BUSINESS

Sweden's beleaguered electric car battery maker Northvolt said Monday it would cut a quarter of its staff in the country, as it struggles with strained finances and a slowdown in demand.

Everton announced on Monday that the US-based Friedkin Group has reached an agreement to buy Farhad Moshiri's majority stake in the struggling Premier League club.

BGF had initially entered a trading halt on July 1 to restructure its funding arrangements. The halt was extended in August, citing ongoing discussions and the potential for a binding offer in early September.

Victorian Ambulance Union secretary Danny Hill said under the EBA, "This deal rewards longer serving ambos, it makes our elite MICA paramedics the highest paid in Australia, it rewards Community Officers for the time they contribute to their community, and most of all it will help our members finish their shift on time and get home to their families."

Boeing proposed lifting hourly wages for striking workers by 30 percent on Monday, sweetening its initial offer in an effort to end a 10-day stoppage that shuttered Seattle-area plants.

"While headline inflation will decline for a time, underlying inflation is more indicative of inflation momentum, and it remains too high," the board said in a statement. "Policy will need to be sufficiently restrictive until the Board is confident that inflation is moving sustainably towards the target range."

The US Federal Reserve's decision to cut interest rates by half a percentage-point was "an appropriate and necessary first step," given progress on reducing inflation, a senior bank official said Monday.

European and Asian stock markets diverged Monday as investors digested weak eurozone economic data and an interest rate cut by China's central bank.

"The Reserve Bank should lower interest rates tomorrow and if they don't, the Treasurer should use his existing powers to bring down interest rates and relieve pressure on mortgage holders," Greens demanded.

The ACCC also brought up allegations that the supermarkets, apart from the deceptive pricing practices, inflated prices on certain products, only to advertise them as "on sale" at a higher price than the original, affecting millions of units.

"The cost of living crisis has meant that Australians aren't turning up to the pubs, they don't have the disposable income they used to," Nationals Leader David Littleproud said on Sunday. "Then when you couple that with the six-monthly increase in excise, that's putting beer out of the reach of many Australians."

REA Group, the Australian online property website majority-owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp empire, said Monday it has made a third multi-billion-pound offer to buy British peer Rightmove.

Global stock markets diverged and the dollar was mixed against main rivals Friday following an equities rally triggered by a jumbo US interest rate cut this week.

UK state debt is as big as the country's economic output for the first time since the 1960s, data showed Friday, as the new government warns of tough fiscal decisions before its maiden budget.

Beneficiaries will include those on the jobseeker payment, age pension, disability support pension, carer payment, family tax benefit, and commonwealth rent assistance.

Woolworths had announced its plan to invest NZ$400 million (AU$367 million) to rebrand nearly 200 stores over the next three years. However, the company's New Zealand profit had dropped by 57% to AU$108 million in the 12 months to June 30, compared to last year.

Analysts at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) assessed the plan's potential fallout on local families, and found out that typical households could see electricity bills rise by an average of AU$665 per year to cover the cost of establishing the power plants.

The Bank of England on Thursday kept its key interest rate at 5.0 percent, deciding against consecutive cuts one day after a bumper reduction from the US Federal Reserve.

The new policy, aimed at encouraging more gas development, allowed producers to export up to 20% of their gas until 2030.

Earlier this year, China had removed trade tariffs on wine and barley after Australia dropped World Trade Organization complaints against Beijing over the two products.

Part-time stints saw the most gains, with about 50,600 jobs being added last month, while full-time positions fell by 3,100. The employment-to-population ratio increased to 64.3% to an almost all-time high, and the participation rate reached a record-high 67.1%.

Stock markets were little changed and the dollar was down slightly Wednesday as investors awaited the US Federal Reserve's first interest rate cut in more than four years.

Tupperware Brands and some of its subsidiaries have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and are seeking a buyer, the food container firm said, after years of dwindling sales.

Gillon McLachlan, Tabcorp's chief executive, relayed the decision to employees via a memo, confirming that the betting giant's 1500 staff in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane must return to office, effective immediately.

BlueScope Steel's venture fund BlueScopeX signed an MoU aimed at hatching a sustainable method of producing green iron from iron ores and tailings.

Negotiators from Boeing and the machinists union are scheduled to resume talks Tuesday after some 33,000 workers went on strike late last week.

Shares in Chinese electronic appliance maker Midea closed nearly eight percent higher on its Hong Kong debut Tuesday, having raised around US$4 billion in the city's biggest initial public offering for more than three years.

Most Asian markets rose Tuesday but Tokyo sank more than one percent as exporters were hit by a stronger yen with traders gearing up for a bumper US interest rate cut and a key Japanese central bank meeting.

Trade Minister Don Farrell announced the agreement in Canberra on Tuesday, highlighting that the deal would curb tariffs on over 99% of Australian products entering the UAE.