Blatter blasts Brazil over delays January 6, 2014 FOOTBALL: World Cup preparations in Brazil have been heavily criticised by world governing body Fifa’s president Sepp Blatter. Six of the 12 stadiums failed to meet a 31 December completion deadline and Blatter said: “No country has been so far behind in preparations since I have been at Fifa.”
Referee Clattenburg in the clear January 6, 2014 FOOTBALL: The Football Association have ruled referee Mark Clattenburg’s comment to Southampton captain Adam Lallana that he was “different” since playing for England did not constitute misconduct.
Injured Patchell out of Six Nations January 6, 2014 RUGBY UNION: Wales and Cardiff Blues fly-half Rhys Patchell will miss the Six Nations with a knee injury.
Business groups pan migrant crackdown January 6, 2014 BUSINESS leaders have condemned Ed Miliband’s plan to prevent employers paying low wages to migrant workers, calling it “misguided,” after a day in which both the Prime Minister and leader of Ukip Nigel Farage also toughened their rhetoric on migrant labour. The Labour leader vowed to close an opt-out allowing employment agencies, which can employ [...]
Lonely Christmas for traditional retail as web dominates January 6, 2014 BRITAIN’S bricks-and-mortar retailers have had another disappointing Christmas, with in-store sales failing to match inflation and online spending making up more than half of seasonal boost in spending. Compared to 2012’s Christmas period, consumption only rose by 1.2 per cent in physical retail stores, Barclaycard revealed this weekend. Despite a slight improvement, the increase was [...]
Minister: Let pensioners switch their annuities January 6, 2014 THE government announced a series of reforms to private and state pensions yesterday. Under the proposals, retired workers would be able to switch annuities regularly to get the best value for money. It would work in a similar way to mortgage switching. David Cameron also vowed to maintain the triple-lock on the state pension, which [...]
My predictions for 2014 for the economy, markets and politics January 6, 2014 HAPPY New Year, dear readers, and welcome to our first edition of 2014. As ever, we devote a sizeable chunk of this issue to trying, as best as we can, to predict some of the big economic, political, market, financial and corporate events of the year ahead. We do so with humility: as Mark Twain [...]
Q and A: Why reform the annuity market? January 6, 2014 Q What is an annuity? A An annuity is a financial product that pays a guaranteed income for life. It is most commonly used by people with private pensions to convert their lump sum payment into regular income. Annuities are becoming more popular as final-salary pensions have died out in the private sector. Annuities can [...]
Barristers in court walkout January 6, 2014 CRIMINAL barristers across England and Wales are set to stage a mass walkout this morning to protest against legal aid cuts proposed by the government. Up to 2,000 barristers are expected to stay away from court until 2pm today, with protests planned outside the Old Bailey and Southwark Crown Court. The Ministry of Justice wants [...]
Watchdog slams Deutsche Bank January 6, 2014 GERMAN banking watchdog BaFin has criticised Deutsche Bank’s management for the way it responded to a probe into manipulation of the Libor benchmark interest rate, according to German magazine Der Spiegel. A Bafin-commissioned report by EY showed that “insufficient efforts were made to investigate and clear up events in the bank,” Der Spiegel quoted. BaFin [...]
