Ethereum pumps – new all-time high incoming? January 19, 2021 Crypto at a Glance It’s been a relatively quiet week so far for Bitcoin, which seems happy to coast along between $35,000 and $37,000 for the time being. The really big-and-mega-exciting news today is Ethereum, which finally looks to be charging, head-down and horns out, towards that long-awaited new all-time high (set in the heady [...]
EY staff told to work 16 hour days, weekends, and berated for getting food poisoning January 19, 2021 It’s all work and no play for EY staff in the Hong Kong office, as employees were pressured to work until 11:30pm each week night and at the weekend during the busiest period. An email from one manager at the Big Four firm in Hong Kong told staff they should be working 16-hour days during [...]
FTSE 100 opens higher as markets await Yellen grilling January 19, 2021 The FTSE 100 slipped back after a strong start this morning as markets await testimony this afternoon from incoming US treasury secretary Janet Yellen. After a quiet day yesterday which saw the index shed 0.2 per cent, London’s leading market rose 0.6 per cent at the opening bell to 6,762 points. But after a couple [...]
One in eight people had Covid antibodies last month, says ONS January 19, 2021 Around one in eight people in England had coronavirus antibodies in December, according to estimates from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), meaning that they would have had the disease previously. The estimates, which are based off sample blood tests from people aged 16 and over, show that 12.1 per cent of people in England [...]
Health secretary Matt Hancock self-isolating after NHS app alert January 19, 2021 Matt Hancock is self-isolating after receiving an alert from the NHS coronavirus contact tracing app. The health secretary today said he had been “pinged” by the app and would not be leaving his house until Sunday. “This self-isolating is perhaps the most important part of all the social distancing,” he said in a video posted [...]
Rio Tinto sees iron production tick up on rising China demand January 19, 2021 Mining giant Rio Tinto said that iron ore production had increased in the final quarter of the year on the back of increased demand from China. The Anglo-Australian company said that output from its Pilbara iron assets had risen 3.0 per cent in the last three months despite the challenges of Cyclone Damien and the [...]
Lotus owner Geely to develop smart car technology with Tencent January 19, 2021 Lotus and Volvo owner Geely announced this morning it has signed an agreement with Tencent to develop smart vehicle technology. The company said it aims to transform car cockpits to enable more mobility service applications, alongside testing autonomous driving. The Geely and Tencent partnership is the latest in a series of tech and auto companies [...]
Chinese regulator approves Cisco acquisition of Acacia January 19, 2021 China’s market regulator has approved the acquisition of Acacia Communications by Cisco Systems. China’s market regulator, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), said that, provided both companies comply with a ‘set of conditions’, the sale can go ahead.
Oxford University given £100m to launch fight against antibiotic resistance January 19, 2021 The University of Oxford has been given £100m for a new institute focusing on resistance to antibiotics, one of the largest donations in its history. The gift will help combat the global issue of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which is one of the world’s greatest healthcare challenges. The funding has been delivered by chemicals giant INEOS [...]
‘Haves’ and ‘have nots’ disparity risks geopolitical instability, warns WEF January 19, 2021 The economic and digital disparities of the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’ risks widening social cohesion, and could lead to geopolitical instability, the World Economic Forum (WEF) has warned. The Covid-19 pandemic has widened long-standing health, economic and digital disparities between individuals, according to the latest WEF global risk report, which could hinder global cooperation [...]