The Guardian Nachrichten

 

An exodus of workers will be damaging – and electoral change might help Britain escape instability and low growthWhile all eyes are on the Middle East and the risk of a global recession, a possible scenario with significant downside risk for the UK economy after the next general election is building: the impact of anti-immigration policies.We do not know enough about the actual policy changes a Reform UK-led government would impose, but if we get forced repatriation (including of some who were born in Britain) combined with a climate of fear, the economic disruption could be highly significant. Continue reading......

London-headquartered bank's shares slide as it sets aside an extra $300m to cover effects of Middle East conflictBusiness live – latest updatesHSBC has taken a $1.3bn (£961m) hit to profits, fuelled by the fallout from the US-Israel war on Iran and fraud in the troubled private credit sector.The London-headquartered bank said profits fell 4% in the first three months of the year, dropping $100m to $9.4bn, compared with the same period in 2025. Revenue increased 6% to $18.6bn. Continue reading......

Ministers have committed to changing rules for children, but how this will take shape is still up for debateThe UK government committed last week to either implementing a ban on under-16s accessing social media or imposing restrictions on children's use of those platforms.A consultation is already under way on whether to impose limits and the announcement confirms that curbs will be introduced. Here are some of the restrictions that could be brought in. Continue reading......

One in four late-night venues went out of business between 2020 and 2025. Those that remain are struggling to pull in customers. Maybe a night out in Birminghan will reveal whyThe £5 entry is a good start. So is the loud, lively music booming down the nightclub's stairway. But when I finally reach the dancefloor, hidden behind a curtain, my hopes for a wild night out in Birmingham are dashed. Despite the roving disco lights and blaring pop bangers, it is entirely empty, aside from a few bartenders milling around, tending to no one.This isn't 9pm on a random Tuesday. I am hitting the town on Saturday night, when the city's bars and clubs should be in full swing, but Birmingham is looking like a bust. Continue reading......

Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison agrees to sell 49% stake as it attempts to reshape its portfolioBusiness live – latest updatesVodafone is to take full control of the UK's biggest mobile operator in a £4.3bn buyout deal with the Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison.Billionaire Li Ka-shing's business said it had agreed to sell its 49% stake in VodafoneThree – a network with more than 27 million subscribers – to its partner Vodafone. Continue reading......

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial newsAustralia hikes interest rates to 4.35% in blow to mortgage holdersHSBC has lifted its forecast for expected credit losses this year, following that UK fraud-related $400m charge, and the Iran war.The bank now expects an ECL [expected credit loss] charge as a percentage of average gross loans to be around 45bps this year, which it says reflects “ongoing uncertainty in the outlook”.Reeves responded angrily by telling Bessent she did not work for him and disliked how he had spoken to her.She also reiterated her argument about the Iran conflict lacking clear goals and not necessarily making the world safer.“This is a war that we did not start. It was a war that we did not want. I feel very frustrated and angry that the US went into this war without a clear exit plan, without a clear idea of what they were trying to achieve. And as a result the strait of Hormuz is now blocked.” Continue reading......

Rayner and Burnham are trying to gain markets' confidence amid concerns they could loosen fiscal rules if they replace StarmerWho calls the shots on the bin collections in Sunderland, potholes in Hackney, or schools in Cardiff is not normally of interest to City traders in the multitrillion-pound sovereign bond market.But for those dealing in UK government debt, Thursday's local and devolved government elections are significantly more important than usual, amid speculation that a dire showing for Keir Starmer's Labour party could topple him as prime minister. Continue reading......

Reserve Bank of Australia raises rates for third consecutive meeting, lifting them to early-2025 levelsFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastUse our loan calculator to see how rate hikes could affect you The Reserve Bank has delivered a third straight interest rate hike to contain growing inflationary pressures linked to higher fuel prices, even as it warned the Iranian war would deliver a major blow to the economy.The widely expected decision to lift the cash rate to 4.35% from 4.1% comes as the central bank revealed a gloomy new set of forecasts that showed intensifying cost-of-living pressures alongside weaker growth. Continue reading......

Government officials said in December that Britain's largest automotive employer could lead exodus from UKJaguar Land Rover would have considered moving car production out of the UK and slashing jobs if not for a £380m subsidy for its sister battery company, government officials claimed privately.Officials at the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) warned in December that Britain's largest automotive employer may have triggered an exodus from the UK car industry, according to state aid documents prepared by the competition regulator. Continue reading......

Quintessentially almost quadrupled staff in Middle East and Asia less than year before wealthy began to flee GulfThe embattled luxury concierge service co-founded by Queen Camilla's nephew Ben Elliot embarked on what appeared to be an inopportune hiring spree in the Middle East and Asia before wealthy individuals began fleeing the region because of the US-Israel war on Iran.Quintessentially almost quadrupled staff in the regions from 22 to 84 during its financial year to 30 April 2025, according to newly released annual accounts, which again reported multimillion-pound losses and warned of “material uncertainty” about its future. Continue reading......

Musk won't have to give up any money he allegedly saved from delaying disclosure of initial purchase of Twitter stockSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter emailElon Musk settled the US Securities and Exchange Commission's civil lawsuit accusing the world's richest person of waiting too long in 2022 to disclose his initial purchases of stock in Twitter, now known as X.A trust in Musk's name will pay a $1.5m civil penalty, without admitting wrongdoing. Musk won't have to give up any money he allegedly saved from the delay. Continue reading......

