The three who thought they had secured a deal January 1, 2013 FRENZIED eleventh-hour talks are believed to have secured the passage of the fiscal cliff deal through the Senate at 2.07am yesterday morning, with three figures at the forefront. The deal was worked out through long New Year’s Eve negotiations between Vice President Joe Biden and Mitch McConnell, who leads the minority Republican faction in the [...]
Fears over property tax hikes in US force a wave of high-value sales in run up to 2013 January 1, 2013 HIGH-VALUE property owners rushed to sell US dwellings at reduced prices in the days leading up to 1 January in a bid to avoid the tax increases introduced by the so-called fiscal cliff. The top rate of capital gains tax, which is included on real estate sales, was set to go up 8.8 percentage points [...]
2013: Time for new challenge January 1, 2013 WELCOME back. January brings with it a host of New Year’s resolutions and hopes for the months ahead. The year ahead promises much but the capital will need to dig deep to surpass last year’s achievement in putting on the wonderful Olympic and Paralympic games. Whatever lies ahead we will report it for you, as [...]
What the other papers say this morning January 1, 2013 FINANCIAL TIMES Pessimism mars growth expectations Britons should brace themselves for another year of weak growth as the prospects of a recovery remain gloomy, according to the Financial Times’ New Year survey of 94 leading economists. A larger number of those surveyed thought George Osborne should rethink his austerity drive. Sun European set to buy [...]
Ivory Coast stampede kills 60 January 1, 2013 At least 60 people, most of them children, were crushed to death in a new year stampede in Abidjan, the biggest city in the Ivory Coast, yesterday. The incident happened in the early hours of yesterday morning after a crowd was making its way back from a fireworks display, the west African country’s government said. [...]
Hillary Clinton suffers blood clot January 1, 2013 US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been admitted to a New York hospital with a blood clot linked to a concussion she suffered last month. Clinton, 65, has been out of the public spotlight since mid-December, when she suffered a concussion after fainting due to a stomach virus. A follow-up exam revealed a blood [...]
Surprise call for Korea peace pact January 1, 2013 North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for an end to confrontation between the two Koreas, technically still at war in the absence of a peace treaty to end their 1950-53 conflict, in a surprise New Year’s broadcast on state media. The address by Kim, who took power in the reclusive state after his father, Kim [...]
Rail users hit by above-inflation fare increases January 1, 2013 TRAIN passengers will from today have to pay an average of 3.9 per cent more for their tickets. Commuters on some routes will be hammered by hikes of more than 10 per cent, sparking anger among campaigners and politicians over the government’s rules on setting fares. Train operators must stick to an inflation-linked cap on [...]
Cameron pledges tax crackdown while UK is host of G8 January 1, 2013 DAVID Cameron today said he will put tax evasion at the heart of this year’s G8 summit and demand the world’s largest economies “galvanise collective international action” to tackle abuse of the taxation system. In a letter sent to leaders of the G8 group of wealthy countries, the Prime Minister said he would use Britain’s [...]
Metro Bank’s founder takes chairman role January 1, 2013 METRO Bank yesterday appointed its billionaire co-founder as its new chairman, almost three years after he was first mooted for the job. The firm, which launched in 2010 as the first new high street lender for more than a century, said Vernon Hill will take up his new post immediately. Hill, who was vice chairman, [...]