Author: James Carter

A federal judge appointed by Barack Obama has dealt a significant blow to Donald Trump’s efforts to curtail the hiring of foreign workers, striking down the President’s attempt to impose a $100,000 fee on H-1B visas as an unlawful tax. District Judge Leo Sorokin ruled in favour of 20 blue states that had challenged the Trump administration’s September proclamation, which had set the new fee level with the explicit aim of reducing the number of H-1B visas being issued. Drawing on the Supreme Court’s decision defending the Obamacare individual mandate as a tax rather than a penalty, Sorokin concluded that…

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has filed confidentially for a blockbuster initial public offering that could value it at more than $1 trillion — entering a race to Wall Street alongside rivals Anthropic and SpaceX as investor appetite for artificial intelligence reaches extraordinary levels. The ChatGPT maker submitted its filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, setting it on a pathway to a long-awaited public debut. No size, terms or timeline for the offering have been disclosed, but OpenAI is widely expected to want to reach market before Anthropic — the maker of the Claude chatbot, which filed its…

Britain’s leading business lobby has warned that Labour’s leadership battle and relentless tax rises on business are freezing private sector hiring and dragging down the country’s economic growth prospects — as unemployment is forecast to rise by 200,000 this year. The CBI’s latest economic forecast downgrades UK growth from 1.3 to 1.1 per cent for 2025 and from 1.5 to a sharply weaker 0.9 per cent for 2027, as the Iran conflict drives up global costs and domestic political instability compounds the damage. Unemployment is predicted to climb to 5.5 per cent as private sector employers halt recruitment in response…

Andy Burnham has broken with the careful ambiguity of his leadership campaign to demand Labour “go further” in tackling illegal migration, warning that small boat crossings are corroding public trust in politics and agreeing with Nigel Farage that Britain needs to restore order to its immigration system. The Greater Manchester Mayor, who is widely expected to win next week’s Makerfield by-election and use it as a launchpad for a Labour leadership challenge against Sir Keir Starmer, made the comments to BBC Radio Manchester as he sought to position himself as a more credible voice on an issue that has dominated…

Apple chief executive Tim Cook has personally called Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to tell him that Australia’s world-leading social media age restrictions partly inspired the tech giant’s sweeping new suite of child safety features — and has invited him to visit Apple’s headquarters to see the technology in action. Albanese announced on Tuesday that Cook had briefed him directly on Apple’s major new online safety update, which includes simplified child account setup, a new “Ask to Browse” feature requiring parental approval for website access, customisable Time Allowances, a redesigned Screen Time dashboard and an expanded Communication Safety tool that…

Yvette Cooper has publicly blamed Whitehall’s HR and legal processes for handing Peter Mandelson a £75,000 payout following his dismissal as US ambassador — insisting she personally sought to block the payment on multiple occasions but was overruled. The Foreign Secretary told The Sun she had asked for the payout to be reviewed “at different stages” during the process, but that legal and employment obligations within the Foreign Office ultimately prevailed. “As you can imagine, there’s been all sorts of legal processes and employment processes gone through, but at different stages I’ve asked for that to be reviewed,” she said.…

Sir Keir Starmer has issued a direct ultimatum to technology companies operating in the United Kingdom: introduce device controls to prevent children from sending and receiving sexually explicit images — or face new legislation forcing them to do so. The Prime Minister made the warning in a speech focused on artificial intelligence and the digital economy, drawing a sharp line between the government’s enthusiasm for technological innovation and its willingness to act against companies that fail to protect children. “If they choose not to, then we will act, and we will change the law,” Starmer said. “Standing by is not…

Tate & Lyle, one of Britain’s most recognisable food and ingredients brands, has agreed to be sold to American rival Ingredion in a £2.7 billion deal — the latest in a growing wave of British companies falling into foreign hands that is fuelling alarm about the vulnerability of UK-listed firms to overseas predators. The FTSE 250 ingredients firm, founded in Liverpool in 1921 through the merger of two family-owned sugar businesses, confirmed on Monday that it had agreed to an all-cash takeover from Illinois-based Ingredion at 595p per share plus a 20p dividend, representing a total value of 615p per…

Business confidence in hiring has fallen to its lowest point in 15 years as the combined pressures of the Middle East conflict and political turmoil within the Labour government push employers toward temporary contracts and away from permanent recruitment, new figures show. Permanent staff hiring fell at its sharpest pace in ten months in May, according to a closely watched survey by accountants KPMG and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation — with employers responding to the uncertainty by turning to temporary workers instead, who saw a sharp rise in demand. KPMG boss Jon Holt said the figures reflected a growing…

Oil prices surged toward $100 a barrel on Monday after Israel defied Donald Trump’s calls for restraint and launched revenge strikes on Iranian military targets — including a petrochemical plant — in the most dangerous escalation of the Middle East conflict since a ceasefire was brokered in April. Brent crude futures jumped $3.20, or 3.39 per cent, to $96.24 a barrel just after 4.30am UK time on Monday 8 June, according to the Express, while US crude futures rose $2.87, or 3.17 per cent, to $93.41 per barrel. The price surge erased Friday’s losses, which had come on hopes of…