Blow for England as Billy Vunipola set to miss entire Six Nations with fractured arm January 14, 2018 Saracens powerhouse Billy Vunipola is set to miss England’s entire Six Nations campaign after X-rays confirmed he fractured his forearm during Saturday’s European Champions Cup clash with Ospreys. The 25-year-old reeled away clutching his right wrist following a clash with Ospreys forward Rob McCusker in the latter stages of the first half and failed to [...]
SoftBank’s Vision Fund backs online car marketplace Auto1 January 14, 2018 Another day, another SoftBank startup investment. The highly active Japanese firm with $100bn of its Vision Fund to spend is backing Auto1, a Berlin-based online marketplace for buying and selling cars. It is investing €460m in the five-year-old startup, one of the most highly valued in Europe at €2.9bn with the fresh investment and already [...]
Kevin De Bruyne, Eden Hazard and…Jesse Lingard? Why Manchester United man is up there with the best this season January 14, 2018 A good demonstration of how transformative Jesse Lingard’s recent performances for Manchester United have been is provided by rewinding barely two months to when he made his 100th appearance for the club in late November. For a homegrown player who had been capped by England and scored the winning goal in an FA Cup final, [...]
Carillion could crash into administration as early as Monday if the government doesn’t back a rescue plan January 13, 2018 Troubled construction firm Carillion could fall into administration as soon as Monday if the government does not back a rescue plan, according to reports. Government officials are set to hold crunch talks on the firm’s fate on Sunday, Sky News reported, quoting a source that called it a “make-or-break weekend”. “Without that commitment of support [...]
Renewable energy to be competitive with fossil fuels by 2020 as prices drop January 13, 2018 The cost of generating renewable power is falling at an “unprecedented” rate, and by 2020, all renewable technologies will be price competitive with traditional fossil fuels, a new report says. Since 2010, the cost of generating power from onshore wind has fallen by around a quarter, while solar photovoltaic (PV) electricity costs have dropped by [...]
A speech by London mayor Sadiq Khan was disrupted by protesters calling for his arrest January 13, 2018 A group of Donald Trump-supporting protesters disrupted a speech today by Sadiq Khan, declaring a plan to make a citizen’s arrest of the London mayor. Khan was set to begin a speech on gender equality at the left-leaning think tank the Fabian Society when a group called the White Pendragons called for Khan’s arrest as [...]
Carillion: Trade credit insurers pull cover as Carillion “hangs by a thread” January 13, 2018 Euler Hermes and other trade credit insurers have stopped writing new coverage for suppliers to embattled contractor Carillion, sending a signal the company is at risk of collapse, according to reports. Tokio Marine HCC and MGA Nexus also said they would not insure deliveries to the firm, Insurance Insider reported. Trade credit insurance protects firms [...]
Open Banking: NatWest warns fraudsters could scam customers through new Open Banking regulations January 13, 2018 As Open Banking comes into effect today, NatWest has warned customers of the risks the new regulations could bring. New Open Banking rules give customers of nine banks, including RBS-owned NatWest, the ability to share their financial data from personal current accounts electronically with other banks and businesses. The plans aim to make it easier [...]
Markets roundup: Pound sterling hits its highest since the Brexit vote as FTSE 100 smashes records January 12, 2018 The pound partied hard this afternoon following reports of good news for Brexit negotiators – as the FTSE 100 ended the week by breaking another record Sterling began the evening more than one per cent higher against the dollar, while it mustered a 0.2 per cent rise against the euro as reports the Spanish and [...]
Fracking at Preston New Road: Cuadrilla “encouraged” by gas discovery at its Lancashire site January 12, 2018 Fracking firm Cuadrilla Resources said it has discovered a “very sizeable quantity” of natural gas at its exploration site in Lancashire as it prepares to drill what will be the UK’s first horizontal well in shale rock. The fresh data, acquired by recovering some 375 feet of core samples from a well at the Preston [...]