Daily News Roundup

Tuesday, January 29

Uber Eats has announced it is linking up with Coles to trial home deliveries of some of the supermarket giant’s ready-to-eat meals.

The food delivery platform said the experiment would start on Tuesday at a Coles in the southern Sydney suburb of Pagewood and customers would be able to order items such as roast chicken, deli salads, bakery items and frozen desserts as well as ready-to-heat meals including pizzas, curries and pies.

“We believe this trial will complement the current Coles Online offering by delivering meals in an average of less than 30 minutes, which can be tracked in the Uber Eats app from the time of order to drop-off,” Uber Eats regional general manager Jodie Auster said in a statement.

“Coles will be the first supermarket to partner with Uber Eats in Australia, giving our customers healthy choices at competitive prices delivered right to their door,” Coles Director of Fresh Food Alex Freudmann said.

The trial is restricted to Uber Eats customers ordering from the Coles Pagewood store and has a delivery fee of $5 per order.

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The UK’s biggest and most powerful food retailers have warned MP’s that  leaving the European Union without a deal on March 29 would threaten food security.

The chief executives of supermarket chains Sainsbury’s, Asda and Waitrose, retail group Marks and Spencer as well as fast food giants McDonald’s and KFC are among the 12 signatories on the letter from the British Retail Consortium (BRC).

They warn the “just-in-time” or fresh supply chain will be significantly disrupted in the event of a no-deal scenario.

“Government data suggests freight trade between Calais and Dover may reduce by 87 per cent against current levels as a result,” states the letter, which was addressed to the House of Commons.

“For consumers, this will reduce the availability and shelf life of many products in our stores.”

Hard Brexiteers, who have long argued the UK should leave the EU regardless of a deal, will no doubt declare it a case of scaremongering.

But how can they be so sure?

Retailers and everyday preppers have already begun stockpiling in the UK but, as the letter also notes, available warehouses have already been filled and “even if there were more space it is impossible to stockpile fresh produce”.

The BRC says that in March the UK gets 90 per cent of its lettuces, 80 per cent of its tomatoes and 70 per cent of its soft fruit from the EU — all perishable produce that needs to be moved quickly from farm to store.

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President Donald Trump will deliver his delayed annual State of the Union address next week after accepting an invitation from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Pelosi last week postponed the address, scheduled for January 29,  because of the partial shutdown of the US government.

The nationally televised address from the chamber of the US House of Representatives, now set for February 5, presents Trump with a powerful opportunity to appeal directly to the American public to support his policies, including his demand that Congress fund a wall along the US border with Mexico.

Pelosi cancelled the speech last week, saying it should not be delivered until a partial government shutdown was over.

The record-long shutdown, brought about by a fight between the White House and Democrats in Congress over his wall funding demands, ended on Friday after 35 days, paving the way for the speech to go ahead.

In a letter to Trump on Monday that she posted to Twitter, Pelosi said the two had spoken and agreed on the new date.

“It is my great honor to accept,” Trump wrote in reply.

In mid-January, Pelosi had suggested to Trump he reschedule the speech, citing security concerns related to the shutdown, and the next day Trump blocked an overseas trip Pelosi had planned in a move many saw as retribution.

Last Wednesday, Trump told Pelosi he was looking forward to delivering the speech as scheduled but Pelosi – the top ranking Democrat in Congress – quickly yanked her invitation in what was widely seen as an effort to deprive Trump of the national spotlight in the middle of the border wall fight.

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Russian police have confirmed the arrest of a man caught on camera stealing a painting from the wall of a major Moscow art gallery.

Visitors at the State Tretyakov Gallery on Sunday barely gave the man a second look, taking him for an employee as he strolled out of the museum with it the painting, worthy about $1.4 million. in his hand.

Security footage released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs shows the suspect remove the painting from a gallery wall in the presence of a large number of people.

The suspect then walks out of the gallery without any attempt being made to stop him.

It is the second embarrassing incident at the State Tretyakov Gallery in less than a year after a man damaged one of the gallery’s most famous paintings with a metal pole last May.

“Ai Petri, Crimea”, a mountain scene painted by Russian landscape artist Arkhip Kuindzhi in 1908, is worth about $1.4 million, state TV said, though it was insured for only around $280,000.

It was recovered on a nearby building site undamaged after the suspect admitted where he had hidden it, the police said, although the 31-year-old denied stealing it.