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‘Survive': Aussie chocolatier's big battle
‘Survive': Aussie chocolatier's big battle

Perth Now

time2 hours ago

  • Business
  • Perth Now

‘Survive': Aussie chocolatier's big battle

A popular Aussie chocolatier is battling to 'survive' amid a dramatic rise in cocoa prices, but Australia's renowned sweet tooth might help it through the storm. Bruce and Joanne Nethercote, the owners of boutique Melbourne chocolate seller Chocilo, say they will raise prices on their products twice this year to match the wild upward swing in cocoa prices over the past two years. Cocoa is the main input ingredient in chocolate. 'We've never had two price increases in a year, which we are doing this year,' Mr Nethercote told NewsWire this week. 'It's always been one (increase). For a small business, it's always a little unnerving to put your product up a couple time of year, but we just have to or we won't survive.' Supply shocks in northwest Africa, the prime growing zone for cocoa, sent prices soaring from around $US3000 a tonne at the beginning of 2023 to more than $US10,000 a tonne in 2024. 'It's settled down a little, but it will never go back,' Mr Nethercote said. 'That has been the biggest direct impact on us.' Chocilo's chocolatiers craft boutique products. Supplied Credit: News Corp Australia The price of cocoa, the main ingredient in chocolate, has escalated sharply in the past two years, leading to flow-on increases in chocolate prices. Supplied Credit: News Corp Australia Chocilo buys chocolate in bulk and then crafts it into its own boutique products, like a pinata-esque offering called a 'chocolate smash cake'. The big dome of chocolate is filled with lollies inside and people smash it at parties like children hitting a pinata, Ms Nethercote said. Australia's sweet tooth has helped the business chug along, even as cocoa, freight, labour and packaging costs all rise. 'People still want to treat themselves,' Ms Nethercote said. 'They probably don't spend as much on themselves as they used to, but it's a treat for the parents to come in with their kids and buy a little dinosaur chocolate, spend $5 or $6.' The small operators aren't the only ones increasing prices in response to the cocoa tsunami. In its latest sales results from April, chocolate giant Nestle reported it had lifted prices 2.1 per cent to 'address input cost inflation in coffee and cocoa-related categories'. 'Despite the significant level of the increases in many markets, the actions were implemented with limited customer disruption,' the company said. Joanne and Bruce Nethercote founded Melbourne's Chocilo in 2017. Supplied Credit: News Corp Australia Looking forward, the Nethercotes, both aged 57, said it was time for the business to 'hunker down and consolidate'. 'We've been quite lucky in some regards, but it's been the right time at the right place with the right structure in place,' Mr Nethercote said. 'We've still got growth. Our boutique Chocilo brand is still growing, from an online and wholesale perspective. We're still increasing there. 'It's just the dynamics, or the type of product that the end consumer is really purchasing that has changed a little bit.' There are also some gathering tailwinds for Australia's small businesses in the near term. 'We expect the business outlook to improve as strong labour market conditions and lower interest rates encourage consumers to spend and in turn help businesses grow,' ANZ economist Adelaide Timbrell told NewsWire this week.

Trump taunts Murdoch as he files $15 billion lawsuit over Epstein story
Trump taunts Murdoch as he files $15 billion lawsuit over Epstein story

