Google Maps Now Shows ‘Lake America’ Instead of Lake Ontario
Deal that will reportedly see US take control of 65bn barrels of Venezuelan oil has provoked outrage in her country
Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, has defended her government’s highly controversial energy deal with Donald Trump, insisting the South American country will maintain ownership and sovereignty over its massive oil reserves.
Rodríguez, who assumed power in January after Trump ordered the abduction of the president, Nicolás Maduro, took to the airwaves on Saturday to push back against criticism of what the US president has called “the biggest oil deal in world history”.
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© Photograph: Presidency Of Venezuela/EPA

© Photograph: Presidency Of Venezuela/EPA

© Photograph: Presidency Of Venezuela/EPA
Deal that will reportedly see US take control of 65bn barrels of Venezuelan oil has provoked outrage in her country
Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, has defended her government’s highly controversial energy deal with Donald Trump, insisting the South American country will maintain ownership and sovereignty over its massive oil reserves.
Rodríguez, who assumed power in January after Trump ordered the abduction of the president, Nicolás Maduro, took to the airwaves on Saturday to push back against criticism of what the US president has called “the biggest oil deal in world history”.
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© Photograph: Presidency Of Venezuela/EPA

© Photograph: Presidency Of Venezuela/EPA

© Photograph: Presidency Of Venezuela/EPA
Corporate regulator finds insurers settling most claims with cash rather than by managing repairs or rebuilding, warning of ‘unfair outcomes’ for homeowners
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Home insurers are overwhelmingly paying cash to settle claims, leaving Australians to foot blowouts in repair costs for their cyclone-damaged homes.
The corporate regulator is calling for “realistic” bigger payouts, warning the practice could cause “unfair outcomes” for people already in vulnerable positions.
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© Photograph: Brian Cassey/AAP

© Photograph: Brian Cassey/AAP

© Photograph: Brian Cassey/AAP
New company reportedly quickly fell behind with promised repayments to administrator
A recruitment executive who was allowed to buy back the assets of his bust company in instalments, despite it accumulating almost £3m of debt, has placed his new business into liquidation after falling behind with promised payments to the administrator.
The news is the latest event to raise questions about the practice of “phoenixism”, accounting’s controversial art of liquidating companies to allow directors to return with a new entity, free of debts.
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© Photograph: Ascannio/Alamy

© Photograph: Ascannio/Alamy

© Photograph: Ascannio/Alamy
Small business owners have watched large companies fumble – and sometimes succeed – with AI, and then use what works
One thing I’ve learned about corporate America is that what it succeeds at ultimately trickles down to benefit small businesses. Bleeding-edge technologies such as the internet, mobile transactions and the cloud were first perfected by large organizations – government and corporations – and now they’re available to the masses at a much lower cost and with better reliability.
The good news is that it’s also the same for what they fail at.
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© Photograph: Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

© Photograph: Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

© Photograph: Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images
Project in Zambia shows how teaching young women to negotiate better can have a long-term impact on their prospects
Women making their way in patriarchal societies down the ages have always had to wield their meagre economic power deftly. New evidence from a fascinating research project in Zambia suggests that’s a skill that can be learned.
A team of female US academics have been gathering data for more than a decade, which shows that teaching young women to negotiate better can have a long-term impact on their prospects.
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© Photograph: MBI/Alamy

© Photograph: MBI/Alamy

© Photograph: MBI/Alamy
City firms tapped for case studies to try to convince global watchdog that London has cleaned up its act
The government is asking bankers and lawyers to provide feelgood stories about how they blocked dirty money from entering the UK, as ministers try to prove the UK’s money-laundering controls are working.
The Treasury’s call for evidence is meant to illustrate that the UK has upped its game when it comes to preventing financial crime, particularly since its last dismal assessment by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) global crime watchdog in 2018, which fuelled allegations that London had become a hub for “dirty money”.
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© Photograph: PA Images/Alamy

© Photograph: PA Images/Alamy

© Photograph: PA Images/Alamy
Deal agreed between Avanti West Coast and Aslef is first to be approved by Burnham government
Train drivers have secured a significant pay rise after the threat of strike action was floated on busy routes across the UK, including on the busy London-Manchester line.
The deal, which was agreed on Saturday between Avanti West Coast and the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (Aslef) union, is the first to be approved by Andy Burnham in his premiership.
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© Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

© Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

© Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian
Some young people are teaching in countries like South Korea as education funding is gutted and recent grads face a tough job market in their own countries
A year ago, Arianna Marie, 25, was struggling to control the students in her Florida elementary school classroom.
She was living with her parents to save on rent and quickly feeling her passion for teaching dry up, even though it was her first job since graduation.
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© Photograph: Courtesy Arianna Marie and Zwiwe Dlamini

