Alexa, cut jobs: Amazon targets hardware teams in first culls December 1, 2022 Amazon has started to cut its key hardware teams as the e-commerce giant is forced to slim down operations. Sources told the Financial Times that staff working on the Alexa voice assistant, Kindle ereader and Halo health tracking device are amongst the first to be hit by mass layoffs at the company. It comes after reports [...]
Pound hits highest level against US dollar since early August and posts best monthly gain since 2020 December 1, 2022 The pound has climbed to its highest level against the US dollar since early August driven by investors betting on slower interest rate rises across the pond. Sterling bounced above $1.22 and was up over 1.2 per cent against the dollar heading into late afternoon trading today. US Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell last night [...]
Barclays slapped with £8.4m fine over card payment failings December 1, 2022 Barclays has been slapped with an £8.4m fine from the payments regulator today after failing to comply with rules governing the cost of card transactions with retailers.
Natural catastrophes to cost insurers more than $100bn for the second year in a row December 1, 2022 The global insurance sectors’ losses from natural catastrophes are set to surpass sums of $100bn (£81.5bn) for the second year in a row, new data from Swiss Re shows. Natural catastrophes will cost insurers an estimated $115bn this year, after Hurricane Ian and a series of “secondary perils” caused $260bn worth of damage in 2022, [...]
Elon Musk’s brain chip company to start trials in humans in next six months December 1, 2022 Elon Musk’s ambitious brain chip company Neuralink is hoping to begin human trials in the next six months. Neuralink had initially planned to start trials in human brains later this year, but Musk announced today that that plan has been pushed back into 2023. “We are now confident that the Neuralink device is ready for [...]
Boris Johnson tells local Tories he will stand in next election December 1, 2022 Boris Johnson has told his local Conservative association in Uxbridge and Ruislip that he will run again at the next election. The former Prime Minister informed the local party ahead of next week’s deadline for Tory MPs to confirm if they are standing for their seat again. It comes as a series of rising stars [...]
UK sets aside £9.2m to train Brits to make homes more energy efficient December 1, 2022 The UK government has set aside £9.2m to train Brits to make homes more energy efficient. Nearly 9,000 training free or heavily subsidised courses are set to be run across England for heat pump and energy efficiency installers, the government announced today. The global housing sector produces around 40 per cent of the world’s emissions. [...]
JP Morgan in talks over potential Freetrade takeover December 1, 2022 JP Morgan is reportedly gearing up to buy stock trading app Freetrade in a grand push to expand its fintech offering. According to initial reports from Mark Kleinman for Sky News, the City titan has been in talks with the British stock trading app, which allows customers to buy British, American and European stocks and [...]
Citi and Morgan Stanley cut price targets for GSK following weeks of setbacks December 1, 2022 GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has rattled the faith of two of the world’s biggest banks, which cut their share price forecasts for the British pharmaceutical giant this week. The London-listed pharma firm faced a double-barrelled setback to its oncology efforts in November, which has put banks and investors on more cautious footing. Citigroup earlier today slashed [...]
Criminal solicitors ‘highly unlikely’ to make ‘reasonable’ living, Law Society warns December 1, 2022 The UK government’s refusal to hike criminal solicitor’s legal aid fees by 15 per cent means it is “highly unlikely” those lawyers coming into the job will be able to make a “reasonable” income from their work, the Law Society has warned. Law Society president Lubna Shuja said justice secretary Dominic Raab’s refusal to increase [...]
