THREE OF THE BEST February 1, 2012 SUPERBROTHERS: SWORD AND SWORCERRY Sword and Sworcery (sic) is a point and click with a difference. This ever-so-clever Canadian game is part homage to point-and-clicks of yesteryear, part musical social experiment. Most of the puzzles are sound-based, with the player having to respond to the beautifully crafted soundtrack. The game will often prompt you to [...]
BlackBerry tops handset sales… sort of February 1, 2012 So, the biggest selling phone of last year was the… BlackBerry. It’s been a mixed year for… Wait… What? BlackBerry? Seriously? After a year that has seen global blackouts and gigantic writedowns – culminating in its co-chief executives stepping down last month – RIM has come out with a tub-thumping statement claiming to be the [...]
FTSE gains as manufacturing bounces back February 1, 2012 The FTSE rose this morning as better-than-expected UK and Chinese manufacturing data gave investor sentiment a boost and fuelled gains in mining and banking. Britain’s manufacturing sector unexpectedly returned to growth in January as orders rose for the first time in six months, indicating the UK could avoid recession if the sector continues to recover [...]
Four admit plotting LSE bomb attack February 1, 2012 Four men have admitted plotting to detonate a bomb in the London Stock Exchange. Mohammed Chowdhury, Shah Rahman, Gurukanth Desai and Abdul Miah pleaded guilty to the charge of engaging in conduct in preparation for acts of terrorism. They had been inspired by the preachings of the Islamic extremist Anwar Al-Awlaki, connected to Al-Qaeda. The [...]
Court rules BAA must sell Stansted February 1, 2012 Airport operator BAA must sell London Stansted airport in order to pave the way for better competition, a court has ruled. The ruling is the latest twist in a long battle between BAA and the Competition Commission (CC), which stretches back to 2009 when it was ruled that the group exerted a dominant hold on [...]
Deutsche Boerse says Brussels blocked NYSE deal February 1, 2012 Deutsche Boerse said it will unwind a deal to take over NYSE Euronext after European Commission regulators said they would block a combination of the two companies.
House prices fall February 1, 2012 House prices fell by 0.2 per cent in January compared with the previous month, according to the Nationwide. The building society, the first to report on January’s prices, valued the average home at £162,228. The annual rate of house price growth slowed to 0.6 per cent in January, from one per cent in December, according [...]
Manufacturing bounces back February 1, 2012 Britain’s manufacturing sector unexpectedly returned to growth in January as orders rose for the first time in six months, indicating the UK could skirt recession if the sector continues to recover in coming months. The Markit/CIPS Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose to 52.1 – the highest level since May – from an upwardly revised [...]
Lloyds shakes up management February 1, 2012 Lloyds has shaken up its management structure, helping take pressure off its chief executive, who recently had two months off work due to fatigue. Alison Brittain becomes group director for retail banking, while Antonio Lorenzo is to run the asset finance division along with the group strategy and international and wealth management arms. Wholesale banking [...]
ICAP profits take hit from Eurozone crisis February 1, 2012 Financial markets broker ICAP has cut its profits forecast for the current year due to weaker trading linked to the euro zone crisis. ICAP, an inter-dealer broker in the bond, foreign exchange and swaps markets, said it now expects to make a profit of between £336m and £358m, down from its prediction in November of [...]
