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Elementor #547100 September 1, 20231 Min Read Summary of the Top 6 headlines today Financial Times – Adani shares lose $4bn as politicians demand action over hidden investors  The Financial Times’s main story is about India’s Adani Group, which it says lost $4.2bn (£3.3bn) in shares following revelations about “family-linked shareholders in the company’s stock” The front splash also features the story of the block of flats fire in Johannesburg, South Africa, that killed more…

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Elementor #546688 August 31, 20231 Min Read Swiss unveil dirty money clampdown to repair image Summary of the Top 6 headlines today The FT says the Swiss banking system is trying to clean up its act after a series of money laundering scandals. The paper says Switzerland has proposed sweeping measures to clamp down on money laundering in an effort to shed the country’s reputation as a haven for ill-gotten gains. Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter…

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Pimlico Plumbers founder says he will pay nurses’ ULEZ charges and calls for policy to be binned CITY AM says Plumbing tycoon Charlie Mullins says he will pay nurses’ ULEZ charges and called for the scheme to be “abolished immediately”. The Pimlico Plumbers founder and multimillionaire has vowed to shell out the cost for all nurses newly affected by the ultra low emissions zone (ULEZ) charge in September. “This is a tax on working people…

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Network Rail axes bonuses for staff who went on strike Rail staff who went on strike in a long-running dispute over pay and conditions are now set to lose their annual bonus. Network Rail has sparked anger by refusing to dish out bonuses to staff who went on strike. Up to 20,000 members of the RMT union, who took industrial action over pay, jobs and working conditions could be affected. The dispute was settled in…

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Elementor #546358 August 30, 20231 Min Read Financial Times – Goldman Sachs bought UK and US companies using Chinese state cash Summary of the Top 6 headlines today Investment banking company Goldman Sachs used a fund set up with Chinese state money to buy a series of UK and US companies, including a cyber security business used by the British government, reports the Financial Times. Citing “multiple people with knowledge”, the front page of the…

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Elementor #546007 August 29, 20231 Min Read Financial Times – Travellers braced for more delays after air traffic fault brings holiday turmoil Summary of the Top 6 headlines today The Financial Times reports thousands of airline passengers faced long delays and flight cancellations after a failure in the UK’s air traffic control system grounded hundreds of planes. “Windrush remembered” is how the front page sums up this year’s Notting Hill festivities. Writing about the annual…

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The Economist – XI’s failing model: Why he won’t fix China’s economy The Economist says Whatever has gone wrong? After China rejoined the world economy in 1978, it became the most spectacular growth story in history. Farm reform, industrialisation and rising incomes lifted nearly 800m people out of extreme poverty. Having produced just a tenth as much as America in 1980, China’s economy is now about three-quarters the size. Yet instead of roaring back after…

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Wilko: New bid emerges for stricken retail chain Private equity firm M2 Capital has confirmed it has made a £90m bid for Wilko – in the latest attempt to save the retail chain. M2 Captial has bid £90m for the business and pledged to retain all employees’ jobs for two years. The Guardian newspaper first reported the M2 bid, and says it is one of several offers being considered by administrators. Wilko fell into administration…

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Elementor #545671 August 28, 20231 Min Read Financial Times – China’s sluggish economy will weigh on global trade, western groups warn Summary of the Top 6 headlines today The Financial Times leads on Western companies’ warnings that the slowdown in China’s economy will weigh heavily on global trade. The paper says the country has for years been a booming market for all kinds of goods and services, but that it is failing to rebound from…

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City AM – You could open a Coutts account with that CITY AM says Former NatWest boss Dame Alison Rose’s pay package – reportedly £2.4m – has been branded a “sick joke” by Nigel Farage. Dame Alison quit her high-profile role as boss of NatWest, which also owns private bank Coutts over her handling of Farage’s account closure – which sparked a ‘debanking’ scandal. NatWest Group issued an RNS this morning stating that Dame Alison…

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Elementor #544657 August 24, 20231 Min Read Financial Times – Wagner boss Prigozhin was aboard crashed plane Summary of the Top 6 headlines today Developments in Russia also dominate the front page of the Financial Times – it reports that the aircraft Prigozhin was on appears to have been shot down, and US officials had believed he was likely to face retribution after June’s failed revolt. The front page reports Russian officials saying Prigozhin was…

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Wilko: Jobs to go as attempts to find a buyer fail Jobs at Wilko are set to go and stores will close after the company failed to find a buyer for the whole business. The PwC has said parts of the group could still be bought. Wilko announced earlier this month that it was going into administration, putting 12,500 jobs and its 400 stores at risk. PwC had tried to look for a buyer for…

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Elementor #543571 August 18, 20231 Min Read Financial Times – Labour waters down pledges to strengthen workers’ rights Summary of the Top 6 headlines today The Financial Times leads with Labour’s “watered down” plans to strengthen workers’ rights in a bid to impress corporate leaders and discredit Conservative claims the party is “anti-business” ahead of the next general election. It says a pledge to boost the protection of gig economy workers was “diluted”, according to…

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Wet weather dampens retail sales in Great Britain The Guardian says Wet weather has been blamed for a worse-than-expected fall in retail sales last month, with households in Great Britain shunning the high street and pulling back on clothes purchases. Official figures showed that the quantity of goods bought fell 1.2% month on month in July, worse than average analyst forecasts of a 0.5% drop in sales volumes. It follows a 0.6% rise in June.…

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Elementor #543257 August 17, 20231 Min Read Financial Times – Underlying inflation pressures keep heat on Bank of England rate-setters Summary of the Top 6 headlines today The FT reports underlying pressures remain on the Bank of England despite a drop in headline inflation. Borrowing costs are still set to rise which will prove a further pinch on people’s earnings, the paper writes. The news will put pressure on the Bank of England as it…

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City AM – Pay growth will force rates higher Wage growth has ‘passed its peak’ as Andrew Bailey prepares to address City on interest rates CITY AM says Workers returning to the jobs markets and boosting the volume of candidates available to businesses are poised to put a lid on wage growth, analysts are predicting official numbers this week will show. Pay growth is said to have “passed its peak” after raging for more than…

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Financial Times – Saudi Arabia and UAE buy Nvidia chips Summary of the front page The news that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are buying up thousands of Nvidia chips as the join the global AI arms race is the splash in the Financial Times, with the paper reporting that there are fears the autocratic regimes in the countries could misuse artificial intelligence. The paper writes that the countries are “choking” the supply…

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Price of milk and sunflower oil starting to fall Food prices are finally “edging down” even though shopping bills remain high, new data suggests. Research firm Kantar said shoppers paid on average £1.50 for four pints of milk in July, down from £1.69 in March.  Other food staples also dropped, including the average cost of a litre of sunflower oil, which is 22p less than in the spring. It comes as grocery inflation – the…

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