Merkel told to abandon green subsidies February 26, 2014 Angela Merkel should abolish renewable energy subsidies due to their lack of cost-effectiveness, according to a report from the Expert Commission on Research and Innovation that will be presented to the chancellor on Wednesday. The commission took aim at the Green Renewable Energy Act (EEG), which cost €22bn (£18bn) in subsidies last year. The body [...]
Asian shares flat as investors look to Yellen testimony February 26, 2014 Asian markets are flatlining in the wake of a relatively calm day on Wall Street and a lack of significant economic data. Investors are remaining cautious ahead of Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen's testimony on Thursday. Markets will also be looking to whether the People's Bank of China will undertake further market reforms and seek [...]
Zucker-bore is set on pushing his Internet.org February 24, 2014 THE TECH geeks currently nerding it out over at the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona couldn’t believe their luck that just five days after Facebook splurged $19bn on Whatsapp, the connectivity wunderkind himself Mark Zuckerberg delivered the keynote speech last night. The Facebook chief exec showed up in his trademark jeans and T-shirt and like some [...]
Bottom Line: Zuckerberg takes centre stage in Barcelona February 23, 2014 FROM THE MWC BARCELONA ONCE a year, everyone who’s anyone in mobile undertakes a pilgrimage of sorts to Barcelona, for Mobile World Congress (MWC). Think Davos or the Sundance Film Festival but rather than politicians or movie directors, the congress draws more than 75,000 attendees from the mobile industry; executives, developers and analysts. This week [...]
What Fed chair Yellen was saying the day after Lehman went bust February 21, 2014 Back in September 2008, now Fed chair Janet Yellen attended a meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee as an alternate member. That meeting came the day after Lehman Brothers went bust. Here's what she had to say: During the past several weeks, my head office and Branch directors have become decidedly more pessimistic about [...]
The 7 issues Clegg and Farage must tackle in EU debate February 21, 2014 As Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage prepare to go head to head over Britain's membership of the European Union, LBC listeners will be waiting eagerly to see which arguments the two men use to land their best blows. In terms of what is most important for Britain regarding EU membership, here are seven of key [...]
Game on – Farage to take on Clegg over EU February 21, 2014 Nigel Farage has accepted Nick Clegg's challenge to debate Britain's membership of the European Union. Speaking to LBC's Nick Ferrari show, Farage said: I have absolutely no choice I've got say yes. He added: I will do it with Nick Clegg, but the other two, I'd like to see them there as well. In the [...]
Nick Clegg challenges Farage to EU debate February 20, 2014 The deputy prime minister has thrown down the gauntlet to the leader of UKIP Nigel Farage for a "public, open debate" on the UK's membership of the European Union. Speaking on his weekly LBC radio programme Nick Clegg said "If Nigel Farage is either listening or looking at this programme I hope he would take [...]
Is the Indian government copying George Osborne? February 18, 2014 A beleaguered finance minister announces his budget to his country’s parliament, trying to reduce his country’s budget deficit in the face of above-average inflation and dreary growth prospects. The scene might sound familiar to followers of British politics, but yesterday it was Indian finance minister Palaniappan Chidambaram’s turn. The situation is hardly unique in [...]
Dovish Yellen lifts markets February 11, 2014 NEW FEDERAL Reserve chair Janet Yellen buoyed markets yesterday, insisting that the US jobs recovery is “far from complete” – even as the Fed tapers quantitive easing (QE) by $10bn (£6.07bn) each month. The Fed previously said it would not consider raising interest rates until unemployment dropped below 6.5 per cent, but Yellen’s comments strongly [...]