The obvious questions HS2 planners still have to answer March 17, 2014 Business groups have been broadly supportive of the changes to High Speed 2, set out this morning by new chairman Sir David Higgins, though concerns remain about the benefits of the project. Following Sir David’s review, transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin has this morning confirmed that the £700m link between HS1 (The Channel Tunnel) and HS2 [...]
What you need to know before the US open March 17, 2014 As investors wait to see how US and EU powers continue to respond to the referendum in Crimea yesterday, S&P 500 stocks futures suggest US markets will open slightly higher today. European markets have extended the early gains they made today, keeping their nerve, despite rising tensions over the Ukrainian crisis and weak EU inflation [...]
Bitcoin bugs invest $10m in China’s largest exchange March 17, 2014 Despite China's recent crackdown, cyptocurrency Bitcoin has been given a new lease of life in the world's second largest economy. The company that claims to be China's largest Bitcoin exchange by volume has announced a $10m Series A funding round. Venture Capital firm Ceyuan led the way and was followed by Mandra Capital, Ventures Lab and [...]
Russian gold glitters in face of Ukraine conflict March 17, 2014 The geopolitical tensions between Russia and the West over Ukraine are boosting the gold price and benefitting Russian miners, according to Canaccord Genuity today. The broker has upgraded its recommendations on Russian gold producers Polymetal International and Petropavlovsk to “buy”, as a result of its bullish view on the yellow metal and a weaker currency, [...]
Morrison employee arrested over staff data theft March 17, 2014 After confirming on Friday that personal data of a large number of its staff had been stolen – a day after announcing a dire profit warning – supermarket Morrison today said that an employee has now been arrested in connection with the theft. Names, addresses and bank details from its staff payroll system were published [...]
Eurozone annual inflation falls to 0.7pc in February March 17, 2014 Latest Eurozone inflation figures show a fall in the annual rate to 0.7 per cent in February – hitting its lowest ever level again. More than a quarter of the euro area's in deflation, with half the bloc's economies with rates of 0.5 per cent or less. Howard Archer has described the numbers as "uncomfortable and [...]
Rogue Libyan oil tanker seized by US Seals March 17, 2014 Before dawn this morning, US Navy commandos boarded and took control of a North Korean-flagged tanker loaded with crude oil smuggled out of Libya, the Pentagon has confirmed. The move foils attempts by a breakaway Libyan militia to sell the cargo, which is owned by the Libyan government’s National Oil Company, on the black market. [...]
Dogecoin just sent $11,000 over Twitter. Instantly. March 17, 2014 If you've tried to transfer cash online, you've probably faced a process that'll hit your wallet and take an age to complete. Cryptocurrencies are changing that, and sending cash across borders is now as easy as sending a tweet. That's just what Twitter user Hood did yesterday, sending 14m Dogecoin to the Doge4Water campaign – [...]
Nakamoto “unconditionally denies” Newsweek Bitcoin story March 17, 2014 The man Newsweek claims to be the father of Bitcoin has issued an unconditional denial that he had anything to do with the creation of the cryptocurrency, reports Reuters Felix Salmon. The American magazine claimed the 64-year old Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto was the same person as Satoshi Nakamoto who invented Bitcoin. Nakamoto has denied any [...]
How one 19 year old won the internet with addictive puzzler 2048 March 17, 2014 Gabriele Cirulli never thought that his latest project would be a breakout hit. The Italian web developer started 2048 as an experiment to see if he could program a game almost from scratch. Having stumbled across another version of the game on a forum and 1024, he wanted to see if he could combine the [...]