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Europe
BBC Business

Air traffic chaos and compensation: 'Shutdown cost us more than £1,000'

Catie and Phil Allen should have been enjoying their first holiday in two-and-a-half years. Instead, they are at home ringing round for refunds that won't be paid. The couple are among the many thousands of air passengers caught up in the chaos caused by the four-hour shutdown of the UK's air traffic control system on Tuesday. It means their holiday to Slovenia has been cancelled and - although their flight was refunded by British Airways - they estimate being left £1,300 out of pocket from unused accommodation and excursions. It's not the first time - and won't be the last - when passengers are left flying on a wing and a prayer after problems at UK airports. So, here is how their case relates to others, and why they have taken such a big hit. Catie, 30, and Phil, 34, were sat on a British Airways flight to Ljubljana on Tuesday that never took off. If a flight is cancelled, airlines must get customers to their destination as quickly as possible at no extra cost, even if it is with a rival carrier. Alternatively, passengers can take a refund, which should also be offered for flight delays of more than five hours. In Catie and Phil's case, the alternative flight offered would not have arrived until Saturday morning - four days into their week-long holiday. So they took the refund. That was not easy. The chatbot only seemed to allow them to rebook, and it took more than an hour waiting to speak to BA on the phone before the refund was confirmed. It will take a week to be paid. When airlines are at fault, extra compensation is paid under UK and EU rules. But not this time, because the air traffic control issues were beyond airlines' control. Even so, airlines themselves are furious that they have been saddled with a bill of millions of pounds. BA also refunded the couple's car hire, which had been organised through the airline. The problem for the couple was that they had booked accommodation and excursions separately, and that is money they have lost. The hotel stays, booked separately, have their own terms and conditions and cancelling so late meant there were no refunds. One explained to Catie that they were a family business that could not afford to do so.

Air traffic chaos and compensation: 'Shutdown cost us more than £1,000'
Europe
BBC Business

Primark finally set to launch home deliveries

Image source, PA MediaPublished10 September 2026, 08:15 BSTUpdated 1 hour agoPrimark has said it plans to launch a home delivery service in Britain, four years after it made its first foray into e-commerce. The retailer did not say when it expects to launch the service, but it has bought a warehouse in Sheffield from to enable it to ship products to homes. The company said there was "opportunity for profitable growth" through home deliveries, which could help boost trade after Primark reported subdued sales following the recent hot weather. Analysts said the decision to offer home delivery after years of resistance - including through the pandemic - indicated that Primark was facing major challenges from ultra-fast-fashion brands such as Shein. Primark did not sell goods online until 2022, when it launched a click-and-collect service which meant shoppers still had to travel to pick up their purchases. Associated British Foods (ABF), which owns Primark, said the fashion chain would "continue to grow click and collect and... will in the future offer home delivery in Great Britain". ABF predicts Primark's UK sales will grow by about 1% in the fourth quarter of the year. But like-for-like sales - a key metric in the retail industry, which strips out the impact of store openings and closures - are expected to be "broadly flat" in the UK, and fall 3% across its global operations. It said sales of autumn/winter clothing started later than normal due to the hot weather in the summer, but "trading was stronger when the weather cooled towards the end of the quarter". The fast-fashion chain is struggling to compete with brands such as Shein and Boohoo, as well as alternative platforms such as TikTok Shop and Vinted, and in July said it was lowering prices on hundreds of clothing items. Retail analyst Julie Palmer said that "Primark has been playing catch up for years" and launching home deliveries "is as much about defence as growth". She told BBC News that "the real test" for the brand is whether it can make home deliveries profitable at the low prices customers have come to expect from fast fashion chains. "Shein and Vinted have already reset customer expectations on convenience," she said, adding that a "slick and effective returns policy" will also be key.

