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☆ Tesla scores court win in Sweden in month-long battle with unions
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-28 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

London CNN —Elon Musk has notched a victory against Swedish workers as a court ruled that Tesla can collect license plates for its cars from the country’s transport authority after postal workers refused to deliver them. Postal workers stopped delivering them to the company last week in sympathy with Tesla’s mechanics who began an ongoing strike in late October. Musk called the postal workers’ actions “insane” in a post on X last week. “Swedish wages and working conditions should apply to all workers in Sweden,” the body said in a statement on its website earlier this month. A company that comes to Sweden must adapt to what applies here.”Musk, the world’s richest man, has been vocal about his opposition to unions.

Persons: London CNN — Elon, Tesla, Musk, ” Tesla, dockworkers, ” Musk, — Olesya Dmitracova Organizations: London CNN, CNN, Sweden’s Transport Agency, Reuters, Transport Agency, Tesla, IF Metall, Swedish Trade Union Confederation, National Labor Relations Board, IG Metall Locations: Norrköping, Sweden’s, Sweden, Swedish, “, Tesla, Berlin, Germany

☆ Chevron Australia workers to restart strikes next week after deal talks falter
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-10 | by ( Michelle Toh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Hong Kong CNN —Union workers are set to go on strike at Chevron’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities in Australia next Thursday, in renewed action that could disrupt about 7% of global LNG supply. The proposed deals had contained improvements in pay and other conditions, leading unions to call off strikes at the time. Fresh strikes could again threaten to disrupt production at Chevron’s hugely significant Wheatstone and Gorgon facilities, located near the coast of Western Australia. In separate statements shared with CNN, Chevron and the alliance said they had worked to draft agreements based on recommendations from Australia’s Fair Work Commission. Chevron added that it remained “committed” to a deal and hoped to resolve the last outstanding issues.

Persons: “, ”, Felix Booth, — Olesya Dmitracova Organizations: Hong Kong CNN — Union, Chevron, Offshore Alliance, CNN, Chevron Australia Locations: Hong Kong, Australia, Western Australia, reneging, ”

☆ Russia wields ‘silent weapon’ of grain exports to weaken Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-05 | by ( Clare Sebastian | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

This will amount to 22.5% of global wheat exports, a market-leading share. In the same period, Ukraine’s share of global wheat exports has shrunk from 9% to an expected level of a little over 6% for this season. “Ukraine’s [grain] exports are vital to its economy and to feed the world,” Bridget A. S&P Global expects its wheat exports to fall by 3.7 million tons to 13.4 million in 2023-24, the lowest in nine years. And a significant reduction in the global wheat supply could yet lift prices, suggests Welsh.

Persons: Dmitry Medvedev, Vladimir Putin, ” Caitlin Welsh, Bridget A, Putin, Andrey Sizov, Stringer, ” Welsh, Sizov, Vladimir Nikolayev, Paul Hughes, ”, Olesya, Svitlana Vlasova Organizations: London CNN —, Russia’s Security, Global, CNN, Initiative, Center for Strategic, International Studies, Moscow, Twitter, Getty, Union, European Commission, EU, US Department of Agriculture, Reuters, Romania, P Global, “ Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Moscow, Nedvigovka, AFP, Ukraine’s, Poland, mudslinging, Egypt, Siberian Novosibirsk, “ Ukraine

☆ ‘Argentina on the Channel.’ Mark Carney and Liz Truss clash over UK economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-18 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

London CNN —When Liz Truss was briefly Britain’s prime minister a year ago, the world’s sixth-largest economy came close to resembling Argentina, a country plagued by financial and economic instability. Truss and her Brexit-backing allies have long argued that lower taxes and fewer regulations — akin to Singapore’s approach — would help kickstart sorely needed growth in the UK. Britain, for its part, is battling stubbornly high inflation, feeble economic growth and a rising public debt burden, which is the costliest to service among rich economies. At the time, Carney, who was head of the Bank of England from 2013 to 2020, accused Truss’s government of “undercutting” the nation’s economic institutions. “Mark Carney is part of the 25-year economic consensus that has led to low growth across the Western world,” she said.

