Hambro SPAC ditches merger talks with biotech firm January 30, 2023 Hambro Perks Acquisition Company (HPAC), a pioneering special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), has abandoned plans for a merger with biotech firm Istesso. HPAC, which became the first SPAC to float in London in November 2021 after regulators overhauled UK rules, had been in talks with Istesso over a planned merger. Istesso is part-owned by London-listed [...]
Philips cuts 6,000 more jobs as electronics giant’s faulty sleep device pushes it into the red by £1.49bn January 30, 2023 Philips is cutting 6,000 jobs globally in a bid to reduce costs and improve the efficiency of its supply chains. The Dutch health technology firm said it would cut around eight per cent of its workforce by 2025, as it counts the costs of suspected faulty sleep devices which it is still recalling. In its [...]
JD Sports data hack: Around 10m customers caught up in ransomware attack warned to be ‘vigilant’ of scam emails January 30, 2023 Around 10 million people might have had their addresses, phone numbers and email addresses among other things stolen in a hack that hit retailer JD Sports. The business said payment card details were safe, and that it has no reason to think the hackers have accessed users’ passwords. Hackers accessed a system which contained information [...]
Crypto ‘Wild West’: 85 per cent of crypto firms fail to meet minimum regulatory standards January 26, 2023 Around 85 per cent of crypto firms failed to meet minimum regulatory requirements when applying for registration with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), according to the watchdog. In a letter to the Treasury Committee, Sarah Pritchard, FCA executive director of markets, said “around 85 per cent of those cryptoasset firms that applied for registration were [...]
Minecraft makeover: This is what Sadiq Khan looks like with a perfectly square head January 26, 2023 Have you ever wondered what London’s long-standing mayor Sadiq Khan would look like with a perfectly square head? Now you can find out for sure after he was brought to life as a character in the video game Minecraft. With his grey hair, the faintest hint of 5 o’clock shadow and those kind, slightly sleepy [...]
Q&A: Fintech boss Janine Hirt on how London can stay ahead of EU rivals January 26, 2023 Fintech is an increasingly vital part of the UK’s financial ecosystem – so it’s high time to chat with Janine Hirt, the CEO of industry body Innovate Finance, on the challenges that come with keeping the UK out in front of Europe While the UK has historically been a global leader in FinTech – receiving [...]
Hackers from Iran and Russia have ‘ruthlessly’ hit British journalists and politicians, GCHQ’s cyber centre warns January 26, 2023 Officials warn Iranian and Russian hackers have been “ruthlessly” trying to steal sensitive information from British journalists and politicians. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), part of GCHQ, issued a fresh alert on increased hacking attempts directed at individuals and groups, though not at members of the public. “The Russia-based SEABORGIUM (Callisto Group/TA446/COLDRIVER/TAG-53) and Iran-based [...]
Elon Musk: Twitter a ‘powerful tool’ to drive Tesla’s demand as car maker’s revenue soars to $24.3bn January 26, 2023 Twitter is “an incredibly powerful tool” to drive Tesla’s demand, according to chief executive Elon Musk. “I really encourage all kinds of automotive companies to use their Twitter accounts in ways that are interesting, informative and entertaining and it will help drive sales just as it has with Tesla,” Musk told investors on Wednesday night. [...]
Reddit user’s outrageous pan project sends internet into meltdown January 25, 2023 There is an unlikely new star of Reddit: a user called fatmummy222 who has become perhaps the most famous cast iron pan seasoner in history after larding, buffing and heating the same pan 80 times until it glistens like a portal into another dimension. The user posted the epic experiment to the subreddit r/castiron and [...]
Microsoft: Teams, Outlook, Microsoft 365 and XBox Live down for thousands of users worldwide January 25, 2023 Microsoft is investigating an outage of Teams, Outlook, Microsoft 365 and XBoxLive after thousands of users worldwide were unable to use the platforms. The service status monitoring website Downdetector reported that thousands of users had reported problems accessing Outlook, Microsoft 365 and XBox Live on Wednesday morning. The site detected 4,132 incidents of people complaining [...]