Rivals worth considering February 11, 2013 The BMW M1235i, from £29,995 At this price the bigger and more practical, rear-wheel drive BMW M135i might be worth considering. There’s a 3.0-litre turbocharged six-cylinder engine pushing out 316bhp from under its understated bonnet. It can accelerate from zero to 62mph in just 4.8 seconds and is a far better everyday driver than past [...]
China beats America in global trade race February 10, 2013 CHINA has eclipsed the US to become the world’s top trader in goods for the first time, official figures from the two countries revealed. Chinese imports and exports together totalled $3.87 trillion (£2.45 trillion) in 2012, according to figures from the country’s ministry of commerce, just ahead of the US’s $3.82 trillion in goods traded [...]
Care reforms will drag thousands more into inheritance tax February 10, 2013 INHERITANCE tax allowances will be held back from keeping pace with inflation for three more years to fund changes to elderly care, the government will announce today. Thousands more people will be forced to pay the 40 per cent rate because the amount that can be bequeathed tax-free will be pegged at £325,000 for individuals [...]
City vacancies up as firms hire compliance experts February 10, 2013 CITY job vacancies bounced back in January as financial services firms renewed hiring in the New Year, recruitment data shows today. But weak market conditions and intense pressure from regulators is still hitting jobs, with last month’s recruitment numbers still well down on those seen a year ago. And those looking for work are often [...]
Stealth hike in inheritance tax not the answer to care crisis February 10, 2013 ONCE again, I find myself disagreeing with the government. The coalition is about to introduce a £75,000 cap on the cost of social care for the elderly, in an attempt, or so it claims, to ensure that people no longer have to sell their homes to pay for help when they become very old. It [...]
Firms urged to prepare for real-time PAYE February 10, 2013 BUSINESSES have just eight weeks to prepare for the biggest overhaul to the pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) tax system in almost 70 years, HM Revenue and Customs has warned today. The tax authority said it will be writing to almost 1.5m employers from this week to remind them of the new real-time information (RTI) system replacing year-end [...]
What the other papers say this morning February 10, 2013 FINANCIAL TIMES Brussels fights US data privacy push Europe’s most senior justice official, Viviane Reding, is adamant she will fight US attempts to water down a proposed EU data protection and privacy law that would force global technology companies to obey European standards across the world. Smaller banks say rules hit lending Homeowners and small [...]
Five die in Thomson Majesty drill February 10, 2013 Five crew members died in an emergency drill on a cruise ship in the Canary Islands yesterday, police and the cruise ship operator said. Cables snapped on a lifeboat and it dropped 20 metres (65 feet) to the ocean and fell upside down, killing the five and injuring three others aboard, during the mock rescue [...]
Royal Dutch Shell amends rules February 10, 2013 Royal Dutch Shell has unilaterally amended the rules of one of the important components of the North Sea Brent market, which sets the basis of billions of dollars of oil trade worldwide in an effort to support trading liquidity. Shell said it would alter its SUKO 90 terms which govern how forward BFOE (Brent, Forties, [...]
Apple developing smart watch February 10, 2013 Apple is developing a smart watch that would run on its iOS platform, according to various reports over the weekend. A blog on the New York Times claimed that Apple is working on a prototype of a curved glass wristwatch, and though few details exist as to which functions of a smartphone the watch might [...]