The Age

time17 hours ago

  • Politics
  • The Age

Trump taunts Murdoch as he files $15 billion lawsuit over Epstein story

Washington: US President Donald Trump has filed a defamation lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch and The Wall Street Journal, making good on his threat to sue over a story reporting that he signed a letter to Jeffrey Epstein for the disgraced financier's 50th birthday. The lawsuit was filed in a federal court in Miami less than 24 hours after the story was published last week. The filing – which names Murdoch, News Corp, chief executive Robert Thomson and the two reporters as defendants – says Trump is seeking $US10 billion ($15.3 billion) in damages, punitive damages, court costs and other relief. 'This historic legal action is being brought against the so-called authors of this defamation, the now fully disgraced WSJ, as well as its corporate owners and affiliates, with Rupert Murdoch and Robert Thomson (whatever his role is!) at the top of the list,' Trump posted on Truth Social. The Australian-born Thomson is the long-serving chief executive of News Corp, based in New York. He was previously the editor-in-chief of Dow Jones, the News Corp subsidiary that publishes the Journal, and once worked at The Sydney Morning Herald, among other papers. On Thursday (Friday AEST), the Journal reported Trump was among several Epstein associates who contributed a letter to a leather-bound book for the financier's 50th birthday in 2003, organised by Epstein's friend Ghislaine Maxwell. The letter, which took the form of a cryptic, imagined conversation between the two men, was reportedly typed within a drawing of a naked woman, with two small arcs depicting her breasts. The exchange concluded: 'Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret.' Loading Trump denied writing the letter and claimed to have never drawn a picture in his life, though evidence quickly emerged disproving that claim. The Journal reported that Trump's signature appeared below the woman's waist, 'mimicking pubic hair'. The complaint filed in court alleged the defendants failed to attach the letter and drawing, failed to prove that Trump authored or signed such a letter, and failed to explain how the purported letter was obtained. In its story, the Journal did not claim to possess the documents, but said it had 'reviewed' the letter.

Trump taunts Murdoch as he files $15 billion lawsuit over Epstein story
Trump taunts Murdoch as he files $15 billion lawsuit over Epstein story

Sydney Morning Herald

timea day ago

  • Politics
  • Sydney Morning Herald

Trump taunts Murdoch as he files $15 billion lawsuit over Epstein story

Washington: US President Donald Trump has filed a defamation lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch and The Wall Street Journal, making good on his threat to sue over a story reporting that he signed a letter to Jeffrey Epstein for the disgraced financier's 50th birthday. The lawsuit was filed in a federal court in Miami less than 24 hours after the story was published last week. The filing – which names Murdoch, News Corp, chief executive Robert Thomson and the two reporters as defendants – says Trump is seeking $US10 billion ($15.3 billion) in damages, punitive damages, court costs and other relief. 'This historic legal action is being brought against the so-called authors of this defamation, the now fully disgraced WSJ, as well as its corporate owners and affiliates, with Rupert Murdoch and Robert Thomson (whatever his role is!) at the top of the list,' Trump posted on Truth Social. The Australian-born Thomson is the long-serving chief executive of News Corp, based in New York. He was previously the editor-in-chief of Dow Jones, the News Corp subsidiary that publishes the Journal, and once worked at The Sydney Morning Herald, among other papers. On Thursday (Friday AEST), the Journal reported Trump was among several Epstein associates who contributed a letter to a leather-bound book for the financier's 50th birthday in 2003, organised by Epstein's friend Ghislaine Maxwell. The letter, which took the form of a cryptic, imagined conversation between the two men, was reportedly typed within a drawing of a naked woman, with two small arcs depicting her breasts. The exchange concluded: 'Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret.' Loading Trump denied writing the letter and claimed to have never drawn a picture in his life, though evidence quickly emerged disproving that claim. The Journal reported that Trump's signature appeared below the woman's waist, 'mimicking pubic hair'. The complaint filed in court alleged the defendants failed to attach the letter and drawing, failed to prove that Trump authored or signed such a letter, and failed to explain how the purported letter was obtained. In its story, the Journal did not claim to possess the documents, but said it had 'reviewed' the letter.

