Sky Sports wins US Major League Soccer TV broadcast rights February 24, 2015 Sky Sports will today announce it has added exclusive TV broadcast rights of live US Major League Soccer (MLS) in the UK, from March. The four-year deal to show at least two games a week comes as Sky prepares to swallow its huge £4.2bn bid to hold on to an improved package of Premier League football [...]
Mark Carney silent on Bank of England’s mystery dove as he predicts interest rate hikes February 24, 2015 Interest rates will rise gradually over the next two years, Mark Carney told MPs yesterday, playing down the chance of another rate cut. One member of the monetary policy committee (MPC) is tempted to vote for a rate cut, according to the minutes of its last meeting. However, Bank of England governor Carney refused to [...]
Pebble Time: New smartwatch enters Kickstarter record books, raising £6.1m in seven hours February 24, 2015 Pebble smashed crowdfunding records yesterday as it returned to Kickstarter to fund its second smartwatch, Pebble Time. Within 17 minutes, the firm had reached its initial finding target of $500,000 (£324,000). And after 49 minutes, it had hit the $1m mark, obliterating the previous record for the milestone. Seven hours after the campaign kicked off, Pebble had [...]
HSBC’s Stuart Gulliver set to face MPs on tax evasion February 24, 2015 HSBC chief Stuart Gulliver will face MPs today to give evidence on claims its Swiss private banking arm helped clients evade taxes. Initially it was only the giant bank’s chairman Douglas Flint who had been summoned to the Treasury Select Committee for a 45-minute session. But now both bosses are attending parliament, and they will [...]
OECD: Keep UK growing with spending cuts and immigration February 24, 2015 BRITAIN is outstripping rival economies across the developed world, with a successful balance of spending cuts and a flexible jobs market, the influential Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said yesterday. But more needs to be done, spreading spending cuts into previously protected departments such as healthcare, and reversing damaging moves to cut immigration. [...]
Rifkind quits parliament after cash-for-access sting shame February 24, 2015 SIR MALCOLM Rifkind announced yesterday his retirement as an MP in May, and immediately as chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee. He was caught by Channel 4 and the Telegraph offering to use his influence and contacts as a paid for consultant for a fake Chinese firm. The veteran MP has represented Kensington since [...]
Yellen takes patient approach to hike February 24, 2015 FEDERAL Reserve chair Janet Yellen yesterday told the Senate banking committee that the US central bank preparing to consider interest rate hikes “on a meeting-by-meeting basis”. Investors believe the dovish remarks mean a rate hike is not expected before summer.
Greeks submit reform plans: Yanis Varoufakis’ proposals to Brussels – and the points of contention February 24, 2015 The hard work of negotiating a new Greek settlement looked set to begin in earnest yesterday as the Eurogroup ministers accepted Athens’ list of proposals as a starting point for talks. Greece was supposed to send the list to officials on Sunday or Monday, but the letter was finally sent yesterday. It includes changes to tax [...]
Tumbling prices see Greece lead Eurozone into deeper deflation February 24, 2015 Deflation deepened to its most severe rate since 2009 across the euro area in January, with Greece recording the sharpest fall in prices. Annual inflation came in at minus 0.6 per cent across the bloc, according to figures published yesterday, down from 0.2 per cent in December. The rate has been dragged down by lower [...]
Bundestag ready to vote on Friday over new rescue plan February 24, 2015 GERMANY’S parliament will hold a vote on Friday morning to decide whether or not to agree to Greece’s request for an extension of funding from its fellow Eurozone states. Other states may also allow MPs to vote on the issue. Yet while scepticism towards Greece’s plans remains strong in countries such as Finland and Slovakia – [...]