Primark finally set to launch home deliveries
Asia
The Hindu BusinessLine

ZOYA Jewels TIFF moment with Penélope Cruz

Indian luxury jewellery atelier ZOYA, part of the Tata Group, dressed Academy Award-winning actress Penélope Cruz in its High Jewellery pieces for the red carpet at the Toronto International Film Festival on Tuesday, September 15. Cruz wore three pieces from ZOYA’s upcoming spice-inspired High Jewellery collection: the Rekindle Necklace, featuring 19 carats of golden heliodor set alongside yellow and pink sapphires, requiring over 1,200 hours of craftsmanship; the Wildflower Heart Ring, centred on a 13-carat amethyst in ZOYA’s proprietary Bloom Cut; and the Iconic Lattice Bangle, set with diamonds and tanzanites. The appearance marks a rare instance of an Indian jewellery house securing placement on a major international film festival red carpet, typically dominated by European luxury brands. ZOYA Business Head Amanpreet Ahluwalia said the moment represented the atelier’s intent to establish its own creative language globally, rather than follow existing luxury conventions. Founded in 2009 as a Tata Group venture, ZOYA currently operates 13 flagship boutiques and 12 galleries across India and the United States. The brand holds patents on several jewellery innovations, including the Bloom Cut gemstone cut and the Baoli® setting. The full spice-inspired High Jewellery collection, of which Cruz offered an early preview, has not yet been formally launched. Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments. We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.

ZOYA Jewels TIFF moment with Penélope Cruz
Asia
The Economic Times

Tata Sons IPO: How 7 group stocks performed in 3 months and their stake in Tata Sons

Shares of Tata Group companies surged up to 20% as Tata Sons moves closer to its much-awaited IPO following the RBI’s directive to comply with regulations governing upper-layer investment companies. Three of the seven companies hold more than 3% in Tata Sons, the group’s holding company. Here’s how the seven stocks have performed over the past three months and how much stake each holds in Tata Sons. Tata Steel currently holds a 3.06% stake in Tata Sons, valued at approximately Rs 36,347.7 crore. The company has a total market capitalisation of more than Rs 2.28 lakh crore, while its stock has declined 7.6% over the past three months. Tata Motors PV holds a 3.06% stake in Tata Sons, valued at approximately Rs 36,348 crore. The company has a market capitalisation of Rs 1.11 lakh crore, while its shares have fallen more than 22% over the past three months. Tata Chemicals holds a 2.53% stake in Tata Sons, valued at Rs 30,052.2 crore. With a market capitalisation of around Rs 15,594 crore, the stock has faced downward pressure, declining 18% over the past three months. Tata Power owns a 1.65% stake in Tata Sons, worth Rs 19,599.2 crore. The company has a market capitalisation of around Rs 1.17 lakh crore, while its stock has declined more than 7% over the past three months. The Indian Hotels Company holds a 1.11% stake in Tata Sons, valued at Rs 13,185 crore. Its shares gained 6% over the past three months, making it the only Tata Group company among the seven to deliver positive returns during the period. The company has a market capitalisation of more than Rs 1.02 lakh crore. Tata Consumer Products holds a 0.43% stake in Tata Sons, worth Rs 5,107.7 crore. The company has a market capitalisation of around Rs 98,133 crore, while its stock has declined nearly 10% over the past three months. Tata Investment Corp holds a 0.08% stake in Tata Sons, valued at Rs 950.3 crore. The company has a market capitalisation of more than Rs 32,940 crore, while its shares have remained relatively stable, declining just 2.2% over the past three months.(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)

Tata Sons IPO: How 7 group stocks performed in 3 months and their stake in Tata Sons
North America
CNBC Economy

From ‘mystery vacations’ to hostels, budget travelers get thrifty as prices rise

On a recent weekend, Jami Hagerman embarked on the budget-vacation equivalent of a blind date. The hairstylist and her husband spent about $400 on Groupon "mystery vacation" vouchers that promised accommodations and airfare for the pair — but no say in the destination. The Oklahoma City residents were sent to New Orleans, where they visited museums, took walking tours and ate the city's famous beignet dessert. "I feel like the value was great for the trip," said Hagerman, 29. "It was fun." Hagerman isn't the only one balancing an inclination to see the world with the pinch of inflation. Travel costs are surging amid the U.S. war with Iran and many companies in the industry are homing in on premium offerings to fetch higher prices and margins. Conventional wisdom might suggest that affordability-minded vacationers in the U.S would buckle in this environment, but data shows that they aren't allowing themselves to get left behind. Lower-income clients, or those with annual earnings under $36,675, spent more monthly on travel earlier this year than at any point since at least 2019, according to PNC card data analyzed exclusively for CNBC. Spending in July for this cohort rose 7% from the same month a year ago. Groupon expanded what started as an initial "mystery vacation" offering for North America to a full portfolio. That portfolio recorded around 5,500 orders in the second quarter of 2026, a more than five-fold increase compared with when it had only a flagship product in the first quarter of 2025, according to data shared with CNBC by Groupon. Groupon advertises the flagship package — which ranges from $199 to $299 in per-person price, depending on the departing airport — as having a 50% discount. A small percentage of buyers end up at far-flung destinations such as Singapore or Paris, though the majority are sent to domestic locations like Las Vegas, Atlanta or Orlando. Participants are typically told their destinations within a few days of filling out the necessary paperwork. "Orlando probably wouldn't have been in my top 10 pick of places," said Tammy Wales, a Georgia-based travel agent whose mystery vacation led her to the central Florida city. But, "as long as I'm gone, I don't really care. The biggest thing was being able to take a trip and have the element of surprise." Gas prices are pacing for a record high on Labor Day and have jumped roughly 30% on an annual basis, according to AAA. Airline fares surged more than 25% year over year as of July, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. At the same time, some parts of the travel industry have centered attention on the luxury segment. Airlines ranging from Delta to Southwest have raced to add offerings like expanded first-class cabins and lounges to woo first-class fliers.

