Former Barclays plc (LON:BARC) traders, Ryan Reich and Stylianos Contogoulas, were acquitted today in a trial over claims they conspired to rig Libor.
The traders had been accused by the Serious Fraud Office for plotting with other Barclays employees between June 2005 and September 2007 to manipulate Libor, which sets the benchmark for interest rates .
The jury voted unanimously to rule the traders as not guilty in their second trial on a charge of conspiracy to defraud.
Eight defendants have now been acquitted in a five-year criminal investigation into bankers rigging Libor.
Ryanair to suspend UK flights if no Brexit deal...
Ryanair Holdings plc (LON:RYA) has warned it will have to halt flights out the UK if the government fails to make a bilateral agreement with the European Union to allow flights to and from Europe to continue after Brexit.
The budget airline said flights could be suspended for weeks or months.
The UK is set to leave Europe’s Open Skies system, which allows all EU airlines to fly in and out of any country signed up to the agreement.
Chief financial officer Neil Sorahan, told the Guardian the impact on business “would be disastrous” if it has to revert to World Trade Organisation rules.
‘Shrinkflation’ continues …
Doritos, Coco Pops and Peperami are the latest products to fall prey to ‘shrinkflation’ - the downsizing of foods while keeping the same price.
A large bag of Doritos has been shrunk 10% to 180g but will continue to retail at £1.99 while a small snack-size bag has been reduced nearly 12% to 90g.
Peperami has withered 10% to 22.5g while prices have been held at 79p a stick, or £1.59 for a pack of three.
A big box of Coco Pops has been slashed by 80g to 720g at the same price of £3.75, and a smaller box has been cut by 40g to 510g for an unchanged £2.69.
So-called ‘shrinkflation’ has also hit Maltesers, Hula Hoops and Toblerone and comes as companies try to offset the impact of a weaker pound on import costs and reduce sugar content. Brexit is to blame, of course, sending the pound lower and inflation higher.
#Shrinkflation continues: my rolls keep getting lighter and lighter as my Baker has become the master of price engineering. pic.twitter.com/Ls2KXG5Soa
— Holger Zschaepitz (@Schuldensuehner) 1 April 2017
Deliveroo, Uber and Amazon accused of exploiting workers…
A committee of MPs have accused Deliveroo, Uber and Amazon of exploiting their workers with contracts containing “questionable clauses”.
The Work and Pensions Committee carried out an investigation into the contracts of gig-economy workers - staff on short-term contracts or freelance work.
It found employees were asked to sign documents which contained such clauses as demanding workers agree not to challenge their self-employed status and therefore are not entitled to the same benefits as permanent staff.
The #gigeconomy hypocrisy: saying your workers are independent contractors yet controlling their time off. @IWGBunion @IWGB_CLB pic.twitter.com/DgwJBJS4TH
— Jason Moyer-Lee (@MoyerLee) 30 March 2017
Labour MP Frank Field, the committee chairman, said: “They are not paying sick leave or contributing to pensions. Yet it seems likely that their employment practices will lead more people to need taxpayers to pick up these costs.”
Deliveroo told MPs would remove the clause in its courier contracts, which demands staff agree not to challenge their self-employed status.
An Amazon spokesman defended its Amazon Flex contract for couriers, which contain a similar clause, saying it offers people the opportunity to “make great earnings working on their schedule to deliver Amazon parcels”.
Uber said it was revising its contracts into plainer English after MPS said the documents were “gibberish” and “almost unintelligible”. However it said its contracts did not telll employees they can't challenge their employment status.