No sex, no French fries and lots of queues: Venezuela tops the world’s misery index for 2015 March 3, 2015 Ukraine, Greece and Spain are the most depressed countries in Europe – but all the world's economies are outshadowed by the gloomy Venezuelans, which have topped the misery index for a second year running. It should perhaps come as no surprise that Venezuela's population is so unhappy – people have been taking to the streets [...]
Your gym workout can tell how long you have left to live, scientists from Johns Hopkins University claim March 3, 2015 Ever wanted to know how long you have left to live? Well, you could find out on your next workout. At least that's the claim being made by cardiologists at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, who say they've developed a formula to estimate your risk of dying over the next decade, based on [...]
Crossrail opens its doors to give young Londoners a glimpse of Europe’s biggest construction project March 3, 2015 Crossrail is opening its doors this weekend, offering young Londoners the chance to see what Europe's largest construction project looks like from the inside. This weekend Crossrail is holding a free ticketed Open Doors event, aimed at 11 to 24-year-olds interested in the construction industry, as well as parents and teachers, to visit sites including [...]
Basement projects in Kensington, Chelsea, Hammersmith and Fulham to be inspected by Health and Safety Executive after rise in incidents March 3, 2015 Basement projects in “high value London boroughs” are to be inspected by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) next week amid concerns that there has been a rise in the number of incidents. Construction inspectors will be focusing on properties in Kensington and Chelsea as well as Hammersmith and Fulham throughout the week beginning [...]
Direct Line boosts dividend as it meets all IPO targets – but warns of “competitive” market March 3, 2015 Direct Line has increased its dividend despite operating profits falling for the last calendar year. The figures It was broadly positive for the insurance group. Operating profits fell from £509m to £506m in 2014, but everything else was on the up: Group statutory pre-tax profit rose 12.2 per cent to £456.8m and final [...]
Party like it’s 1999: Nasdaq breaks through 5,000 psychological barrier for first time since dotcom bubble in 2000 March 2, 2015 Time to party like it's 1999. The Nasdaq has closed at 5,008 points – the highest level since the dotcom bubble. The index has been on a 10-day winning streak – the longest since 2009. This is the first time the tech-heavy index, which now includes the likes of Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Cisco, Intel and [...]
From Greece and Natalie Bennett to the banks and London’s skyline: Here’s what got us talking this week February 27, 2015 There was a lot of talk about a dress. And quite a bit about the llama drama. But here at City A.M. Towers, we were obsessing about plenty of other things. Greece finally managed to break the stalemate over its debt, negotiating a four month extension with Germany, and ending weeks of debate about a [...]
The UK on track for sunniest winter on record February 27, 2015 The UK is on course to have had its sunniest winter since records began in 1929. While the figures for temperature and rainful are “fairly average” for this time of year, it looks set to be the sunniest winter we've seen in nearly 100 years. By February 25, we'd had 189 hours of [...]
Crack-smoking former mayor of Toronto Rob Ford is selling “memorabilia” on eBay February 26, 2015 The infamous former mayor of Toronto Rob Ford has put the tie he was wearing when he admitted to smoking crack cocaine up for sale on eBay. Ford, who is now a Toronto councillor, has put a number of items up for sale on the bidding site, including a personalised Saskatchewan Roughriders Jersey, which he [...]
Coutts & Co under investigation for “aiding and abetting tax evasion” February 26, 2015 Coutts & Co – the Queen's own bank – is being investigated by German authorities for tax evasion. The German prosecutor is examining the Swiss arm of the 300-year-old private bank for “alleged aiding and abetting of tax evasion by certain Coutts & Co clients”, its parent RBS revealed today. “Current and former [...]
