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Point of snow return nears for Republicans as Donald Trump’s re-election campaign gets off to a flyer

Planet Business: Uniqlo sues Shein over ‘imitation’ bags, Premier League financial rules threaten chaos and Fujitsu’s boss gets a Davos doorstep

A Trump flag is frozen in the snow outside a rally held by the Republican candidate in Atkinson, New Hampshire. Photograph: CJ Gunther/EPA

Laura Slattery's face
Laura Slattery
Sat Jan 20 2024 - 06:15

Image of the week: Chill factor

Arctic storms brought temperatures as low as -27 degrees Celsius to Des Moines, the capital of Iowa, as the Republicans held their presidential caucuses on Monday. The outcome was an even more chilling 51 per cent victory for Donald Trump.

Leaving rivals Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley on 21 per cent and 19 per cent respectively, Trump won 98 out of Iowa’s 99 counties, including 61 he failed to get back in the innocent days of 2016, with the former US president doing best in lower-income counties and those with older populations. Yes, American voters really are doing this again – they don’t need hell to freeze over first.

Iowa was so frozen, however, that steam exhaust from a BASF chemical plant in the city of Ames left nearby trees covered in ice, as if they were part of Melania Trump’s Narnia-esque Christmas decorations at the White House. Of more relevance to the campaign, however, was that the frigid temperatures in the region dented turnout to just 14.7 per cent.

The political circus has moved on to the next voting state, New Hampshire, where this Trump flag is seen in the snow before a rally for the Republican front-runner at Atkinson Country Club. Make America a normal temperature again?

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In numbers: Uniqlo proposition

€14.90

Cost of the top-selling Round Mini Shoulder Bag at Japanese-owned fashion house Uniqlo. It is currently available on its site in red, yellow, natural, beige, olive and purple.

3

Companies against which Uniqlo’s owner, Fast Retailing, has filed a lawsuit for allegedly copying the Round Mini Shoulder Bag. The legal case, filed in Tokyo, demands that Chinese fast-fashion giant Shein and two subsidiaries cease selling the “imitation products”.

2,491

Number of stores operated by the Uniqlo brand worldwide. Its owner said the products sold by Shein “closely resemble” its own Round Mini Shoulder Bag and that their sale “significantly undermines the high level of customer confidence in the quality of the Uniqlo brand”. It’s a bag-off.

Getting to know: Takahito Tokita

Fujitsu chief executive Takahito Tokita was between venues at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, when he stumbled into the path of BBC reporter Hope Rhodes and her cameraperson.

This, presumably, was not ideal for Tokita, whose people had turned down six previous interview requests from the BBC alone on the subject of the UK post office scandal, which saw more than 900 sub-postmasters and postmistresses in the UK prosecuted for theft and false accounting based on evidence from faulty Fujitsu software Horizon.

So would Tokita, who has been boss of the Japanese company since 2019, like to apologise? “Yeah, yes. Of course, of course,” he said, doing his best to keep progressing down the snow-lined walkway. “Fujitsu has apologised for the impact on the postmasters’ lives and their families.”

Alas, the ongoing public inquiry meant he could not comment on the sensitive subject of financial redress.

Meanwhile, asked why the holder of several lucrative UK government contracts didn’t do anything about glitches in the system when it knew about them at an early stage, Fujitsu Europe boss Paul Patterson told the public inquiry: “I don’t know. I really don’t know.”

The list: Football finances

A growing list of Premier League clubs are being charged for breaching the league’s profit and sustainability rules, often referred to as financial fair play. So which clubs are in trouble or flirting with it?

1. Everton: The club has already been deducted 10 points this season, which it is appealing, but having climbed out of the relegation zone, it now faces fresh charges.

2. Nottingham Forest: Nottingham Forest is also in danger of a points penalty after alleged breaches of the rules. It can also appeal, but the timeline for the cases and appeals points to potential chaos if the small matter of which clubs are to be relegated isn’t known until long after the final whistle on the last day of the season.

3. Chelsea: No financial charges have been brought yet, but the London club is being investigated for possible breaches of the rules under the reign of its former owner Roman Abramovich.

4. Manchester City: This is the big one. In February 2023, the club was charged over a more complex set of 115 rule breaches relating to their spending, with the case dragging on into extra time. An unspecified date has now been set, according to the Premier League. So will there be penalties?

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