Huawei ban, Newcastle United, tuition fees: your commercial news round-up

As members of the Conservative Party battle it out for the role of prime minister (11 candidates and counting), and the Labour Party crumbles from within as it faces an antisemitism probe alongside leading members admitting they voted Lib Dem in last week’s EU elections, the business world keeps turning. And if you needed any more proof that politics and economics is intertwined, take the news this week that New York has overthrown London as the world’s main financial centre due to Brexit uncertainties. More commercial news below:

• The China-US tech cold war rages on as the US has made it impossible for American firms to trade with Huawei unless they have a licence. This means that companies in the States will no longer be able to do business with the Chinese telecoms company. Tech giant Google has also pulled Huawei’s Android licence meaning that phones released in the future across Asia and Europe will lose access to Android services like Google Maps and the Gmail app. Huawei responded by saying that the move would “directly harm” American companies and affect jobs. It has repeatedly denied using its products to spy for the Chinese government.
• Football team Newcastle United is set to change hands from Sports Direct owner Mike Ashley to the UAE’s Sheikh Khaled bin Zayed Al Nahyan in a deal worth £350 million. Although not officially confirmed, fans have expressed their excitement at the news. The club has been on sale for over a decade of Ashley’s ownership.
• A government-commissioned report released today has suggested that university tuition fees in England should be cut to £7,500 and repaid over a longer period of time, with the prime minister acknowledging that many courses do not cost the current rate of £9,250 per student per year. Theresa May also said that the maintenance grants abolished in 2016 should be brought back to support students from poorer families.
• Victims of Authorised Push Payment (APP) scams that trick people into transferring money from their bank accounts to fraudsters could be reimbursed as a new code comes into force. Last year around 84,000 bank customers were tricked into sending their money. The money will be refunded for cases when neither the bank nor the customer was to blame and so far eight major banks have signed up for the scheme.

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