Trump suing Murdoch's WSJ over Epstein claim
Trump suing Murdoch's WSJ over Epstein claim

Otago Daily Times

timea day ago

  • Politics
  • Otago Daily Times

Trump suing Murdoch's WSJ over Epstein claim

US President Donald Trump is suing the Wall Street Journal and its owners including Rupert Murdoch over the newspaper's report that Trump in 2003 sent Jeffrey Epstein a birthday greeting that included a sexually suggestive drawing and a reference to secrets they shared. Trump filed the lawsuit in federal court in the Southern District of Florida on Friday against Dow Jones, News Corp, Rupert Murdoch and two Wall Street Journal reporters, accusing the defendants of defamation and saying they acted with malicious intent that caused him overwhelming financial and reputational harm. He is seeking at least $US10 billion ($NZ16.7 billion) in damages. Trump, 79, has vehemently denied the Journal report, which Reuters has not verified, and warned Murdoch, the founder of News Corp, that he planned to sue. Dow Jones, the parent of the newspaper, is a division of News Corp. "I look forward to getting Rupert Murdoch to testify in my lawsuit against him and his 'pile of garbage' newspaper, the WSJ. That will be an interesting experience!!!" Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Friday morning. Representatives of Dow Jones, News Corp and Murdoch could not be reached for comment. Disgraced financier and sex offender Epstein died by suicide in a New York jail cell in 2019. He was 66. The case has generated conspiracy theories that became popular among Trump's base of supporters who believed the government was covering up Epstein's ties to the rich and powerful. Some of Trump's most loyal followers became furious after his administration reversed course on its promise to release files related to the Epstein investigation. A Justice Department memo released on July 7 concluded that Epstein killed himself and said there was "no incriminating client list" or evidence that Epstein blackmailed prominent people. Attorney General Pam Bondi had pledged months earlier to reveal major revelations about Epstein, including "a lot of names" and "a lot of flight logs." With pressure to release the Epstein files building, Trump on Thursday said he directed Bondi to ask a court to release grand jury testimony about Epstein. The United States government on Friday filed a motion in Manhattan federal court to unseal grand jury transcripts in the cases of Epstein and his former associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who in 2021 was convicted of five federal charges related to her role in Epstein's sexual abuse of underage girls. The 63-year-old former socialite is serving a 20-year sentence. "Public officials, lawmakers, pundits, and ordinary citizens remain deeply interested and concerned about the Epstein matter," Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in the filing. "After all, Jeffrey Epstein is the most infamous paedophile in American history." Blanche called the transcripts "critical pieces of an important moment in our nation's history," and said "the time for the public to guess what they contain should end." He said prosecutors would work to redact all victim-identifying information before making anything public. BAWDY LETTER The Journal said the letter bearing Trump's name was part of a leather-bound birthday book for Epstein that included messages from other high-profile people. The newspaper said the letter contains several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appeared to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker. It said the letter concludes "Happy Birthday - and may every day be another wonderful secret," and featured the signature "Donald." Allegations that Epstein had been sexually abusing girls became public in 2006 - after the birthday book was allegedly produced - and he was arrested that year before accepting a plea deal. Epstein died just over a month after he was arrested for a second time and charged with sex-trafficking conspiracy. Trump, who was photographed with Epstein multiple times in social situations in the 1990s and early 2000s, told reporters in 2019 that he ended his relationship with Epstein before his legal troubles became apparent. In 2002 Trump, a Florida neighbour of Epstein's, was quoted in New York magazine as saying, "I've known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy. He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side." Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office in 2019, Trump said he and Epstein had a "falling out" before the financier was first arrested. Trump said he "knew him like everybody in Palm Beach knew him" but that, "I had a falling out with him. I haven't spoken to him in 15 years. I was not a fan of his, that I can tell you." WHAT TRANSCRIPTS COULD SHOW The release of the grand jury documents may fall short of what many of Trump's supporters have sought, including case files held by the administration. Grand juries review evidence from prosecutors to determine whether people should be indicted for crimes. This includes hearsay, improperly obtained information and other evidence that prosecutors would not be allowed to present at trial. Transcripts of grand jury proceedings are generally kept secret under federal criminal procedure rules, with limited exceptions. A judge may allow disclosure of grand jury matters in connection with judicial proceedings, or at the request of defendants who believe it could lead to the dismissal of their indictments. It is likely that some material released from grand jury proceedings would be redacted, or blacked out, because of privacy or security concerns.

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