Friday newspaper round-up: UK car industry, Hugo Boss, Swiss trains, Microsoft
13th Nov 2026 07:19
(Sharecast News) - The world has left behind the age of coal, oil and gas and is now firmly in "the age of electricity", the world's leading energy economist has said. Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), said more than twice as much electricity generation would be added to the global economy in the next decade than in the last, as countries scramble to secure their energy supplies against fossil fuel price volatility and supply shocks, such as the Iran war. - Guardian
The UK car industry is preparing to push for a two-year delay to Brexit tariffs on electric cars traded with the EU, after an initial European proposal suggested a shorter delay. Tariffs are due to kick in on 1 January for the majority of electric cars traded between the EU and UK unless the two sides can come to an agreement to delay for a second time the implementation of "rules of origin" on batteries. - Guardian
Mike Ashley has cemented his control over Hugo Boss following the appointment of a Frasers Group executive as the German retailer's new chief. David Epstein, the chief brand partnerships officer at Frasers, was confirmed as Hugo Boss's new chief executive on Thursday following the resignation of Daniel Grieder. He will take charge of the business on Jan 1. - Telegraph
Switzerland's trains are celebrated for their immaculate punctuality. But now the country is facing a £9bn bill to stop its rail services becoming like those in Germany, its erratic neighbour. The country's largest railway operator, state-owned SBB, has said its backlog of repairs to tracks and signal boxes rose 12pc last year to 9.5bn Swiss francs (£8.6bn). If the repairs aren't carried out, SBB has warned that Switzerland risks "a situation similar to that in other countries" - a reference to Germany, where the formerly clockwork-like train network has become notoriously unreliable. - Telegraph
Microsoft has admitted that attempts to fix a global outage affecting millions of users are not working as expected. Thousands of Australian businesses, schools and government agencies were unable to access email and other online accounts on Friday morning, causing widespread disruption. The technology giant said its efforts to restore services had failed to deliver the anticipated results, with engineers struggling to find alternative solutions. - The Times