Persons: Liz Truss, Mark Carney, kickstart, Carney, “, Kwasi Kwarteng, Truss’s, undercutting, “ Mark Carney, ”, ” Truss, Olesya Dmitracova Organizations: London CNN, Bank of England, Institute for Government Locations: Argentina, United Kingdom, Montreal, Singapore, London

☆ France announces more food price caps in effort to curb inflation
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-31 | by ( Joseph Ataman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Paris CNN —The number of price-capped products in French supermarkets will double to 5,000, finance minister Bruno Le Maire said Thursday, as data revealed another month of double-digit food inflation. Speaking to French broadcaster France2, Le Maire also criticized several multinational companies, including Unilever (UL) and PepsiCo (PEP), for not doing enough to help French consumers. The price caps, agreed with producers and distributors, aim “to definitively break the spiral of food prices,” he said, noting that the affected products made up around a quarter of a typical supermarket’s offerings. In June, Le Maire said 75 top food companies had agreed to cut prices on hundreds of products from July in line with declines in raw material costs. According to provisional data released by the country’s statistics institute Thursday, French food prices rose 11.1% this month compared with a year ago, less than they did in July but still more than double the rate of overall inflation.

Persons: Bruno Le Maire, France2, Le Maire, “, ”, ” Le Maire, Olesya Dmitracova Organizations: Paris CNN, Unilever, UL, PepsiCo, Nestle

☆ Brexit: The UK economy still can't cope with the consequences of leaving the EU
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-29 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Tuesday’s announcement also highlights long-running concerns that border checks on food imports from the EU — which supplies 28% of the food consumed in Britain — could choke off supplies. Physical inspections have been pushed back to the end of April, with the final controls on EU imports — safety and security declarations — postponed to October 2024. Some UK industry groups welcomed the latest delays to border checks, which, they said, will add costs and friction to supply chains. The UK inflation rate is the highest in the G7, with consumer prices rising 6.8% in July compared with a year ago. Beyond inflation, food supply disruptions remain a lingering concern in the UK, which imports just under half of all the food it consumes.

Persons: Brexit, ”, Shane Brennan, ” Brennan, Andrew Opie, Rishi Sunak, Olesya Dmitracova Organizations: London CNN, European Union, London School of Economics, EU, Chain Federation, British Retail Consortium, Britain, and Drink Federation Locations: Britain, United Kingdom, EU

☆ Heineken sells Russian business for $1 as it completes exit
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-25 | by ( Niamh Kennedy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

London CNN —Heineken has announced its departure from Russia following the sale of its business in the country for a symbolic €1 ($1). The brewer expects to incur a total loss of €300 million ($323 million) from the deal. But over the past 18 months, the Kremlin has made it increasingly difficult for Western firms to sell their Russian assets. In March, Heineken said it had decided to “do everything possible” to avoid its Russian business being nationalized, while leaving the country “as quickly as possible.”“First, we don’t think the Russian state or the people closest to it would have the best interests of our people at heart. Second, we were uncomfortable that the Russian state should benefit from forced appropriation of major business assets,” it said in a statement.

Persons: London CNN —, Dolf van den Brink, ”, — Olesya Dmitracova Organizations: London CNN, London CNN — Heineken, Arnest Group, Heineken, Arnest Locations: Russia, Russian, Moscow, Ukraine

☆ Why are so many Western firms staying put in Russia, despite the rising risks?
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

London CNN —When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, a slew of Western companies left in protest. Companies now find themselves caught between Western sanctions and public outrage on the one hand, and an increasingly hostile Russian government on the other. The Kremlin is making it more difficult for Western firms to sell their Russian assets — and imposing steep discounts and punitive taxes when they do. Both companies had been finalizing sales to local buyers when President Vladimir Putin signed an order nationalizing their local assets earlier this month. Spurred by sweeping Western sanctions, oil companies, automakers, technology firms, consultancies and banks led the initial wave of departures.

Persons: —, Vladimir Putin, Carlsberg, Maria Shagina, Andrey Rudakov, Konstantin Zavrazhin, Hein Schumacher, Schumacher, ”, ” Procter, Gamble, ” Mondelez, Fortum Oyj, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, ” Sonnenfeld, — Olesya Dmitracova Organizations: London CNN, Nestlé, Heineken, Companies, Danone, Carlsberg, Breweries, International Institute for Strategic Studies, CNN, Bloomberg, Getty, Yale University, Yale, Unilever, UL, Procter, Gamble, Treasury, Foreign, Control, Carlsberg — Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Lyubuchany, Rosneft, Moscow, Russian

Gallium and germanium will be subject to export controls starting August 1 “to protect national security and interests,” China’s Ministry of Commerce said in a statement Monday. Gallium and germanium are used in a variety of products, including computer chips and solar panels. Beijing’s move comes just days after the Dutch government announced new restrictions on exports of some semiconductor equipment, drawing an angry response from Beijing, according to Reuters. The new rules mean that ASML (ASML), Europe’s largest tech firm, will need to apply for export licenses for products used to make microchips. Critics of the decision “could ask the US government why it holds the world’s largest germanium mines but seldom exploits them.

