Monkey selfie: Macaque does not own image but neither does camera owner, US copyright office rules August 22, 2014 If a monkey takes a selfie, who owns the image – the monkey or the man with the camera? Now we have an answer to surely the most important legal question of modern times: it's neither. The US copyright office has ruled that any work created by an animal- monkey or otherwise- as well as [...]
RSA Insurance offloads Singapore and Hong Kong business to Allied World Assurance in £130m deal August 22, 2014 RSA Insurance is selling off its business in Singapore and Hong Kong in the latest deal aimed at getting the British insurer back on track. Swiss insurer Allied World Assurance will pay £130m in cash for RSA’s insurance operations in the two countries, in a deal expected to be finalised in 2015. It will pay [...]
How the US is changing the shape of British TV – key deals August 22, 2014 Last night Channel 4 chief executive David Abraham blasted the US for buying up British TV companies while arrogantly lecturing them on what they should be doing. “In recent years we’ve seen a parade of Americans standing up here at the MacTaggart telling us how things ought to be done. But, how do you [...]
Central and Waterloo & City line Tube strike driving outraged commuters to buses and Twitter August 22, 2014 Transport for London strikes again. City workers' travel has been thrown off course this morning due to strike action on the Waterloo & City and Central line services. The Waterloo & City line is down throughout the entire day while Central line services have been severely limited and are currently only running between Leytonstone – [...]
EDF Energy told to pay £3m by Ofgem for for failing to handle customer complaints correctly August 22, 2014 EDF Energy has been ordered to pay £3m to vulnerable customers by energy watchdog Ofgem after an investigation into the way customer complaints were handled. Ofgem found the energy giant did not correctly deal with complaints from customers between May 2011 and January 2012. The investigation began after a 30 per cent rise in complaints [...]
Troubled Co-op Bank slashes pre-tax losses in the first half August 22, 2014 Are the Co-operative Bank's troubles finally over? After a dire 2013, the bank announced this morning it had cut pre-tax losses to £75.8m in the six months to the end of June. That's less than a tenth of last year's £844.6m. Last summer, the bank went into a period of crisis after it uncovered [...]
All hail the return of the IPO as London Stock Exchange Group reports profit increase August 22, 2014 The London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) has reported a 16 per cent increase in adjusted income to £323.9m for the three months ended 30 June 2014, with the company hailing a resurgence in the initial public offering (IPO) market. In results which the group said showed "strong financial performance", it also reported a 20 per [...]
Takeover accepted for UK company that designed Tower Bridge and the world’s tallest building August 22, 2014 Hyder Consulting, the UK company that helped design Tower Bridge and the world's tallest building, has agreed to a takeover bid from Dutch firm Acadis. The offer is for £288m, or 730p a share, and beats the unsuccessful offer of £268m put in by Japanese outfit Nippon Koei. Arcadis had initially offered £256m for the company [...]
Bank of America’s $17bn mortgage settlement is biggest banking fine ever August 21, 2014 Bank of America was yesterday hit by the biggest banking fine ever, as US authorities charged the lender $16.6bn (£10bn) for mortgage fraud. The bank gave mortgages to customers who could not afford them, then packaged up the toxic loans and sold them on to investors and the US government under the pretence that they [...]
Misery growing for Eurozone as growth falters and consumer confidence wavers August 21, 2014 The Eurozone’s major economies are facing another slowdown, with confidence and output sliding even further after the bloc’s growth ground to a halt in the second quarter of the year. Grim figures yesterday from data firm Markit showed both services and manufacturing firms in Europe reporting a slower expansion this month. The purchasing managers’ index [...]