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Business news from Australia and around the world: companies, deals, earnings, regulation and the people running them.
1811 articles · page 32 of 38
Google has implemented changes to its search results in Europe to comply with the European Union's Digital Markets Act, but the company warns the adjustments significantly degrade search quality for travel and shopping queries, following a €460 million fine in July for favouring its own services.
The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded a $1.9 billion loan to NextEra Energy to refurbish the Duane Arnold Energy Center in Iowa, a nuclear plant that Google plans to use to power its AI data centers. The loan is the second of its kind under the Trump administration, signaling a push to revive nuclear power for the tech industry.
Flights across the UK face significant delays and disruption after an air traffic control issue hit airports including Heathrow and Gatwick, with departures from London airports worst affected since the fault was reported early Tuesday afternoon.
Poseidon Aerospace has closed a $60 million Series A funding round led by TQ Ventures as the startup prepares for the first test flight of its uncrewed cargo aircraft, Egret, expected by the end of this year. The company, founded by David Zagaynov and Parker Tenney, is taking a deliberately unglamorous approach to air cargo—opting for fixed-wing combustion-engine planes rather than the vertical takeoff or electric powertrains favored by many advanced air mobility startups.
Suppliers to Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) have expressed alarm following the carmaker’s announcement that it will cut 4,000 jobs over two years, with one major parts manufacturer warning that the outlook is increasingly difficult.
Thailand has requested that operators of 49 data centers currently under construction pause their buildouts while the government develops a unified regulatory framework. The National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC) is leading a week-long information-gathering effort, with a draft law expected within a month. However, the request is voluntary — NESDC secretary-general Danucha Pichayanan acknowledged the government lacks the power to suspend construction, and any future legislation will apply retroactively to ongoing projects.
United States data centers are facing increased scrutiny over wastewater pollution, with a recent incident at a Meta facility in Cheyenne, Wyoming, drawing attention after tests detected a rare and potentially hazardous bacterium in 801,000 gallons of discharged water.
An investigation by YouTube channel Gamers Nexus, in collaboration with Level1Techs and independent security researchers, has found that LG smart TVs are almost constantly logging and uploading data about owners and their homes, even when the TVs are offline or in standby mode.
More than 40 UK retailers, including Marks & Spencer, John Lewis, Asda and Pets at Home, have partnered with the Department for Work and Pensions to create up to 100,000 short-term placements over the next three years for young people aged 18 to 24 who are not in employment, education or training (Neet).
Benmara Station, a 450,000-hectare cattle property in the Northern Territory's Barkly region, has sold for $26 million — $14 million less than its 2023 purchase price — after a grand plan to generate carbon credits on the land failed to materialise. The buyer is UK-based livestock producer Shaun Davis, trading as Benmara Land Holdings, and settlement occurred on September 2, according to the NT Land Titles Office.
Venture capital firm EVP has launched a new program named 40x, designed to support software startup founders who are already generating revenue and scaling their businesses. The initiative aims to bring together up to 40 of Australia's most promising early-stage software founders as they prepare to raise capital over the next year.
The European Commission (EC) may be laying the groundwork for an investigation into Oracle's software licensing practices, following its recent action against SAP, according to reports. The EC has begun examining Oracle's licensing terms and is seeking views from third parties, though no formal investigation has been opened.
The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has launched an investigation into Tesla's self-certification of its Cybercab autonomous vehicle, just hours after the vehicle began commercial operations on the streets of Austin, Texas. The probe centers on the Cybercab's lack of conventional controls such as brake pedals, steering wheels, and mirrors, and whether Tesla properly certified the vehicle under federal safety standards.
Grindr has agreed to pay £26 million to settle a UK class action lawsuit alleging it shared users' sensitive personal information — including HIV status, ethnicity and sexual orientation — with third parties for commercial purposes, the company disclosed in a regulatory filing. The settlement, reached on 2 September, covers claims dating back to before 2020 when the app was owned by Chinese firm Kunlun.
An Amazon Prime Air cargo jet tore off the runway at Miami International Airport on Sunday at roughly 129mph (208km/h), slamming into a van and an SUV and killing five people, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has confirmed. NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy described the scene as 'utter devastation,' as investigators probe whether the Boeing 767 landed too fast and too far down the runway to stop in time.
The UK retailer Next has overturned a 2024 court ruling that required it to pay shop staff the same basic pay rates as warehouse workers, in what the company described as a landmark victory in its ongoing equal pay litigation.
