Drones use cameras to politely interact June 26, 2014 “You first!” “After you!” “Thanks, but I must insist!” “This is getting silly” It is not out of the question that drones will engage in this sort of amicable conversation in the near future. Professor Sandor Veres and his colleagues at the University of Sheffield have created a system in which flying robots use cameras [...]
European bank hit by €500k cyber fraud June 26, 2014 A large European bank has been defrauded in a cyber attack that resulted in more than €500,000 (£400,000) being stolen from customer’s accounts. The unnamed bank in Europe was targeted with a trojan which was able to automate transactions moving money from customer accounts to a mule account. A team of criminals removed different amounts [...]
Real Madrid’s Champions League triumph earns them £46m June 26, 2014 Real Madrid's tenth European championship crown saw them net £46m in prize money as the 32 Champions League clubs shared a total £726m this season, according to figures released by Uefa. Spain, with £133m earned by its clubs, was the country with the largest share of the pool thanks largely to a memorable all-Madrid final. [...]
Britain and Islamic bonds: The bigger picture June 26, 2014 Yesterday Britain issued its first Islamic bond, or sukuk, which proved very successful and exceeded expectations. The five-year bond, which was issued by the government in an attempt to boost London's position as a centre for Islamic finance, attracted ten times the number of orders expected. However, some question whether this is really enough to help Britain's [...]
USA coach Jurgen Klinsmann urges bosses to give staff time off to watch the World Cup June 26, 2014 USA national team coach Jurgen Klinsmann has urged the country's bosses to resign themselves to a dip in productivity and allow workers time off work to watch today's crunch match against Germany. Former German coach Klinsmann has drafted a personalised 'get out of work' letter for workers to hand to their employers, saying that a [...]
Celebrities slam failed war on drugs in letter to David Cameron June 26, 2014 Some of world's most famous actors, singers and entrepreneurs have signed a letter condemning the criminalisation of drugs in the UK. Addressed to David Cameron, the letter says that the use of the law to punish the possession of drugs has led to the "unnecessary criminalisation" of 1.5m people in the past 15 years. Signatories [...]
Housebuilders shares surging after Bank of England announcement June 26, 2014 Shares in housing builders Persimmon and Barrett Homes have jumped 58p (4.84 per cent) and 16.4p (4.74 per cent) respectively at pixel time after news the Bank of England would not be imposing the tight restrictions some had feared. The new mortgage controls have been introduced to temper a possibly overheating market, but with some [...]
Barclays sued for dark pool securities fraud: What is a dark pool? June 26, 2014 Barclays in the US is being sued for fraudulent behaviour, following a complaint filed by New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman. He claimed that the bank had misrepresented the participants of its dark pool, leaving institutional investors exposed to high frequency trading “predators”. A dark pool is a covert trading location where all trades are anonymous [...]
Queen’s property portfolio increases to £9.9bn June 26, 2014 The Crown Estate, the company that manages the Queen's property portfolio, saw the value of its assets grow to £9.9bn in 2013 and produce record returns of £267m. Success was driven by a more entrepreneurial approach and London's growing office market. Last year the portfolio was valued at around £8bn. The year-on-year growth rate of [...]
Google protesters hit out against “totalitarian” company June 26, 2014 Tech giant Google has had its annual developer conference interrupted by protesters hurling abuse at the company over its recent acquisition of Boston Dynamics, a company that made robots for the US military. At the time it bought Boston Dynamics, Google promised to honour existing contracts between the robotics company, the Pentagon and the Pentagon's [...]