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How can we survive without plastic?

Start-ups and consumer giants are trying to find a solution to the deluge of plastic packaging that ends up in landfill or polluting our oceans. Finding a solution will be far more complex than just recycling more, Leila Abboud and Leslie Hook tell Pilita Clark. Read Leila's article here or listen to Ellen MacArthur talk about the plastics in our oceans here.


Contributors: Pilita Clark, business columnist, Leila Abboud, consumer industries correspondent, and Leslie Hook, environmental correspondent. Producers: Fiona Symon and Persis Love.

 

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Exposing the problem with default data

Caroline Criado-Perez won the latest Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award with her book Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men. She spoke to Andrew Hill, the FT’s management editor, about the consequences for women and for society as a whole of using men as the default model.


Contributors: Andrew Hill, management editor, and Caroline Criado Perez. Producers: Marc Filippino and Fiona Symon

 

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Putin seeks to secure his legacy with power shake-up

Russia’s president Vladimir Putin has been in power for two decades and now it looks as though he intends to stay indefinitely. He has launched an overhaul of the country’s power structures that could allow him to extend his control after his official term ends in 2024. Katie Martin discusses the move with Max Seddon in Moscow and Ben Hall, Europe editor.


Contributors: Katie Martin, capital markets editor, Max Seddon, Moscow correspondent, and Ben Hall, Europe editor. Producer: Fiona Symon

 

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Can China win big in vaccine race with biotech bet

Nation’s pharma industry has matured but is still a lot better at incremental innovation than major breakthroughs




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Turkey bans FX trades with UBS, Citi and BNP as lira hits record low

Ankara’s banking regulator acts after currency slides below level reached in 2018 crisis




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Corporate bailouts should come with strings

Business cannot expect emergency cash without sensible conditions




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Markets are out of step with economic reality

Investors are looking to the future, but should beware of over-optimism




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Europe has a problem with its SUV habit

The continent faces a new emissions scandal as family vehicles grow bigger and heavier




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US reopening/stocks: dicing with disaster

Bullish investors and gung-ho governors are setting themselves up for a big reality check




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Rio weighs closure of Icelandic smelter as it struggles with power costs

ISAL facility remains unprofitable as aluminium producers face weaker demand and prices




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Vedanta presses on with plan to double oil production

Group’s founder Anil Agarwal undeterred by price crash and debt levels




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Airbus signals further production cut with job losses set to follow

Plane maker’s chief warns aerospace industry in ‘gravest crisis’ as group swings to quarterly loss amid aviation collapse




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Visa in partnership with MFS Africa digital payments hub

Tie-up aims to allow people with mobile wallets to pay for international online services




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Vodafone targets Africa’s unbanked with plans for M-Pesa

Telecoms group seeks to turn mobile payments unit into provider of wider services




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Tesco/UK dividends: welcome to the witch trials

Cancelling payouts should not become a loyalty test




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Cover Genius tops FT ranking with insurtech platform

The Australian company was borne out of an online travel business that had a problem to solve




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Australia’s biggest pension fund says investors will withdraw billions

Executive points to ‘heaps of liquidity’ as members get access to cash due to coronavirus




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Imperial foxtrot: my brush with Japanese royalty

Jurek Martin recalls unlikely encounters with an ancient dynasty, from dance floor to tennis court




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Construction confusion as UK working instructions published then withdrawn

Mixed messages follow industry protests over 2-metre distance ruling




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Brexit solved with the sword of Damocles

The UK is being belligerent, the EU inflexible. But a deal can be done this year




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Investors make big bets on silver closing giant gap with gold

For some analysts the industrial metal looks cheap, even given the Covid-19 slowdown




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How are you coping without your cleaner?

James Max, the FT columnist, takes questions from readers about the misery of household chores




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London market passes first post-Brexit test with £1.3bn listing

Smart meter group’s IPO boosts hopes of fundraising uptick after lacklustre 2019




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Vale ex-CEO charged with homicide over dam disaster

Brazilian prosecutors also accuse miner and safety group of environmental crimes




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Vale launches New York front in bitter battle with Beny Steinmetz

Brazilian group alleges tycoon’s family-controlled mining arm fraudulently funnelled $500m into Manhattan real estate




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Retired customers find it harder to break up with their bank  

Finding a good credit card deal when you’re older is more difficult




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Penalties slashed on Lifetime Isa withdrawals

Treasury reduces charge for removing cash from tax-free accounts for under-40s




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As Europe slowly unlocks, e-scooter startups, like Helbiz, are wooing with offers

At the start of the year, it looked like Europe would be in for a “Summer E-Scooters / E-Bike War,” as both regional startups and U.S.-backed unicorns vied for the pockets of city commuters. Consolidation came when German startup Circ was taken over by U.S. competitor Bird at the start of the year. Still on […]




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Runa Capital closes Fund III at $157M, with an added focus on quantum computing

VC fund Runa Capital was launched with $135 million in 2010, and is perhaps best known for its investment into NGINX, which powers many web sites today. In more recent years it has participated or led investments into startups such as Zipdrug ($10.8 million); Rollbar this year ($11 million); and Monedo (for €20 million). HQ’d […]




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US stock market rally confuses liquidity with solvency

Many zombie companies will fail, no matter how much is sprayed around by the Fed




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Public trust in CEOs ‘evaporates’; building back better with UK social housing; EM green bonds take off

Your guide to the investment and business revolution you can’t afford to ignore




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Discover is Facebook’s new effort to help people access websites for free — but with limits

Facebook has a new connectivity app called Discover to help those who can’t afford to get online access information on the web. The service, available through mobile web and Android app, allows users to visit any website in text format (no video, images, audio and other elements that eat up large amounts of data) and […]




