Serious Fraud Office suspends lawyer in charge of Unaoil criminal investigation | City A.M. August 12, 2018 The senior lawyer in charge of an ongoing criminal investigation into Monaco-based oil firm Unaoil has been suspended. Tom Martin, the lawyer managing the Serious Fraud Office’s (SFO) probe into the oil consultancy, has been suspended within the last few weeks for gross misconduct, according to Sky News. It comes just weeks before the agency’s [...]
Amazon rapped by advertising watchdog over Prime ‘one-day delivery’ claims | City A.M. August 11, 2018 E-commerce giant Amazon has been warned by the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) it must clarify that some items on its Prime service are not eligible for next-day delivery. The ASA said in a ruling, seen by the Times and due to be published next week, that Amazon has been “misleading” consumers by promoting one-day [...]
Nasa delays its Parker Solar Probe space flight to the Sun | City A.M. August 11, 2018 The US national space agency Nasa today pulled back on launching a satellite closer to the Sun than any other has gone before, due to last-minute technical difficulties. The Parker Solar Probe was set to launch this morning just before 9am UK time from Florida’s Cape Canaveral, but an alarm raised during the 65-minute weather [...]
Elon Musk hit by fresh lawsuits over Tesla share price rigging claims | City A.M. August 11, 2018 Tesla and its billionaire chief Elon Musk were hit by two new lawsuits yesterday, over claims that Musk’s surprise proposal to take the company private was scheme designed to target short-sellers of Tesla stock. Musk announced on Twitter earlier this week that he was considering taking the electric carmaker private at a share price of [...]
A new Premier League season is upon us: Here are 5 key rule changes that may affect how the campaign transpires | City A.M. August 10, 2018 With a new Premier League season upon us, how will fans, players and managers react to a plethora of adaptations in the rule book? Here are five key changes for this campaign. VAR or no VAR? The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) has been excluded for this Premier League season, amid ongoing controversy over its usage. [...]
Opinion: While we need to get young people on the property ladder, movers and downsizers need help too | City A.M. August 10, 2018 Falling levels of home ownership and the particular plight of first-time buyers in the UK housing market have caused headaches for policymakers for many years. The latest suggestions for a solution from centre-right think tank Onward, propose, among other things, further changes to property taxation for non-owner-occupiers. The rationale is to reduce demand for housing [...]
President Donald Trump doubles tariffs on Turkish steel and aluminium as lira continues nosedive | City A.M. August 10, 2018 Donald Trump has today announced massive increases to tariffs against Turkey as its currency the lira continues to plummet. It fell to a record low this morning, and has now dropped 18 per cent today to 6.5 lira to the dollar, compared with 5.5 lira last night, as a deepening monetary crisis and diplomatic relations [...]
Philip Hammond is mulling special ‘Amazon tax’ for online retailers to counter high street woes | City A.M. August 10, 2018 Chancellor Philip Hammond has said he is considering a new tax for online businesses in recognition of the challenges faced by high street retailers. Hammond told Sky News he believed “the nature of the offer on the high street” was changing permanently. “There’s going to be less retail, more leisure, bars, community facilities,” he said. [...]
Apple re-hires Tesla’s ex-engineering chief for its self-driving car unit | City A.M. August 10, 2018 Tesla’s former chief of engineering Doug Field has landed on his feet – back at his old firm Apple. Field will be joining Apple to work on its self-driving car unit Project Titan, which until recently was shrouded in relative secrecy. He previously worked at the firm on engineering Apple’s Mac computers, alongside Titan’s current [...]
UK government plows an additional £71m into London tech as part of £780m package | City A.M. August 10, 2018 London’s tech researchers and entrepreneurs have scored the first boost from an extra £780m in government funding, destined for innovation centres up and down the country. Chancellor Philip Hammond will announce later today the government’s aim of expanding of its so-called catapult centres of innovation, which support sectors and technologies thought to be in high [...]