Here’s how the US could be energy self-sufficient by 2020 January 9, 2014 The US has the potential to become energy self-sufficient by the end of the decade, according to the head of Exxon Mobil. Rex Tillerson, chairman & CEO of Exxon Mobil, told CNBC that US energy self-sufficiency had become "a realistic aspiration." Tillerson pointed to the fact that the US was already the world's largest natural [...]
After ten years of oil deficits – is now the time for shale gas? January 9, 2014 It has been over a decade since the UK was a net oil exporter, according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics. In November, the balance on trade in oil was in deficit by £0.9bn. The figures further confirm the long decline of North Sea oil production. North Sea oil can no longer [...]
Meet the weaponised smartphone January 9, 2014 The Annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas has so far been dominated by products geared towards leisure and travel. Not much has been presented to the tech friendly crowd in way of new innovative methods of self-defence-until now. Added to this year's haul of technological wizardry, we see the world's first stun gun [...]
Festive bakes see Greggs return to growth January 9, 2014 Away from the plight of the FTSE 100 supermarkets, high street baker Greggs has returned to growth. The group saw like-for-like sales increase by 2.6 per cent in the fourth quarter. The company benefitted from strong trading over Christmas and New Year, with sales over the festive period up by 3.1 per cent. Greggs saw [...]
Fresh hope for melanoma patients as FDA approves new drug January 9, 2014 GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) announced today that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has, for the first time, approved the use of Mekinist in combination with Tafinlar. The combination will be used to treat patients with melanoma that cannot be surgically removed or that has spread to other parts of the body. Dr Paolo Paoletti, president [...]
2014 brings bad news for Britain’s supermarkets January 9, 2014 Tesco has announced a disappointing set of results for the Christmas and New Year period. In the UK like-for-like sales were down 2.4 per in the six weeks to 4 January. Group sales for the period fell by 1.2 per cent. Chief executive Philip Clarke commented: We continued to invest in the most compelling offer [...]
Here’s what MPs were saying on betting machines last year – a rather different story to today’s crackdown January 8, 2014 Today saw the House of Commons awash with calls for further regulation of the gambling industry. During Prime Minister's Questions, Labour leader Ed Miliband urged David Cameron to give local councils further powers to limit the number of Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs), the current allowance is four. David Cameron's response was that empirical evidence [...]
Npower cuts bills by 2.6 per cent January 8, 2014 Npower has announced it will be cutting its average energy bill by 2.6 per cent. Around 2.6m duel-fuel customers will benefit to the tune of £50. The primary price reduction will come into affect from 28 February. Npower is the last of the Big Six to announce a cut in energy prices after the government [...]
China deals fresh blow to Bitcoin January 8, 2014 China's largest e-commerce business, Alibaba Group Holding, will prohibit the sale of Bitcoin in the wake of People's Bank of China's (PBOC) crackdown on the cyryptocurrency. Last year, Chinese authorities instructed all third party payment companies to stop offering clearing services to Bitcoin exchanges by 31 January. In December, the PBOC announced a ban on [...]
Eurozone retail sales rise to 12-year high in November January 8, 2014 Eurozone November retail sales have enjoyed their largest rise November 2009. Retail sales jumped by 1.4 per cent month-on-month in November. Analysts had expected a meagre increase of just 0.2 per cent. The rise is a stark contrast to the previous month's decline of 0.2 per cent. European economist at IHS Global Insight Howard Archer [...]
