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Business news from Australia and around the world: companies, deals, earnings, regulation and the people running them.

1818 articles · page 25 of 38

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Children's books featuring Black protagonists fall 8% in UK, study finds

The number of children's books published in the UK featuring Black main characters fell by nearly 8% last year, according to new research from the literacy charity Inclusive Books for Children. The report, which surveyed 2,189 books for under-10s published in 2025, found that just 47 titles (2.1%) had a Black main character, a decrease from the previous year. Black children make up about 8.5% of this age group in England and Wales.

·2 min
Business

Ed Kavalee's 'Cop This' brings fast, furious comedy to Australian screens

Ed Kavalee's new police comedy 'Cop This' is a rapid-fire, gag-driven film shot in just 12 days, a pace the actor and co-director compares to the Australian classic 'The Castle'. The film, co-directed with Peter Lawler, aims to prove that fast, lean production can deliver high-quality comedy, and the question it poses to the industry is whether this could become a new template for Australian television.

·2 min·3 sources
Business

Chick-fil-A CEO says chain is weathering industry downturn, has no plans to go public

Chick-fil-A CEO Andrew Cathy says the family-owned chain has not experienced the same downturn affecting McDonald's, Popeyes and other restaurant competitors, even as it expands internationally and sticks with its conservative growth strategy. Speaking in Manhattan before a hunger relief program activation, Cathy described 2026 as a good year for the Atlanta-based company, which reported $10.3 billion in revenue and $23.92 billion in system sales in 2025.

·2 min·2 sources
Business

Reported assaults on UK trains hit record high, unions say staff at risk

The number of reported assaults on Britain’s railways has risen by a fifth to a record high of almost 25,000 incidents in a year, with rail staff bearing the brunt of the violence. Figures from the Office of Rail and Road show nearly 2,500 physical assaults on workers — an average of about seven every day. Unions say the figures are horrendous but unsurprising after the number of British Transport Police officers fell by more than 10 percent between 2024 and 2026.

·3 min
Business

Tasmania-Victoria undersea power link faces opposition from dairy farmers

The Marinus Link project, a 345-kilometre power and data cable connecting Tasmania and Victoria, is facing opposition from dairy farmer Paul Peluso, who says the planned easement across his property will destroy his livelihood. The undersea and underground transmission line is touted as crucial national infrastructure, but Peluso warns the disruption to his farm's operations could be catastrophic.

·2 min·3 sources
Business

Amazon ends data center NDAs, pledges $1 billion to host communities amid growing backlash

Amazon Web Services has announced it will stop using nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) with government agencies for data center projects and pledged more than $1 billion over five years to communities hosting its facilities. The moves, outlined by AWS CEO Matt Garman in a blog post, aim to counter mounting local opposition that has led to more than 100 data center moratoriums being considered across the United States.

·3 min·6 sources
Business

Australian fashion retail shaken as Cue and Veronika Maine join casualty list

The descent of Cue and Veronika Maine into administration and receivership last month has deepened a crisis in Australian fashion retail, with well-known brands Dion Lee, Seafolly and Betts Shoes also having lost their original form, according to reports. Even as the nation spends $11.6 billion on fashion and apparel online, stiff competition has left many shoppers struggling to find mid-market workwear.

·2 min·3 sources
Business

Amazon and Synopsys sign billion-dollar deal to accelerate AI chip design

Amazon and chip design software company Synopsys have entered a multi-year agreement reportedly worth over a billion dollars, deepening their cooperation on AI chip design, with Amazon licensing Synopsys intellectual property and expanding its use of electronic design automation (EDA) tools, while Synopsys will optimise its multiphysics solutions for Amazon's Trainium and Graviton chips and adopt AWS cloud services.

·2 min
Business

France proposes €43bn in cuts and tax rises as bond sell-off rattles markets

France’s government has proposed a budget for next year that includes €43bn in spending cuts and tax rises, as it seeks to calm a bond sell-off that analysts describe as reminiscent of the euro crisis. The fiscal package would prevent the deficit from reaching 6.5% of GDP but would not stabilise public debt, leaving French bonds under pressure and the threshold for European Central Bank intervention high.

·2 min
Business

Middle East conflict delivers $23 billion windfall to Australian LNG exporters

The war in the Middle East is driving a massive surge in Australian liquefied natural gas (LNG) revenue, with new government figures indicating export earnings could climb to $70 billion this financial year — a $23 billion jump from earlier forecasts. The windfall follows Iranian missile strikes on a key Qatari LNG hub and ongoing disruption through the Strait of Hormuz, which has taken up to 20 per cent of global LNG supply offline.

·2 min·2 sources
Business

Nike's struggles deepen as share price tumbles and Mbappé defects to rival On

Nike, the world's largest sportswear brand, is in the midst of a difficult turnaround after losing sales, customers and ground to rivals. The company's share price has fallen 75% over five years, and it was removed from the S&P 100 index of major US firms last month. Adding to the pressure, football star Kylian Mbappé ended a 20-year association with the brand last week to join fast-growing Swiss competitor On. CEO Elliott Hill, coaxed out of retirement two years ago to lead the recovery, has a strategy that shows early results, but progress is slow.

·2 min
Business

Patriot Resources accelerates exploration at Peru silver-gold project, targets 3km corridor extension

Patriot Resources has completed a maiden surface sampling campaign at the Pachamayo target, north of its existing resource at the Tassa silver-gold project in southern Peru, and has immediately launched a larger exploration program to test a 3.1-kilometre-long mineralised corridor. The work aims to extend the project beyond its current 31.4-million-ounce silver-equivalent inferred resource.

·2 min·2 sources