stephen Wigand revealed how tobacco companies targeted children; now he sees similar marketing by big techA key whistleblower in the tobacco industry's landmark trials of the 1990s has been watching big tech's recent court battles closely. Jeffrey Stephen Wigand, a biochemist who helped reveal how tobacco companies targeted children and hid just how addictive cigarettes were, has been struck with a feeling of familiarity. Last week's verdict in a major social media trial that Meta and YouTube deliberately designed addictive products has only strengthened comparisons to the legal crackdown on big tobacco. Wigand sees it, too. His first thought, as he learned about the litigation in California, was that social media companies, through their advertisements, were trying to addict children – much like the tobacco industry did.A Los Angeles jury found Meta and YouTube to be negligent last week. Plaintiffs' lawyers relied heavily on internal documents and correspondence to demonstrate that company ...

Exclusive: Animal welfare charities 'bitterly disappointed' that Labour plans to backtrack on manifesto commitmentsThe government is to break a manifesto commitment to ban foie gras imports, and has declined to stop fur imports, after the EU made these red lines in its discussions for a trade deal.Animal welfare charities say they are “bitterly disappointed” that ministers are failing to use powers granted by Brexit to restrict the import of these “cruel” items. Continue reading......

Letters to US agency raise concerns over tech firms' plans to use reflective satellites and expand numbers in low Earth orbitProposals to deploy reflective mirrors and up to 1m more satellites in low Earth orbit could have far-reaching consequences for human health and ecosystems, leading sleep and circadian rhythm researchers have said.Presidents of four international scientific societies representing about 2,500 researchers from more than 30 countries are among those who have raised concerns in letters to the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Continue reading......

Move comes after Keir Starmer says decision to book rapper who wrote song titled Heil Hitler is 'deeply concerning'Pepsi has said it is withdrawing its sponsorship of a UK music festival that is due to be headlined by Kanye West after Keir Starmer joined criticism of the event.The musician is understood to have not yet made an application to come to Britain and could be blocked under powers allowing the authorities to do so if his presence is deemed not conducive to the public good. Continue reading......

The energy crisis sparked by the war is making some countries consider ramping up their use of dirty fuelsNot two months in office, as the price of west Texas crude approached $14 a barrel, President Jimmy Carter donned a cardigan to speak candidly about his strategy to face the permanent energy shortage he saw in the nation's future.His “fireside chat” is mostly remembered for asking Americans to lower the thermostat to 65F in the daytime and 55F at night, an idea that didn't go down too well in the bitter winter of 1977. Continue reading......