Twitter: the bird is free but can’t fly financially
Twitter: the bird is free but can’t fly financially
Musk has drawn up plans to cut about 3,700 jobs, or half of the workforce, according to two people familiar with the plans, who added that the final figure could change. The move was immediately met by a class-action lawsuit from a small group of Twitter employees, alleging the company had violated labour laws by failing to give the required advance notice.
Musk claimed on Friday that Twitter “has had a massive drop in revenue. Big brands such as General Motors, Carlsberg, Volkswagen have paused marketing since Musk took the helm of the company as some advertisers are fearful he will allow a wave of hate speech and misinformation to spill on to the platform.
US oil producers reap $200bn windfall from Ukraine war price surge
The geopolitical turmoil of Russia Ukraine war has enabled US oil producers to rake a profit of $200 billion in the interim. S&P Global Commodity Insights for the Financial Times analysis states the aggregate net income for publicly listed oil companies operating in US is estimated to $200.24bn.
This should be read with the current political situation of US where President Joe Biden dubbed the outsized earning a ‘windfall of war’ and accused companies of taking advantage of the conflict. He further stated he would ask Congress to hit the oil companies with higher taxes unless they invested the cash haul into pumping more oil to bring down prices at the pump.
Windfall tax legislation remains unlikely to pass in Washington. But it has become a reality across the Atlantic: Brussels has introduced a 33 per cent “solidarity contribution” on excess profits, while London has enacted an additional 25 per cent “energy profits levy” that has taken the tax on profits to 65 per cent until the end of 2025. Rishi Sunak, the new UK prime minister, is considering increasing the levy to 30 per cent and extending it to 2028.
Dark clouds overshadow opening of COP27 climate summit in Egypt
The UN's annual climate change summit has opened with hosts Egypt calling on countries to move from "pledges to an era of implementation".
More than 120 world leaders are due to make speeches at the conference, known as COP27, in Sharm el-Sheikh.
As COP27 opened the UN released a new report it described as a "chronicle of climate chaos".
The UK PM Rishi Sunak is expected to urge world leaders to move "further and faster" in transitioning to renewable energy.
He will also tell leaders not to "backslide" on commitments made at last year's COP26 summit in Glasgow.
Protests - which are normally a vibrant feature of COP summits - are likely to be subdued.
Egypt's President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, in power since 2014, has overseen a widespread crackdown on dissent. Rights groups estimate the country has had as many as 60,000 political prisoners, many detained without trial.
Mr Shoukry has said that space would be set aside in Sharm el-Sheikh for protests to take place. However, Egyptian activists have told the BBC that many local groups had been unable to register for the conference.
Imran Khan: Shock and condemnation over attack on Pakistan ex-PM
An attack on Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan - which supporters say was an attempted assassination - has drawn international condemnation.
Mr Khan, 70, is recovering in hospital after being shot in the leg on Thursday at a protest march in Wazirabad, in the north-east of the country.
One person was killed and at least 10 injured in the attack on his convoy.
But Mr Khan is in a stable condition, his team say, and could potentially be discharged in the coming days.
The attack on Mr Khan has electrified the country, which the cricketer-turned-politician led until April, when he was ousted by a parliamentary vote of no confidence.
Schools were closed in the capital, Islamabad, after his party - the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) - called for nationwide protests following Friday prayers. President Arif Alvi - a founding member of the PTI - called it a "heinous assassination attempt".