Robot bookworms? Artificial intelligence (AI) can now read as well as humans after Microsoft and Alibaba made research breakthroughs January 16, 2018 The march of artificial intelligence continues… Researchers at Microsoft have hailed a “major milestone” for the technology after they managed to create a system using the technology that can read just about as well as a human. They used what’s known as the Stanford Questions Answering Dataset (SQuAD), a tool commonly employed in scientific research [...]
C: Citi shares rise after it takes humongous $22bn Trump tax hit but beats underlying earnings expectations January 16, 2018 Citigroup today announced an enormous $22bn (£16bn) charge from Donald Trump’s tax changes which pushed the US bank to its first loss since 2009, but distracted from otherwise above-expectations results. Banks with earnings overseas have been forced to account for a fundamental change to the way in which the US taxes profits. A tax credit [...]
Trevor Steven: Liverpool have shown the rest how to beat Manchester City January 16, 2018 Liverpool’s thrilling win over Manchester City on Sunday was more than just a mighty performance. In becoming the first team to beat the leaders in the Premier League this season they also established a blueprint for how to set up against Pep Guardiola’s team that I expect other managers to follow. The formula was simple: [...]
Bitcoin price (BTC) tumbles below $12,000 while ethereum (ETH) and Ripple (XRP) also sink January 16, 2018 Bitcoin tumbled back towards $11,000 today, falling as much as 20 per cent to a four-week low, as the notoriously volatile digital currency shed nearly $1,000 in just an hour. At the time of writing, the price of bitcoin was down 14.14 per cent at $11,911.5 a coin according to Coinmarketcap. Rival cryptocurrency ethereum also [...]
Investors think an equities peak in 2018 is less likely, as stocks steal popularity from bonds January 16, 2018 Global investors are less worried about stock markets peaking in 2018, according to a new survey, as the consensus expectation for when prices will begin to decline has slipped from the second quarter of 2018 to 2019 or beyond. The number of investors taking out protection against a near-term correction in the markets, meanwhile, has [...]
Carillion rescue “undermined” by Royal Bank of Scotland and Santander January 16, 2018 Carillion’s biggest lenders restricted funding to the stricken firm three days before it went bust, “undermining” efforts to save Britain’s second-biggest contractor, it has been claimed. In witness statements filed with the High Court, former boss Keith Cochrane alleges the Royal Bank of Scotland “undermined” the Carillion’s attempts to conserve cash, Sky News first reported. [...]
Forget bitcoin and dogecoin, there’s joke cryptocurrency based on Theresa May, Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Emmanuel Macron January 16, 2018 Bitcoin might be on a downward turn (for now at least), but Theresa May coin is on the up. Yes, the Prime Minister has been minted into the cryptocurrency world in another example of the craze. Who wouldn’t approve of going to all that effort just for a pun about being strong and stable? Read [...]
Uber will introduce a cap on driver hours in the UK from next week January 16, 2018 Uber will introduce a cap on the number of hours drivers can work in the UK after MPs criticised working conditions and raised concerns about safety risks from working long hours. Drivers will be forced to log out of the app and will be unable to accept rides for six hours after 10 hours of [...]
Norway’s massive sovereign wealth fund sells out of BAE Systems, AECOM, Fluor Corp, Korea Line Corp, Evergreen Marine Corp in an ethics push January 16, 2018 Norway’s massive $1.1 trillion (£777bn) sovereign wealth fund has pulled its investment in UK defence company BAE Systems, as it continues an ethical push. The fund – which has traditionally focused on oil, but decided to ditch oil and gas investments last year – has also sold off its stake in another eight companies as [...]
It’s easy to criticise the UK apprenticeship levy – but we need to give it a chance January 16, 2018 The start of 2018 has seen renewed criticism of the apprenticeship levy, with last year’s fall in apprenticeship starts being widely cited as evidence that it has become another business tax. In fact, the levy represents a milestone in transforming the way employers access talent and how the post-18 education system operates for young people. [...]