Giles targets England top job February 2, 2014 CRICKET: England limited-overs coach Ashley Giles has confirmed he wants to replace Andy Flower, who quit as Test boss on Friday. Giles, whose Twenty20 side suffered a crushing 84-run loss to Australia in the final match of a horrific tour, said: “I’d be very interested. I’m sure I’ll be applying.” Former South Africa coach Gary [...]
Gallacher defends Dubai title February 2, 2014 GOLF: Scotland’s Stephen Gallacher recovered from a wobble to retain his Dubai Desert Classic title yesterday. Gallacher, who led Rory McIlroy by two shots overnight, made four early bogeys but finished 16 under par, one ahead of Argentinian Emiliano Grillo.
Rate hike fear drives up cost of mortgages January 30, 2014 BANKS are already starting to hike the rates on five-year fixed mortgages, new data has revealed, following hints from Bank of England governor Mark Carney that rates will rise in the coming years. Figures seen by City A.M. show the five-year swap rate, used to calculate the loans, hit 1.7 per cent this month, up [...]
Amazon and Google’s sales surge on digital revolution January 30, 2014 INTERNET giants Google and Amazon both reported dramatic jumps in revenue last night – of 17 per cent and 20 per cent respectively – but both still short of investors expectations. Amazon’s shares tumbled as much as 10.5 per cent during after hours trading after it reported its highest ever quarterly sales of $25.6bn during [...]
British gaming firm NaturalMotion snapped up by Zynga for $527m January 30, 2014 UK DEVELOPER NaturalMotion was last night snapped up by Zynga, the US games developer behind FarmVille and ChefVille, for $527m (£319.5m). NaturalMotion, founded by 41-year-old Oxford University graduate Torsten Reil, has created games like Clumsy Ninja and CSR Racing for Apple’s mobile devices. The firm has offices in London, Oxford, Brighton and San Francisco. Zynga’s [...]
Inflation since 2008 crash has hit low-paid hardest January 30, 2014 THE SQUEEZE on UK pay has meant much bigger wage cuts for high earners, but new figures now reveal that above-target inflation has hit households on low incomes most severely of all. On average, the highest incomes tracked by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) have dropped by over eight per cent in real terms since 2007-8. [...]
Growth is back – but here are five challenges still facing the UK January 30, 2014 THERE can be no doubt that the UK’s economic picture has improved dramatically. Growth is back, employment is buoyant and optimism is returning. But the economy remains horribly scarred by the downturn, with many issues still needing to be tackled. Here are five especially pressing challenges. 1) Median incomes remain six per cent lower in [...]
Goldman deal destroys Danish government January 30, 2014 DENMARK’S government was torn apart yesterday as one of its coalition member parties quit in protest at the sale of part of state energy firm Dong to Goldman Sachs. Annette Vilhelmsen, head of the Socialist People’s Party, quit as social affairs and integration minister and left the government, leaving Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt clinging on. [...]
Barclays cuts 400 more staff January 30, 2014 BARCLAYS is cutting 400 staff in its corporate banking arm as part of chief Antony Jenkins’ long-term plan to use new technology to automate more processes, the bank said yesterday. Of those, 300 are in operations and technology, the biggest chunk of whom are in London. The remaining 100 are mostly in product specialists. Relationship [...]
SFO pleads for extra funding January 30, 2014 THE SERIOUS Fraud Office (SFO) has made an urgent plea for £19m of extra funding from the Treasury. In a written ministerial statement the solicitor general Oliver Heald explained that the SFO has asked for emergency contingency funding to “meet an urgent cash requirement on existing services.” A cash advance of £11m on the £19m [...]
