Forever young – Is this breakthrough the end of the ageing process? December 20, 2013 Scientists from Harvard and the University of NSW seemed to have managed to reverse the ageing process. In studies conducted on mice a chemical was used to rejuvenate muscle and produced the equivalent of transforming a 60-year-old's muscle to that of a 20-year-old. Researchers used the chemical nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) which is found in [...]
Khodorkovsky released as Putin’s regime loosens grip ahead of Winter Games December 20, 2013 Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once Russia's richest man, has been released after serving a prison sentence which lasted more than a decade. Official reports say he has already left the remote prison colony near the Arctic Circle, where he was incarcerated. Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to free Khodorkovsky, a former political rival, but many of Putin's [...]
It’s a Christmas miracle: UK’s annual GDP growth hits 1.9pc December 20, 2013 Some Christmas cheer from our statisticians. The UK's economy grew by 1.9 per cent in the year to the third quarter, smashing analyst estimates of 1.5 per cent growth. Not one of the 31 economists polled by Reuters expected growth that high. Economic activity as measured by GDP is now just two per cent below [...]
FTSE 100 reshuffle day: Here’s who’s in and who’s out December 20, 2013 A couple of changes on the FTSE 100 today, as decisions from last week's quarterly review come into effect today, with the benchmark index welcoming Royal Mail and Ashtead into its ranks. Whilst high-profile Royal Mail made it onto the blue chip list, fellow stock market debutant Merlin – who owns Madame Tussauds – only [...]
Japan’s Kuroda confident of hitting inflation target despite tax rise December 20, 2013 Bank of Japan (BoJ) Governor, Haruhiko Kuroda reaffirmed his position on Friday that Japan is successfully heading towards its target inflation rate of two per cent. Kuroda told a press conference: We expect Japan's consumer inflation to slightly exceed one per cent by year end. There have been doubts as to whether the BoJ will [...]
Npower to pay £3.5m to customers after breaking sales rules December 20, 2013 Not overly festive news for Npower this morning. The UK energy supplier has, for the second time this month, been ordered to pay out to help vulnerable customers, after an Ofgem investigation found fault with its business procedures. The £3.5m payment will see at least £25 go to each Warm Home Discount customer. The probe [...]
UK holds on to AAA rating while EU suffers downgrade December 20, 2013 The UK economy received an early Christmas present on Friday. Ratings agency Standard & Poor's has maintained the UK's credit rating at AAA. S&P believes the UK will experience higher growth and rising productivity in the coming years. Average annual real GDP growth is expected to reach more than two per cent between 2013 and [...]
What you need to know before the open – 20/12 December 20, 2013 With Christmas drawing ever nearer, today's the last day of the final full week of trading, but we've still got a fair amount of data coming in. Disappointing numbers over in the US yesterday saw markets slip, finishing the day mixed. But Europe moved up, meaning we could see the FTSE 100 finish higher for [...]
UAE pulls out of BAE Typhoon aircraft deal | City A.M. December 20, 2013 The UAE government has decided not to proceed with a BAE deal for the supply of defence and security services, including the supply of Typhoon aircraft. The deal would have been worth around £6bn. BAE had not “built this prospect into its planning assumptions.” The company says that a timely agreement in 2014 would be [...]
Disruptive technology isn’t a miracle: We can harness its future power now | City A.M. December 20, 2013 THE ASTONISHING rise of firms like Twitter (founded just seven years ago, yet now expected to float for $10bn), is often seen as a grand romantic narrative – an exciting story, difficult to predict. But transformation, disruption, and change should be easier to forecast. The only weapon we need is the deceptively simple power of [...]