Persons: Janet Yellen, Yellen, — Olesya Dmitracova Organizations: Paris CNN — Beijing, China’s Ministry of Commerce, . Geological Survey, Reuters, China, US, Communist Party, Treasury Locations: Paris, United States, Europe, China, Beijing, Japan, Italy, Washington, Netherlands

☆ IMF: Banking crisis boosts risks and dims outlook for world economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Julia Horowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

“Uncertainty is high, and the balance of risks has shifted firmly to the downside so long as the financial sector remains unsettled,” the organization said in its latest report. Changing forecastsInvestors are looking for additional pockets of vulnerability in the financial sector. The “fog around the world economic outlook has thickened,” it said. Looking ahead to 2028, global growth is estimated at 3%, the lowest medium-term forecast since 1990. The body’s forecast for global growth this year is now closer to that from the World Bank.

The CPTPP is a free trade agreement with 11 members: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, New Zealand, Singapore and Vietnam. The UK agreement comes almost two years after it began talks to join the pact. The UK Office for Budget Responsibility, which produces economic forecasts for the government, expects Brexit to reduce Britain’s output by 4% over 15 years compared with remaining in the bloc. Becoming a CPTPP member means that more than 99% of UK exports to the 11 other countries will now be eligible for tariff-free trade. Services made up a huge chunk — 43% — of overall UK trade with CPTPP members last year, according to Sunak’s office.

☆ US has replaced Russia as Europe's biggest crude oil supplier
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Anna Cooban | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

London CNN —The United States is now the biggest supplier of crude oil to the European Union. In December, 18% of the bloc’s crude imports came from America, EU data office Eurostat said Tuesday. Oil independenceImports of Russian crude into the bloc were volatile between February and April last year, Eurostat said. By the end of the year, “the EU’s biggest suppliers of crude oil were the United States, Norway, and Kazakhstan, showing that the EU managed to adapt to the changing oil market landscape and virtually remove its dependence on Russian oil,” Eurostat said. India and China, in particular, have ramped up oil imports from Russia since the invasion of Ukraine.

☆ Yeezy fallout could push Adidas into its first annual loss in 31 years
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Anna Cooban | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

The company broke off its lucrative nine-year partnership with Yeezy designer Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, in October. The rupture knocked around €600 million ($633 million) off the company’s fourth-quarter revenue, Adidas said Wednesday. But the controversy has appeared to fuel demand for Yeezy sneakers through other sellers. Adidas could perform better this year if it “repurposes” some of its Yeezy products, the company said without elaborating. “2023 will be a year of transition to set the base to again be a growing and profitable company,” Chief Executive Officer Bjørn Gulden said in a statement last month.

☆ IMF chief: Ukraine war will have ‘devastating’ consequences for Russia’s economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Julia Horowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

In January, the IMF projected that Russia’s economy would expand by 0.3% this year and 2.1% the next. Georgieva told CNN that Russia’s economy would suffer over time as workers emigrated and access to technology was cut off, and as sanctions on its vast energy industry took a toll. Yet according to Georgieva, it’s essential policymakers don’t ease up on interest rate hikes prematurely, lest prices soar again. The Fed slowed the pace of rate hikes last month, but Powell indicated in testimony to Congress Tuesday that the central bank may need to turn hawkish again. The Fed “would be prepared to increase the pace of rate hikes” if necessary, he added.

☆ Elon Musk aiming to find his successor at Twitter by end of year
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Becky Anderson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

Dubai CNN —Elon Musk is aiming to “find someone else” to run Twitter by the end of this year. He first needs to “stabilize the organization” and make sure “it’s financially in a healthy place,” Musk said Wednesday, speaking via videolink at the World Government Summit in Dubai. “Probably towards the end of this year would be good timing to find someone else to run the company,” he said. “I think it should be in a stable position around the end of this year.”In December, the billionaire said he would step down as Twitter’s CEO but only when he identified a successor, after millions of Twitter users voted for his ouster in a poll that he set up on the platform. Musk’s tenure as CEO has resulted in sweeping, occasionally erratic shifts at one of the world’s most influential social media companies.

☆ Britain hit by biggest day of strikes in a decade as pay disputes escalate
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

The bill would require basic service levels to be maintained in the fire, ambulance and rail sectors in the event of walkouts. Strikes will affect around 23,400 schools, about 85%, in England and Wales, with many closed fully or partially. According to the union, pay for experienced teachers has declined by 23% since 2010 once inflation is taken into account. In a sign that industrial unrest could escalate further, UK firefighters have voted to strike for the first time since 2003. The Fire Brigades Union has given the government until February 9 to make an improved pay offer.

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