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Facebook’s redesign goes live with simplified navigation and dark mode

After months of testing, Facebook’s redesign is finally official. Announced last year at F8, the more minimalist approach to its desktop design has been rolled out in waves. In March, the company added an option to try out the new version. Users could switch back and leave feedback for why they had done so. This […]




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Factorial raises $16M to take on the HR world with a platform for SMBs

A startup that’s hoping to be a contender in the very large and fragmented market of human resources software has captured the eye of a big investor out of the US and become its first investment in Spain. Barcelona-based Factorial, which is building an all-in-one HR automation platform aimed at small and medium businesses that manages […]




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Spotify Q1 beats on sales of $2B with monthly active users up 31% to 286M

The coronavirus may be decimating some corners of the economy, but the impact on the digital music, as evidenced by the world’s biggest music streaming company, appears to be minimal. Today Spotify reported its earnings for Q1 with revenues of €1.848 billion ($2 billion at today’s rates) and an inching into a positive net income […]




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Twitter Q1: sales up 3% to $808M as it swings to a loss on COVID-19, mDAUS hit record 166M

Despite traffic for many online properties being at an all-time high, advertising has fallen off a cliff because of the downturn in consumer activity outside the home and the wider economic pressures resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. And today, Twitter reported quarterly earnings that bore this trend out. The ad-based social networking and media company said that […]




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China’s Kingsoft Cloud tests US market with biggest IPO in months

First New York listing by a Chinese company since Luckin Coffee debacle




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Twitch launches an esports directory to cater to growing streaming audience

Twitch is doubling down on esports in this new era of social distancing as a number of traditional sporting events have been cancelled. The company this week introduced a new esports directory on its site that will make it easier for viewers to find live matches, information on players, games with active competition leagues, a […]




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Soundcloud to launch live original programming on Twitch

Music streaming service Soundcloud is capitalizing on consumer demand for live entertainment amid the COVID-19 quarantine with the launch of its own slate of originally produced live programming. The company today announced its plans for a new Twitch channel where it will air live chat series and other panel conversations, plus music sets and shows […]




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Pluto TV expands with addition of CBS Sports HQ, new deals with TiVo and Verizon

Free streaming service Pluto TV is expanding. The company has today gained access to streaming sports network CBS Sports HQ as a result of the ViacomCBS merger. It has also forged new distribution deals with Verizon and TiVo, both of which were detailed this week. The free streamer had been acquired by Viacom for $340 […]




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Twitter rolls out changes to threaded conversations following tests in its prototype app, twttr

Twitter announced today it’s introducing a new layout for replies that will use lines and indentations to make it easier to understand who you’re replying to and how the conversation is flowing. The company will also test putting engagement actions — including likes, Retweet and reply icons — behind an extra tap to make replies […]




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TiVo enters the streaming market with a $50 Android TV-powered device, TiVo Stream 4K

TiVo today is launching a new device, its would-be Fire TV Stick competitor known as the TiVo Stream 4K. First announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, this $50 Android TV-powered HDMI dongle is TiVo’s attempt to insert itself into the streaming media device market. The new dongle arrives at a time when TiVo […]




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Will Covid-19 repatriation leave us with a large tax bill?

We are returning to the UK from the US following the virus outbreak




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Autotech Ventures raises more than $150 million with an eye on ground transportation startups

Autotech Ventures popped on the scene three years ago with a $120 million debut fund and a plan to invest in early-stage ground transportation startups. Now, with investments in 26 startups and a handful of exits, including Xnor.ai, DeepScale and Frontier Car Group, the venture firm is back with a new, bigger fund and the […]




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Smartwatch shipments grew during the first quarter of 2020, with Apple Watch still in first place

Despite the worldwide impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, global smartwatch shipments continued to grow during the first three months of the year, driven by online sales, says a new report by research firm Strategy Analytics. Shipments grew 20% annually to reach 13.7 million units in the first quarter of 2020, up from 11.4 million units […]




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UK eyeing switch to Apple-Google API for coronavirus contacts tracing — report

The UK may be rethinking its decision to shun Apple and Google’s API for its national coronavirus contacts tracing app, according to the Financial Times, which reported yesterday that the government is paying an IT supplier to investigate whether it can integrate the tech giants’ approach after all. As we’ve reported before coronavirus contacts tracing […]




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Adobe celebrates Photoshop’s 30th anniversary with new desktop and mobile features

Adobe’s Photoshop celebrates its 30th birthday today. Over that time, the app has pretty much become synonymous with photo editing and there will surely be plenty of retrospectives. But to look ahead, Adobe also today announced a number of updates to both the desktop and mobile Photoshop experiences. The marquee feature here is probably the […]




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iPads become more laptop-like with the arrival of full mouse and trackpad support

Apple just dumped a bunch of hardware news online via press release. That’s just the world we live in right now. We’ll probably be seeing a whole lot of this in the coming weeks and months, as companies adjust to the new online reality. Along with a new MacBook Air and update to the Mac […]




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Review: 100,000 miles and one week with an iPad Pro

For the past eighteen months, the iPad Pro has been my only machine away from home, and until recently, I was away from home a lot, traveling domestically and internationally to event locations around the world or our offices in San Francisco, New York and London. Every moment of every day that I wasn’t at […]




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Apple said to be planning fall iPhone refresh with iPad Pro-like design

Apple is readying a new iPhone for fall to replace the iPhone 11 Pro this fall, Bloomberg reports, as well as follow-ups to the iPhone 11, a new smaller HomePod and a locator tag accessory. The top-end iPhone 11 Pro successors at least will have a new industrial design that more closely resembles the iPad […]