US rules out unilateral action on Syria August 28, 2013 known to be trigger-happy A US official has ruled out unilateral military action against Syria, according to Agence France-Presse. If correct, this would confirm speculation that the US will not want to launch a military strike against Bashar al-Assad’s regime without the backing of its allies. Earlier today, the United Nations special envoy to Syria [...]
UN special envoy to Syria confirms use of “some kind of substance” in attacks August 28, 2013 Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations special envoy to Syria, has confirmed that "some kind of substance” was used in an attack on 21 August resulting in the deaths of hundreds of people. Brahimi told reporters "it does seem like some kind of substance was used" in the alleged poison gas attack near Damascus last week. [...]
Businesses warn retail recovery isn’t sustainable as sales growth hits nine month high August 28, 2013 UK retail sales grew at the fastest annual pace in nine months in the year to August, while employment in the sector grew by the most in 11 years, according to survey data from the Confederation of British Industry. Nearly half (49 per cent) of retailers responding to the Distributive Trades Survey for August said [...]
Paddy Power shares fall despite profit growth August 28, 2013 Online betting company Paddy Power has reported a 12 per cent increase in pre-tax profits and basic earnings per share for the first half of the year (release). Pre-tax profits rose to €77.0m (£66.4m) from €68.7m in the same period the year before. Basic earnings per share increased to €1.394 from €1.240. However, investors ditched [...]
EU’s Rehn says it’s too early to put a number on the Greek financing gap August 28, 2013 The European Union's Olli Rehn has said that it's too early to put figures on the Greek financing gap, and that there will be a "proposal, possibly in Autumn". Steve Collins, global head of dealing at London & Capital Asset Management: German CDU politicians are going to be furious Rehn has slipped his gag with [...]
Cameron announces draft UN resolution condemning chemical attacks by Assad August 28, 2013 Prime minister David Cameron has taken to Twitter to announce that Britain has drafted a UN resolution, condemning Syria's Assad for use of chemical weapons. 1/3 We've always said we want the UN Security Council to live up to its responsibilities on Syria. Today they have an opportunity to do that — David Cameron (@David_Cameron) [...]
Greek finance minister thinks economy will grow by more than forecast this year August 28, 2013 Greek finance minister Yannis Stournaras has said he believes Greece is seeing some positive economic developments, and that estimates for 2013 gross domestic product may be beaten. Current EU/IMF expectations are for output to contract by 0.6 per cent this year and grow by 0.9 per cent in 2014.
UK workless households falls to lowest level since records began August 28, 2013 The percentage of all UK households with at least one person aged 16 to 64 with no members in work was 17.1 per cent in the period April to June 2013 – down from 17.9 per cent in the same period the year before and the lowest since records began in 1996, according to figures [...]
Ryanair to appeal against Competition Commission ruling August 28, 2013 The chief executive of budget airliner Ryanair has said it will appeal against today's report from the UK Competition Commission’s (UKCC) saying that its minority shareholding in Aer Lingus has led to a "substantial lessening of competition" between the airlines on routes between the UK and Ireland. The UKCC said this morning that Ryanair will [...]
Bank of Japan’s deputy governor reiterates target of two per cent inflation within two years August 28, 2013 The Bank of Japan's deputy governor, Kikuo Iwata, has repeated a "goal to achieve two per cent inflation as soon as possible with a two-year timeline as a reference point". Iwata said the bank is "focused on how we are achieve two per cent inflation. What we want to see is higher wages and an [...]