Ready, set, go: Liberty Media shareholders give green light to $4.4bn Formula One takeover January 18, 2017 Liberty Media shareholders have approved the group's $4.4bn (£3.6bn) takeover of Formula One, the company said this evening. The acquisition, approved at a special meeting of the US media giant's stockholders, is expected to close before the end of the first quarter. However, it still remains conditional on gaining approval from the Formula One governing body, the [...]
More than hot air: hydrogen on the agenda at Davos January 17, 2017 A new initiative to place hydrogen at the top of the global energy agenda was launched yesterday by thirteen international businesses, including Toyota, BMW, Shell, Anglo American and Hyundai. Together the companies represent 1.72m employees globally and around €1.07 trillion in revenue. Plug-in battery powered hybrid and electric cars might be getting all the attention [...]
Hyundai Motor and General Motors announce billions in US investment (but deny it’s anything to do with Trump’s tax threat) January 17, 2017 Hyundai Motor will boost investment in the US, after Donald Trump warned of a 35 per cent border tax of cars imported to the US. Hyundai said it plans to increase US investment by 50 per cent to $3.1bn (£2.57bn) over five years and could also build a new factory, though group president Chung Jin-haeng denied [...]
Controlling costs of £55.7bn HS2 project will be “challenging”, admits Department for Transport January 17, 2017 Controlling costs of HS2 will be "challenging", according to the Department for Transport (DfT), and has said cost estimates of the second stage of the project won't be set until 2019. The comments were made in written evidence submitted by the DfT's permanent secretary Philip Rutnam, to support a Public Accounts Committee inquiry on the Great Western [...]
Train drivers’ union Aslef suspends all upcoming Southern rail strikes as train operator agrees to new talks January 17, 2017 Train drivers' union Aslef will suspend industrial action on Southern rail, after the train operator agreed to new talks, starting tomorrow. The union's general secretary Mick Whelan said: "I am today proposing a new process to find a resolution to our industrial dispute with Southern." Whelan added: "Aslef believes that the best way to resolve the dispute at [...]
Abellio agrees to sell 40 per cent of Greater Anglia franchise to Japanese firm Mitsui January 17, 2017 Abellio is selling 40 per cent of its Greater Anglia rail franchise to Japanese firm Mitsui. Managing director Dominic Booth said the company had "fulfilled our long-standing objective" of running the franchise as a 60:40 joint venture and the deal will deliver "significant improvements" for Greater Anglia's customers. Abellio won the Greater Anglia franchise again [...]
MEPs vote to put robots on the agenda to tackle safety and legal concerns January 17, 2017 MEPs have started on a European health and safety standard for robots – before the fracking toasters short circuit and become our overlords. Or before other countries like Japan and the US establish their standards first. A “kill” switch and creating a status for “electronic persons” that would bear legal responsibility are among recommendations that MEPs on [...]
Finnair’s UK ambitions take flight with Flybe codeshare extension January 17, 2017 Finland's flag carrier has bolstered a codesharing deal with Flybe to amp up its UK connectivity. Finnair is extending its UK network with new codeshare services on Flybe flights between several European cities and the UK. The airline's codes will be added to the following Flybe services when a Finnair flight is also included in [...]
Rolls-Royce’s shares spike over seven per cent as company says 2016 profit will trump expectations January 17, 2017 Shares in Rolls-Royce rose as much as 7.7 per cent to 716.7p this morning, after the firm settled bribery claims on three continents and said its profit for 2016 will beat expectations. The engineering giant announced yesterday it had reached, in principle, a £671m deal with regulators to settle allegations of bribery and corruption. The investigations [...]
Global giant Shell helping Edinburgh innovators to harness power of air turbulence January 17, 2017 | City Talk Capture Mobility’s award-winning roadside micro-turbine can generate electricity from the turbulence of passing traffic – enough to supply an average-sized home for 24 hours. Integrated solar panels at the top of the turbine add extra energy to the system during the day and air filters inside the fins of the turbines also help to clean the [...]