Poundland cashes in on Christmas and posts third quarter success January 21, 2015 The figures Variety store Poundland had a record Christmas trading period in 2014, with success spanning across the whole of the third quarter. During the 13 weeks to 28 December, total growth for the company was 9.8 per cent, with revenue up at £328.4m – a 10.2 per cent increase compared to 2013. The [...]
More epidemics like Ebola will pose a threat to the Western world, scientist tells Davos January 21, 2015 The man who discovered the cause of Ebola in 1976 has warned there will be more major disease epidemics, and the Western world is not immune to them. Professor Peter Piot from Belgium issued his advice to global leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, urging them to “take a long term view” [...]
How mainstream vaccines could soon become too expensive for lots of countries January 20, 2015 The poorest countries are the biggest victims of life-threatening diseases, but they are also the ones that could soon no longer afford the vaccines needed to protect them. The cost of immunising children against a host of deadly diseases is rising fast, and some economies are struggling to keep up. In fact, over [...]
UK has the most transparent government in the world January 20, 2015 Of all the countries in the world, the UK has the most open and transparent government when it comes to public data access. With a “transparency” score of 100, a report compiled by the World Wide Web Foundation found it came top of a list of 86 countries for the second year running. [...]
IG Group had strong half year before Swiss franc share shock January 20, 2015 The figures IG Group performed well during the six months to 30 November, following a “very subdued first quarter”. Pre-tax profits were up 2.8 per cent at £101.4m, while net revenue rose by eight per cent to £197.4m. Why it's interesting Last week, the financial spread betting firm suffered badly at the hands of [...]
IMF slashes global growth forecast January 20, 2015 The forecast for global growth in 2015 and 2016 has been downgraded by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The body predicts that this year, the world economy will reach 3.5 per cent – down from the 3.8 per cent it put forward three months ago. Next year's forecast has also been decreased, to 3.7 [...]
Elon Musk’s space internet: How we could soon have Facebook friends on Mars January 19, 2015 Ten years from now, we could be exchanging Facebook messages and tweets with people on Mars. Billionaire investor and inventor Elon Musk has come up with an idea to take the world wide web to a galactic level by setting up a vast network of satellites far out in space. Some 4,000 of [...]
After weekend of chaos, more delays on Eurostar following fire near northern Paris suburb January 19, 2015 Minor delays occurred on the Eurostar again today following another small fire in Paris. On Saturday, a lorry caught on fire on the French side of the tunnel and resulted in trains being cancelled for the rest of the day. In order to accommodate travellers who could not use the train services they [...]
How to irreparably ruin your chances of getting a job in a matter of seconds #FiveWordsToRuinAJobInterview January 19, 2015 Perhaps because of the time of year (ie. everyone's looking for jobs), Twitter was ablaze today by the hashtag #FiveWordsToRuinAJob Interview. We've all been there: the sweaty palms, the unsettled stomach, accidentally calling your prospective boss “mum” or “dad” in a job interview – or coming out with one of the unforgivable swear words [...]
Overcoming Blue Monday blues: There are plenty of reasons to be cheerful about the future January 19, 2015 Today is supposedly the most depressing day of the year. It's dark, it's cold, all the festivities are over and our bank accounts are suffering for it. Now it's just a long wait until the gradual arrival of spring. It's no wonder the Monday of the last full week in January is labelled [...]