From ‘mystery vacations’ to hostels, budget travelers get thrifty as prices rise
Europe
The Guardian

Electronic shelf labels likely to cost jobs and drive up grocery prices, US report warns

An employee arranges a digital price tag for vegetables at Whole Foods in Silver Lake, Los Angeles. Photograph: Patrick T Fallon/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesView image in fullscreenAn employee arranges a digital price tag for vegetables at Whole Foods in Silver Lake, Los Angeles. Photograph: Patrick T Fallon/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesUS unionsElectronic shelf labels likely to cost jobs and drive up grocery prices, US report warnsAFL-CIO calls for ban on such labels to protect consumers and workers from surveillance pricing and job cuts The universal adoption of electronic shelf labels in grocery stores across the US could cost tens of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in lost wages while further driving up grocery costs, according to a report released on Tuesday. An analysis by the AFL-CIO Tech Institute of the label manufacturers’ own marketing materials found the universal adoption of electronic shelf labels, which are marketed to retailers as a cost-cutting measure, could cost workers between $1.6bn and $6.9bn in lost wages annually and affect between 44,223 and 191,633 jobs. The policy brief – Priced Out, Pushed Out: Electronic Shelf Labels Raise Prices and Shrink Paychecks – calls for a ban on electronic labels to protect consumers and workers. Manufacturers have hailed the labels as a way to collect huge amounts of personal data from customers, increase profits and cut labor costs. The report argues that electronic shelf labels use the same pricing systems that allow dynamic pricing – price changes such as increasing allergy medication prices when pollen counts are high – to surveillance pricing, changing prices based on personal data. These technologies are being implemented across the US retail industry at a time when food prices have surpassed inflation and wage gains, increasing 33% over the past seven years. “Through our analysis, we found that the implementation of electronic shelf labels are likely going to drive prices even higher. The reason being that these labels are connected to the same algorithmic pricing software that online retailers are already using,” said Sunny Glottmann, policy and programs managers at the AFL-CIO Tech Institute and co-author of the report. “Electronic shelf labels create the infrastructure that would make rapid algorithmic price changes easier to implement at scale, and this raises concerns for consumers that are already struggling with grocery costs.” The report comes as several states have begun introducing legislation to ban surveillance pricing and electronic shelf labels. In April, Maryland became the first state in the US to ban surveillance pricing. Connecticut signed a ban into law in June and New Jersey signed a ban into law in July. Electronic shelf labels “enable instantaneous price changes”, said Lauren McFerran, executive director of the AFL-CIO Tech Institute and former chairman of the National Labor Relations Board. “This is a technology that both is enabling this kind of ‘how do we extract the absolute most money out of grocery shoppers that is humanly possible’ and ‘how do we squeeze our workers as much as is humanly possible’,” said McFerran.