© Photograph: Courtesy Arianna Marie and Zwiwe Dlamini

© Photograph: Courtesy Arianna Marie and Zwiwe Dlamini
Breakdown recovery group’s private equity owners reportedly in talks with various suitors to sell company
The German-based financial services company Allianz is considering a £5bn takeover swoop for AA, the breakdown recovery group, Sky News has reported.
Allianz was one of a small number of parties holding talks with advisers to AA about a deal, Sky News said, adding that the private equity outfit EQT was another bidder.
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© Photograph: ZarkePix/Alamy

© Photograph: ZarkePix/Alamy

© Photograph: ZarkePix/Alamy
Critics say changes by CMA will allow multinationals to obscure their ownership of vet practices
Pet owners have been warned that they could be unknowingly ripped off by private equity firms who have bought local vet clinics, after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) removed requirements for multinational companies to disclose which practices they own.
The CMA recently ran an investigation into the monopolisation of vet practices, and found that the lack of competition and transparency of ownership had led to high prices and a lack of information for customers. Pet owners were often unaware their local vet practice could be owned by an international private equity company.
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© Photograph: Yelena Shander/Getty Images

© Photograph: Yelena Shander/Getty Images

© Photograph: Yelena Shander/Getty Images
Exclusive: Friends of the Earth finds greatest sewage discharge in Devon, Cornwall, Dorset and Somerset
South West Water is doing more harm to the environment than any other water company in England, according to new analysis, with more sewage discharged in Devon, Cornwall, Dorset and Somerset than anywhere else.
Friends of the Earth analysed water companies’ environmental performance in six categories: sewage spills, water quality at bathing sites, pollution incidents or warnings at bathing sites, severity of sewage pollution at bathing sites, the percentage of rivers rated below the standard for good ecological health, and the affordability of bills.
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© Photograph: Greg Balfour Evans/Alamy

© Photograph: Greg Balfour Evans/Alamy

© Photograph: Greg Balfour Evans/Alamy
Operating at only half its capacity, Japanese carmaker’s Sunderland factory seeks deal with China’s Chery as it battles Brexit threats
In a factory in Gateshead, engineers carefully wind metal wires around iron cores to go in electric motors. Here, workers produce a smaller “pancake motor”, which generates higher torque than conventional versions for supercars or construction equipment.
These workers form part of north-east England’s automotive industry, which has experienced a long line of political disruptions, from Margaret Thatcher’s efforts to attract international investment, through Brexit and now Andy Burnham’s reindustrialisation strategy.
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© Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

© Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

© Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian
Exclusive: Friends of the Earth finds greatest sewage discharge in Devon, Cornwall, Dorset and Somerset
South West Water is doing more harm to the environment than any other water company in England, according to new analysis, with more sewage discharged in Devon, Cornwall, Dorset and Somerset than anywhere else.
Friends of the Earth analysed water companies’ environmental performance in six categories: sewage spills, water quality at bathing sites, pollution incidents or warnings at bathing sites, severity of sewage pollution at bathing sites, the percentage of rivers rated below the standard for good ecological health, and the affordability of bills.
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© Photograph: Greg Balfour Evans/Alamy

© Photograph: Greg Balfour Evans/Alamy

© Photograph: Greg Balfour Evans/Alamy
Reform UK denies donor and crypto-billionaire’s global interests in arms and military could present a conflict of interest over its defence spending policy
As he struggles with questions about the millions he has received from the billionaire Christopher Harborne, Nigel Farage has made no secret of his enthusiastic support for the industry that made part of his benefactor’s fortune – cryptocurrency. The Reform UK leader even urged the governor of the Bank of England to drop a crypto policy that may be costly for Harborne.
But another element of Harborne’s business interests could prove still more consequential if it shapes Farage’s positions. There appears to be no precedent for a major UK donor who is so entwined with the military.
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© Composite: Guardian Design/Shutterstock/ South Korean Defence Ministry/AFP/Getty Images/LNP

© Composite: Guardian Design/Shutterstock/ South Korean Defence Ministry/AFP/Getty Images/LNP

© Composite: Guardian Design/Shutterstock/ South Korean Defence Ministry/AFP/Getty Images/LNP
Plagued by bank impersonation scams, one Guardian Money reader got even by stringing the fraudsters along … for hours
“A couple of Sundays ago at just past 11am my mobile rang. An automated message purported to be from Barclays Bank, querying a payment to Argos for more than £1,000. Not only had I not made a payment to Argos recently, nor do I bank with Barclays.
I am plagued with these kinds of calls. Usually, when possible, I make it clear to the scammers that I know their game. Usually, that call ends there and then.
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© Illustration: Sean O'Brien/The Guardian

© Illustration: Sean O'Brien/The Guardian

© Illustration: Sean O'Brien/The Guardian