Charlton fire brought under control: Smoke from warehouse blaze could be seen for miles around May 18, 2015 A huge fire that broke out at a food distribution warehouse in Charlton, south London, has been brought under control according to the London Fire Brigade (LFB). The fire engulfed a row of six lorries and left four patients suffering from smoke inhalation. The LFB recommended that residents nearby close all doors and windows as [...]
IMF raises Italy growth forecast May 18, 2015 The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has raised its forecast for Italy's growth to 0.7 per cent this year, up from 0.5 per cent. The organisation said Italy was "emerging slowly from a painful recession", but had been buoyed by the European Central Bank's (ECB) quantitative easing programme. "Government bond yields have fallen to pre-crisis lows, [...]
Thomas Cook donates Corfu deaths compensation to Unicef May 18, 2015 Update: Thomas Cook has confirmed it will donate the compensation it received over two children's deaths in Corfu in 2006 to children's charity Unicef, following City A.M.'s earlier report. The travel operator is donating the £1.5m it received from the Louis Group as compensation from the hotel where the two children died from carbon monoxide [...]
This is when you’re most likely to be burgled May 18, 2015 Wednesday mornings are usually associated with the sluggishness of so-called hump-day, but now there's another reason to hate getting up in the middle of the week: it turns out that's when you're most likely to be burgled. Research suggests that almost one in five (18 per cent) burglaries take place on Wednesday morning, with 71 [...]
Goldman Sachs slashes its oil price forecast for the next five years May 18, 2015 The good news is that after months of falls, oil prices have begun to tentatively rise (although that was thanks to fighting in Yemen and Iraq). The bad news is that Goldman Sachs doesn't think it's going to last: the investment bank has slashed its oil price forecasts for the next five years. In a [...]
Global finance chiefs urge policy makers to ward off bubble risks May 18, 2015 Chief executives, chairmen and senior executives of some of the largest banks in Europe and the US have warned of the potential for unforeseen risks caused by policy makers attempting to avoid future financial crises. Douglas Flint, group chairman of HSBC, UBS chairman Axel Weber, Deutsche Bank's co-chief executive Anshu Jain, Larry Fink, chief [...]
Markets hit as Greece letter shows just how close it came to defaulting on a €750m IMF payment May 18, 2015 The FTSE 100 started the day on a positive note, edging back above the 7,000 mark – but that was quickly curtailed, after the publication of a letter from Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras to International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde showed just how close it came to defaulting on a €750m (£544m) payment [...]
Michael Fassbender as Steve Jobs: First trailer for Danny Boyle biopic unveiled May 18, 2015 The first trailer for British director Danny Boyle's biopic of Steve Jobs has landed, with Michael Fassbender appearing in Jobs' trademark black turtleneck. Read more: Steve Jobs was an amazing businessman – but Einstein’s the genius behind the iPod Steve Jobs, the second feature film on the Apple founder's life, is written by Aaron Sorkin, the Academy-award [...]
Google is racing (at 25mph) ahead in the self-driving car wars May 18, 2015 Fed up waiting for Tesla's self-driving car to emerge? Us too. Luckily Google has the answer. The Silicon Valley giant is releasing its prototype fleet of self-driving cars this summer ahead of a “small pilot” in the coming years. According to Chris Urmson, director of Google's self-driving car project, “a few” of the vehicles [...]
Rail strike hangs in the balance as union and network bosses meet at Acas May 18, 2015 Union leaders and Network Rail bosses will meet for showdown talks today in a bid to avert major disruption for travellers across the country this bank holiday weekend. The Rail, Maritime and Transport union is planning a 24-hour walk out from 5pm on Monday May 25 and a 48-hour ban on overtime as many bank [...]