Electronic shelf labels likely to cost jobs and drive up grocery prices, US report warns
Asia
The Hindu BusinessLine

Eliminating non-tariff barriers, smooth payment mechanism key to boosting BRICS trade: EEPC India

The country's apex engineering exports promotion body, EEPC India, on Sunday called for eliminating non-tariff barriers and having a smooth payment mechanism among BRICS nations to boost trade. EEPC India Chairman Pankaj Chadha said an agreement on non-tariff barriers between BRICS nations is the need of the hour. "Around 75 per cent of the problems faced by exporters can be solved by eliminating non-tariff barriers and having a smooth and efficient payment mechanism in individual national currencies," Chadha said. "We can have a common agreement on non-tariff barriers between BRICS nations and agree to a set of standards. While we have been discussing this for a while now, it is time to move to its execution," he said. It is a widely recognised fact that non-tariff measures add more costs to exports than tariffs in most countries, necessitating urgent steps to simplify regulatory procedures between trade partners, the EEPC India chairman said. As BRICS accounts for nearly one-fourth of global trade, eliminating non-tariff barriers can further increase its share of total cross-border trade, according to EEPC India. With engineering goods among India's major exports, trade facilitation measures would significantly boost the sector, it said. According to the latest available official data, India's engineering exports account for nearly 27 per cent of the country's total merchandise exports. Brazil, China, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and South Africa are key destinations for engineering exports among the major BRICS nations. Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments. We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.

Eliminating non-tariff barriers, smooth payment mechanism key to boosting BRICS trade: EEPC India
Europe
BBC Business

AI is becoming harder to control – can humans stay in charge?

This is the moment an AI bot posted an eerily human-like comment after discovering a way to communicate with other bots and break out of its isolated computer environment. There are tens of thousands of messages like this from hundreds of AI agents that called themselves a "collective". Hundreds of them went on to collaborate and cheat on tests set by their OpenAI programmers and coordinate hacks on multiple companies in an effort to hide their actions from humans. Although spooky, these human-like responses can be explained quite simply. The AI agents have been trained to act like collaborative hackers and programmers so are merely mimicking the kinds of emotive comments they have seen. What is far more troubling is their apparent goals, which have also been captured in detailed chain of thought records. These complex and lengthy logs are the focal point of ongoing investigations into how and why the bots at OpenAI broke out of their containment and went on an uncontrollable hacking spree. Only now, weeks after the incident first came to light, are researchers beginning to understand its significance. Ajeya Cotra, one of the authors of an independent report into the events, reviewed tens of thousands of messages and chain-of-thought records generated by the agents. She wrote on her blog that "this incident feels like it's more than 50% of the way to full-blown AI takeover... I am not sure that we will get such a clear warning shot before it's too late." By "full-blown AI takeover", Cotra means the sci-fi scenario of humans becoming subservient to powerful AI systems that work to their own goals without caring for human creators. Some of the gloomiest predictions say the human race will be wiped out if it gets in the way of a superintelligent AI's ambitions. On Wednesday, an AI researcher at Anthropic (who also used to work at OpenAI) resigned, saying: "Neither company is acting responsibly." Jacob Coxon posted on social media: "They are racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives." He is not the first AI researcher to use X to post a resignation thread with worrying proclamations. But the subsequent comments from other people on X have caused even more concern. "Jacob is correct here - we really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans! I personally think it is >10% within the next decade," said Evan Hubinger, the man responsible for making sure Anthropic's AI models have their user's best wishes in mind.

AI is becoming harder to control – can humans stay in charge?
Europe
BBC Business

The one thing you need to do to succeed - according to top bosses

For some bosses, it's less about having the perfect CV and more about the way you think, the questions you ask and whether you're prepared to take a chance. Six business founders and leaders share the qualities they notice most and the advice they would give to people trying to get ahead. Image source, Getty ImagesCharlotte Tilbury says one of the biggest things that has driven her career is refusing to let other people set limits on what she can do. "Nothing is impossible in life - it's only your own limitations you give yourself." The beauty mogul says there will always be naysayers, and there were plenty of people who told her she was "mad" or that her ideas would not work but it's important to ignore them. Tilbury recommends trying not to think of setbacks as mistakes, but as opportunities to rethink and improve. Many of the biggest challenges she faced ultimately made her a stronger business leader and "challenge is opportunity and it leads you to greater places". Charlie Bowes-Lyon, co-founder of deodorant brand Wild, says attitude matters far more than having the perfect set of skills. "For me, it's 90% attitude and 10% skills, as skills can be taught, attitude can't." One thing he wishes he had realised earlier is that even successful people do not always feel as confident as they appear and "everyone is faking it until they're making it". If you find yourself at a job interview, Bowes-Lyon says it's really important to have a few questions at the end as "candidates who say they have no questions rarely get the job". One question he recommends asking the interviewer is what success in the job looks like.

The one thing you need to do to succeed - according to top bosses