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Ford cuts 4,000 jobs in Europe, including 800 in UK, after slowdown in EV sales

Ford has said it will cut 4,000 jobs in Europe, becoming the latest carmaker to try to reduce costs amid slowing growth in electric car sales and competition from China.The American carmaker said on Wednesday it would axe 800 jobs in the UK and 2,900 in Germany. The company’s UK factories in Dagenham and Halewood will not be affected.The cuts represent about 14% of Ford’s 28,000 workforce in Europe and will be completed by the end of 2027.Ford is the latest in a series of global carmakers to aim for cost savings as the industry struggles with waning demand while also trying to invest in the transition to electric cars

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Ford to cut 4,000 jobs in Europe, with Germany and the UK hardest hit – as it happened

Ford has announced it will cut 4,000 jobs in Europe, mainly in Germany and the UK.This amounts to 14% of the American carmaker’s European workforce. The layoffs will be made by the end of 2027. Globally, they represent around 2.3% of Ford’s workforce of 174,000

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Severn Trent’s profits triple as it fails drinking water risk rules

Severn Trent has nearly tripled its profits even as the FTSE 100 water company said it had failed to meet a drinking water risk standard.The company, which serves 4.7 million customers stretching from Bristol and mid-Wales to the Humber, said it would be “in penalty this year” over a measure of water quality known as the compliance risk index (CRI).Water companies have come under close scrutiny over pollution and water quality in recent years, as politicians have accused the sector of not investing enough in vital infrastructure even as shareholders made impressive returns.Several other water companies are under severe financial strain as they struggle under big debt loads

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Santander puts aside £295m for car loan mis-selling

Santander UK has put aside £295m to cover potential payouts to car loan customers as the bank issued its first estimate of the financial fallout from the growing car loan mis-selling scandal.The figures were released alongside the bank’s third-quarter results, which were delayed last month after a court of appeal ruling said it was unlawful for two lenders to have paid a “secret” commission to car dealers without borrowers’ knowledge.The provision dented the bank’s pre-tax profits, which fell to £143m in the quarter, down from £413m in the second quarter.Car lenders such as Santander UK had already been facing potential payouts over a Financial Conduct Authority investigation into a specific type of commission payment, discretionary commission arrangements,that was banned in 2021.However, the court judgment went beyond the scope of the FCA investigation and City regulation, extending into common law and opening the door to a much larger compensation bill for motor loan providers

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Australia’s Future Fund to invest in housing, infrastructure and energy transition under new mandate

Australia’s $230bn sovereign wealth fund will be retooled to help build houses, improve infrastructure and combat global heating under a new investment mandate.The Albanese government has announced that the independently managed Future Fund will get a new investment mandate and statement of expectations, the latter of which is the first update for the financial asset fund in 15 years.Under the changes, the fund will have to consider national priorities including increasing the domestic supply of residential housing, continuing to support the energy transition as part of the net zero transformation of the Australian economy, and delivering improved local infrastructure including economic resilience and security infrastructure.The government is hoping a greater certainty of investment in assets that have long-term benefits will encourage more supply of housing and clean energy projects.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news emailGreg Combet, the chair of the Future Fund board of guardians, said it would appoint a new executive director responsible for the energy transition in response to the changes

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Rio Tinto review shows rise in rape and bullying reports

Rio Tinto has said the number of its employees who reported they have experienced actual or attempted sexual assault or rape has increased over the last two years, despite efforts to improve its workplace culture in recent years.A report on the Anglo-Australian mining company, authored by the former Australian sex discrimination commissioner, Elizabeth Broderick, found “mixed results” in its efforts to implement a programme to change its culture in an effort stamp out sexual assault, bullying and racism.Broderick’s 76-page report on the company, which employs 57,000 globally, noted that a rise in bullying against women was in part “retaliation” to Rio Tinto’s efforts to “promote gender diversity and inclusion”.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news emailThe report revealed that eight allegations of rape or attempted rape in the past 12 months, up from five cases in 2021. The report also found 32 employees reported experiencing pressure or requests for sex or sexual acts, down from 37 people in 2021

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UK inflation rises to 2.3%, increasing pressure to delay interest rate cut

Inflation could rise above 3% next year after it increased to 2.3% in October, heaping pressure on the Bank of England to delay further interest rate cuts until the spring.Figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Wednesday showed that a rise in energy bills pushed up the consumer prices index (CPI), reversing a downward trend this year in inflation, which was 1.7% in September.The figure for the year to October was slightly above the 2

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Lidl warns of price rises and HMV of job cuts amid backlash over UK budget

Lidl has warned of potential price rises, with HMV predicting job cuts as a result of cost increases caused by the UK government’s budget.Doug Putman, the owner of the British entertainment retailer HMV, said the budget was “bad news in general” and “most retailers would be on a pause” in their expansion plans as the cost of employing staff rose. “We won’t open, we will wait,” he said.“I would be surprised if we could find a way to get through this without cutting jobs,” he added. He said retailers took on extra staff for Christmas and often kept some on permanently, but the industry was “probably not going to see as much of that this year”

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Can a fluffy robot really replace a cat or dog? My weird, emotional week with an AI pet

Casio says Moflin can develop its own personality and build a rapport with its owner – and it doesn’t need food, exercise or a litter tray. But is it essentially comforting or alienating?It looks faintly like one half of a small pair of very fluffy slippers. It squeaks and wriggles and nestles in the palm of my hand, black eyes hidden beneath a mop of silvery-white fur. It weighs about the same as a tin of soup. It doesn’t need to be fed or walked and it doesn’t use a litter tray; it’s guaranteed not to leave “gifts” on my doorstep

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US justice department plans to push Google to sell off Chrome browser

US justice department officials plan to ask a judge to force Google to sell off its Chrome browser to dismantle the monopoly it has over the internet search market, in a major intervention against one of the world’s biggest tech companies.The Department of Justice (DoJ) last month filed court papers saying it was considering enforcing “structural remedies” to prevent Google from using some its products.The DoJ will reportedly push for Google, which is owned by Alphabet, to sell the browser and also ask a judge to require new measures related to artificial intelligence as well as its Android smartphone operating system, according to Bloomberg.Competition officials, along with a number of US states that have joined the case against the Silicon Valley company, also plan to recommend that the federal judge Amit Mehta imposes data licensing requirements.Google has said it will challenge any case by the DoJ and said the proposals marked an “overreach” by the government that would harm consumers

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Rejigged India can draw strength from 2021 – but still face uphill struggle | Geoff Lemon

Arriving in Australia in the ember weeks of 2024, the Indian Test team is in an unusual position. They are, in a sense, defending champions. Starting in 1947, Asian teams toured Australia 30 times in a row without winning a series. Most of the time they didn’t come close: Australia won 24, six drawn. It was January 2019 in Sydney, after more than seven decades, that India’s run mountain while leading the series forced the home team to bat for a draw

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‘No intention of stopping’: meet the F1 mechanic set for 600th straight race

Whatever happens at the Las Vegas Grand Prix this weekend, Aston Martin will be celebrating a remarkable achievement. It’s viva Las Vegas for Andy Stevenson, Aston’s sporting director who will mark his 600th grand prix here, a feat of longevity made all the more striking by the fact he has not missed a race since he joined the team as a callow youth in 1987.Such was his childhood ambition to work in F1 that he committed to it in writing. “My mother recently found the paperwork from my first visit to the careers office which said I wanted to work with fast cars and travel the world,” he says with a smile.“I was always interested in anything mechanical and F1 cars are the best machines on the planet