One year after the EU's repairability requirements for smartphones and tablets came into force, more than 80 percent of devices still lack the necessary repair information, according to a report by Right to Repair Europe. The campaign group found that of 2,334 records for smartphone models brought to market in the last year, only about 18 percent list a website where spare parts prices or repair instructions can be found.
Five people have died and three are seriously injured after an Amazon-branded cargo plane operated by 21Air overran a runway at Miami International Airport, crossing a road and coming to rest in a car park with its starboard engine ablaze. The Boeing 767, bearing Amazon's Prime Air livery, was landing on runway 30 in stormy conditions when it failed to stop within the 2,850-metre strip. Two runways remain closed as investigators begin their work.
Labour’s plan to give water customers new powers to hold companies to account has been branded a ‘stitch-up’ by campaigners, after documents revealed that water firms were allowed to advise on how the mechanism should work.
Britain's biggest private hospital operator, Spire Healthcare, has agreed to a £1bn takeover by an investor group led by Toscafund Asset Management, a hedge fund founded by a City figure known as 'the Rottweiler' for his aggressive tactics. The deal, which values the company at £1.03bn, has sparked fears over the creeping privatisation of the NHS.
UK house prices recorded their first annual fall since November 2023 in August, driven by declines in London and southern England, as a stand-off between cautious buyers and reluctant sellers stalls the market. The 0.3% year-on-year drop, reported today by major indices, underscores persistent affordability pressures despite the Bank of England holding rates steady this year.
China has announced a 360 billion yuan ($53.6 billion) capital injection into eight state-owned banks and insurance companies, led by the finance ministry, in a bid to strengthen the financial system and support the slowing economy, state news agency Xinhua reported on Sunday.
Adidas is facing a boycott over a promotional campaign that features an Israeli soldier who is an amputee, according to a report from Al Jazeera.
The debt-ridden Bathla Group has stood down approximately 213 employees and suspended construction on some projects after its administrator, Teneo, secured a short-term funding agreement with five lenders worth between $3 and $5 million, providing enough cash to keep the developer afloat for another two weeks.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has revealed that one pilot repeatedly warned the other about the aircraft's excessive speed in the final minutes before an Amazon cargo plane overshot the runway at Miami International Airport, killing five people. Meanwhile, the widow of a victim has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Amazon, the aircraft's operators and its pilots, alleging multiple operational failures led to the crash.
A leading European industry trade body has warned that EU manufacturing faces 300,000 job losses in the remainder of 2026 unless Brussels acts to stop what it describes as the 'colonisation' of the bloc's industry by Chinese component manufacturers.
Tesla’s long-awaited Cybercab event in Austin left investors unimpressed and drew immediate federal scrutiny, with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opening an investigation into the company’s decision to deploy driverless vehicles lacking steering wheels and pedals. CEO Elon Musk did not attend the unusually quiet event, which lacked the festival-like atmosphere of past Tesla showcases.
Travis Kalanick's robotics startup Atoms is preparing to enter the robotaxi business, according to a Financial Times report, following a mammoth $1.7 billion funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz earlier this summer. The startup has discussed with Uber how the ride-hailing company could use its autonomous vehicle technology, and Uber has already invested $100 million in Atoms, a figure previously confirmed by TechCrunch.
China will inject $54bn (£40bn) into its financial sector as Beijing attempts to shore up banks and insurers in the face of faltering economic growth. The capital will come from state institutions including the ministry of finance and the company that runs the country’s tobacco monopoly, with the aim of bolstering investment in the stock market.
The UK government has made clear it will not provide taxpayer-funded bailouts to Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) as the carmaker faces up to 4,000 redundancies, a cyber-attack, and pressure from US tariffs and Chinese competition.
A new study has accused online bookmakers and casinos of widespread non-compliance with UK data privacy requirements, including allegedly manipulating cookie banners to nudge users toward accepting tracking and harvesting data before proper consent is given.
A severe thunderstorm in late June caused chaos at London's Heathrow and Gatwick airports, delaying some 900 flights and highlighting the growing vulnerability of air travel to climate change. The disruption, which occurred on a busy Saturday during the holiday season, saw delays of up to 11 hours and dozens of cancellations as air traffic controllers struggled to route aircraft around towering storm clouds across southern England and northern Europe.
