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2 weeks ago | 
michaelwest.com.au | Wendy Bacon |Yaakov Aharon |Harry Chemay |Michael Pascoe |Michael West
Thousands of people swooned in a dark conference hall that felt more like a rock concert when a Microsoft product manager demonstrated the company’s latest feature: how to sum numbers in Excel, with the click of a button. “It was literally like Mick Jagger walked out,” said Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft’s consumer chief marketing officer, who started as an intern. That was more than 30 years ago.
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2 weeks ago | 
michaelwest.com.au | Wendy Bacon |Yaakov Aharon |Harry Chemay |Michael Pascoe |Michael West
More than 50 countries have reached out to the White House to begin trade talks, a top economic adviser to US President Donald Trump said, as US officials sought to defend sweeping new tariffs that have unleashed global turmoil. During an interview on ABC News’ This Week, US National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett denied that the tariffs were part of a strategy by Trump to crash financial markets to pressure the US Federal Reserve to cut interest rates.
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2 weeks ago | 
michaelwest.com.au | Wendy Bacon |Yaakov Aharon |Harry Chemay |Michael Pascoe |Michael West
US and Vietnamese businesses have asked the Trump administration to delay its planned 46 per cent tariff on Vietnamese goods, saying the levy will hurt them and bilateral commercial relations. The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the American Chamber of Commerce in Hanoi expressed concern to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in a letter dated Saturday, saying the tariff, to take effect on Wednesday, was “shockingly high”.
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2 weeks ago | 
michaelwest.com.au | Wendy Bacon |Yaakov Aharon |Harry Chemay |Michael Pascoe |Michael West
Home owners are being offered $4000 off the cost of household batteries as Labor tries to woo voters with promises of cheaper energy. The policy, which Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will unveil at a campaign speech in Brisbane on Sunday, will reduce the cost of a typical battery by 30 per cent. It will kick in from July 1, if the government is re-elected on May 3. Batteries allow households with solar panels to charge the battery during the day and use the power in the evening.
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2 weeks ago | 
michaelwest.com.au | Wendy Bacon |Yaakov Aharon |Harry Chemay |Michael Pascoe |Michael West
Tens of thousands of people have demonstrated across Spain to protest the lack of affordable housing. Several tenants’ organisations and trade unions on Saturday called for the demonstrations in around 40 cities, including Palma de Mallorca, Barcelona and Madrid, under the slogan: “Lets put an end to profiteering from homes”.
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2 weeks ago | 
michaelwest.com.au | Wendy Bacon |Yaakov Aharon |Harry Chemay |Michael Pascoe |Michael West
The US state of Texas says it has opened a probe into WK Kellogg, saying the breakfast cereal maker could be violating state laws by advertising its products as “healthy”. The office of state Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement that some of the company’s breakfast cereals – which include Froot Loops, Apple Jacks and Frosted Flakes – “are filled with petroleum-based artificial food colourings that have been linked to hyperactivity, obesity” and other health problems.
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2 weeks ago | 
michaelwest.com.au | Wendy Bacon |Yaakov Aharon |Harry Chemay |Michael Pascoe |Michael West
US customs agents have begun collecting President Donald Trump’s unilateral 10 per cent tariff on all imports from many countries, with higher levies on goods from 57 larger trading partners due to start next week. The initial 10 per cent “baseline” tariff to be paid by US importers took effect at US seaports, airports and customs warehouses on Saturday.
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2 weeks ago | 
michaelwest.com.au | Wendy Bacon |Yaakov Aharon |Harry Chemay |Michael Pascoe |Michael West
Jaguar Land Rover will pause shipments of its cars made in the United Kingdom to the United States for a month, it says, as it considers how to mitigate the cost of US President Donald Trump’s 25 per cent tariff. Jaguar Land Rover, which is owned by India’s Tata Motors, confirmed the temporary export suspension after the Times newspaper reported the plan.
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2 weeks ago | 
michaelwest.com.au | Wendy Bacon |Yaakov Aharon |Harry Chemay |Michael Pascoe |Michael West
Iran’s rial currency has traded at a record low against the US dollar as the country returns to work after a long holiday, costing more than million rials per greenback as tensions between Tehran and Washington likely will push it even lower. The exchange rate had plunged to more than million rials during the Persian New Year, Nowruz, as currency shops closed and only informal trading took place on the streets, creating additional pressure on the market.
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2 weeks ago | 
michaelwest.com.au | Wendy Bacon |Yaakov Aharon |Harry Chemay |Michael Pascoe |Michael West
“The market has spoken” in rejecting US President Donald Trump’s tariffs, China says, as it calls on Washington for “equal-footed consultation” after global markets’ dramatic reaction to the trade levies, which drew Chinese retaliation. Several Chinese commerce associations in industries from health care and textiles to electronics also issued statements on Saturday calling for unity in exploring alternative markets and warning that the tariffs would worsen inflation in the US.