Heidi Alexander says part of answer to strait of Hormuz crisis is importing more fuel from US and west AfricaA refinery in Nigeria accused of dismissing workers for joining a union has emerged as key to the UK government's hopes of saving the summer holiday amid a jet fuel shortage.Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary, said at the weekend that part of the answer to the strait of Hormuz crisis was to import more fuel from the US and west Africa. Continue reading......

Suit alleges that Hong Kong-based Justin Sun engaged in a campaign to 'torch' the company's reputationSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email World Liberty Financial, the crypto venture co-founded by Donald Trump and his sons, said on Monday it had filed a defamation lawsuit in Florida state court against the Hong Kong-based crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun, as a dispute escalates between the project and one of its most prominent backers.World Liberty posted a copy of its lawsuit on X in which it accused Sun of launching a “public smear campaign”. It alleged that Sun had improperly transferred some of his WLFI tokens that come with voting and governance rights to crypto exchange Binance and, separately, that he had placed bets that WLFI would decline in market value, known as short selling. That was part of a coordinated effort to push the token's market price down as public trading began in September, the lawsuit alleged. Continue reading......

The Tell Sid campaign promised to make the working man rich, but in reality the selling of public assets made us all poorerIn the summer of 1987, as life in Britain was being steadily reshaped by Margaret Thatcher, I landed a temporary job as an electrician's mate in a steel-drum factory. I was a truly useless assistant, and justified my existence by singing songs to entertain my boss as he worked. As I recall, by the time I left Stuart had come round to quite liking Bob Dylan, but still had no time for the gothic gloominess of the early Cure.While I handed him tools he didn't need, and failed to locate the ones he did, we occasionally talked about politics. Stuart was a gentle man in his mid-20s, already married and hoping to buy a house. He was also, it turned out, a cautious believer in Thatcher's promise of a “people's capitalism” in which working people would get a piece of the action. Prior to my coming to “help” him, he was one of the millions who had responded to the previous year's T...

The announcement of the withdrawal of thousands of US troops from Germany underlines the urgency of a pan-European defence strategyAs Donald Trump's second term has become overshadowed by plunging poll ratings and an illegal, ill-advised war in the Middle East, European governments have regularly been singled out to bear the brunt of the US president's growing frustration. Sir Keir Starmer's refusal to militarily back the attack on Iran led to unfavourable comparisons to both Winston Churchill and King Charles. “Unfriendly” Spain has been threatened with a trade embargo for similar reasons. Italy's prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, previously seen as a key political ally, has also been on the receiving end. “I'm shocked by her,” Mr Trump said last month. “I thought she had courage. I was wrong.”Currently it is Germany's chancellor, Friedrich Merz, who finds himself in Washington's crosshairs. In the wake of Mr Merz's accurate observation that the US has no convincing strategy on Ira...

President says US navy will 'guide' stranded ships out of waterway but report says warship was hit by IranMiddle East crisis – live updatesThe world's shipping industry has questioned if vessels will be able to travel safely to and from the Gulf after Donald Trump announced his latest plan to open the strait of Hormuz.The US president wrote on Monday that the navy would “guide” stranded ships out of the waterway, writing on his social media site Truth Social that the operation, “Project Freedom”, would be a humanitarian gesture “on behalf of the United States, Middle Eastern Countries but, in particular, the Country of Iran”. Continue reading......

More than 7,000 join employment tribunal that will include claims for minimum wage and holiday pay More than 7,000 Just Eat couriers are taking legal action against the food delivery company in an attempt to gain better employment rights including the minimum wage and holiday pay.The employment tribunal, which begins on Tuesday and is set to run until 2 June, will determine if the couriers are classed as workers, a status that comes with improved rights, or self-employed independent contractors. Continue reading......

Lobbyist Tara Singh says stripping projects of subsidy contracts would undermine investor confidence in UKBritain could be beset by levels of economic chaos last seen under Liz Truss if a Reform UK government were to fulfil its promise to strip renewable energy projects of subsidy contracts, according to the industry's chief lobbyist.The anti-renewables policy put forward by Nigel Farage's populist party would severely undermine investor confidence in the energy industry and across the wider UK economy, the new chief executive of RenewableUK said. Continue reading......

Video game retailer's CEO warns that unsolicited bid could turn hostile if it is rebuffed by resale site's board US video games retailer GameStop has offered to buy eBay for $55.5bn (£41bn) in an unsolicited bid that its boss warned could turn hostile if the proposal is rebuffed by eBay's board.GameStop, which has quietly accumulated a 5% stake in eBay, said it was willing to pay $125 a share, split 50-50 between cash and stock. Continue reading......

Beef and olive oil costs increase the most as climate and energy shocks drive inflation, research suggestsFood prices are on track to be 50% higher in November than at the start of the cost of living crisis in 2021, new research suggests.Climate and energy shocks have driven an almost quadrupling of the pace of food price growth, according to new research from the thinktank Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), with costs rising in five years at about the same rate as they had over the previous two decades. Continue reading......