Microsoft is overhauling its Xbox Cloud Gaming service with new monthly playtime caps for Game Pass subscribers, moving from an unlimited model to a paid-hours system that will take effect in November, the company announced. Under the new policy, Game Pass Essential, Premium, and Ultimate subscribers will be limited to five, 10, and 15 hours of cloud gaming per month, respectively, with the option to purchase extra time through the Xbox Store.
XDOF, a startup that collects real-world teleoperation data for training general-purpose robots, is in late-stage talks to raise a Series B round at a valuation of about $1.2 billion, led by venture firm 8VC. The discussions come less than three months after the company emerged from stealth and announced a $70 million Series A in June 2026.
A US regulator has opened a safety investigation into Tesla Inc., coinciding with the company's launch of driverless taxis, according to a video report from Al Jazeera.
British AI infrastructure company Nscale, founded just two years ago, is reportedly seeking $3.5 billion in pre-IPO financing as it prepares for a potential public listing later this month. According to Bloomberg, the company is looking to sell $1.5 billion in convertible notes to a group of investors while also securing an additional $2 billion in financing from Nvidia.
Al Jazeera has published a headline stating that a US regulator has opened a safety investigation into Tesla as the company launches its driverless taxi service. However, the article content provided does not contain details of the investigation or the taxi launch, listing instead several unrelated video news items. The headline, dated September 4, 2026, is the only information available from the source.
A federal court in Delaware has issued a split ruling in the trademark battle between Elon Musk’s X Corp and startup Operation Bluebird, granting X a preliminary injunction barring the startup from using the ‘Twitter’ name but denying the injunction for the word ‘tweet’ and the Twitter bird logo. The ruling allows the Virginia-based startup to proceed with its rebranded service, Tweet.app, which opened to the public this week.
Microsoft has argued in new court filings that its Copilot chatbot rarely reproduces substantial portions of copyrighted news articles or books, as it fights copyright infringement claims brought by The New York Times and a group of authors. The company provided 8.2 million chat logs to the publishers' expert, claiming that only 59,545 of those logs contained any text from the plaintiffs' works.
Elon Musk's X has secured a court order preventing Operation Bluebird from launching a new app that would use the Twitter name, after a federal judge found that X had not entirely abandoned the trademark and was likely to succeed on infringement and dilution claims. The court noted that X still references 'Twitter' in its Apple App Store listing as 'X (formerly known as Twitter).'
Workers at the leftwing news outlet the Canary have not been paid and fear the site will not survive beyond this year, after its bank blocked access to funds without explanation and amid allegations of financial mismanagement and internal turmoil.
Anthropic's planned blockbuster initial public offering, which could value the Claude AI maker at up to $2 trillion, is forcing investors to scrutinize an experimental governance structure in which a small external trust holds majority control of the board without owning any equity, according to a report.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened an audit query into Tesla’s Cybercab, examining how the electric vehicle maker certified the two-seater for public roads without sideview mirrors, pedals, or a steering wheel. The investigation comes just as Tesla began offering rides to members of the public in Texas and Florida on its Robotaxi network.
South Korean gaming company Krafton, the publisher behind PUBG and Battlegrounds Mobile India, has announced plans to invest an additional $250 million in India over the next three to four years, expanding beyond gaming into artificial intelligence, robotics, and deep tech. The pledge brings Krafton's total planned investment in India to more than $500 million.
Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey has warned that the rise of populist politicians presents a serious challenge to the independence of central banks, urging his colleagues to explain their decisions more clearly or risk being attacked as an 'unrepresentative elite.' His remarks came as Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party gathered for its annual conference in Birmingham.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has launched an investigation into Tesla's decision to deploy its Cybercab on public roads without a steering wheel or brake pedals, just hours after the first vehicles began operating in Austin, Texas. The probe examines whether Tesla's self-certification of compliance with federal motor vehicle safety standards is valid.
Farmers in the UK and US are facing a sharp increase in diesel prices, with costs rising 10% in less than a week due to renewed Middle East conflict and Russia's extended ban on diesel exports, according to reports.
The Group of Seven nations agreed on Friday to release diesel stocks from national reserves in an effort to combat soaring fuel prices, while President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday aimed at addressing the crisis. The moves come as UK coach operators warn that record diesel prices may force cuts to school transport and other services, and as diesel prices in the United States reach an all-time average of $6.32 per gallon, a 68 per cent increase since the start of the Iran war in February.