Jessica Ennis-Hill interview: Jury is out on Lord Coe as world athletics chief January 22, 2016 Olympic champion Jessica Ennis-Hill believes the jury is out on whether Lord Coe is the right man to lead reform of crisis-hit governing body the IAAF and clean up athletics. A damning report into the doping crisis engulfing the sport published last week by the World Anti-Doping Agency’s independent commission concluded that “corruption was embedded [...]
Oil industry leaders bullish in Davos, BP boss and Saudi Aramco forecast recovery in price January 21, 2016 The chairman of Saudi Arabia controlled oil company Saudi Aramco Khalid Al-Falih labelled the current oil price as “irrational”, and said it should be higher than $30 a barrel. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the chairman also made it clear if the oil price stays low Aramco would be able to endure [...]
Treasury to freeze assets of prime suspects in Litvinenko murder case January 21, 2016 Home secretary Theresa May has said the Treasury will freeze the assets of the two prime suspects in the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, following the publication of a report decisively naming Andrei Lugovoy and Dmitry Kovtun. The report, which said President Putin was "probably" involved in the operation, was "unequivocal," May said in the Commons this morning. [...]
Alexander Litvinenko death inquiry report finds Vladimir Putin and FSB boss Patrushev “probably” approved his murder January 21, 2016 The killing of Alexander Litvinenko was "probably" approved by Russian President Vladimir Putin and former director of Russian FSB, a report published this morning has claimed. The report, by UK judge Sir Robert Owen, found that Andrei Lugovoy and Dmitry Kovtun, who have previously denied killing him, were behind the man's death. But Owen said he was "sure" they were [...]
UK car manufacturing hits its highest in a decade as UK exports autos to more than 100 countries January 21, 2016 The markets may be in turmoil and growth may be teetering on the brink – but British car manufacturers are having a ball. Figures by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said manufacturers in the UK made 1,595,697 vehicles in 2015 – more than any year since 2005. Manufacturers also exported a record [...]
Gazprom boss Viktor Zubkov warns EU of impending gas crisis due to Brussels policy January 20, 2016 Energy giant Gazprom today warned the European Union that its energy markets could be plunged into crisis unless Brussels revises its “contradictory” energy prices. Energy companies have been forced to make deep cost cuts in order to weather the global commodity price rout which started around 18 months ago. Speaking at a conference in Vienna, [...]
Russian rouble falls to 18-year low against the dollar January 20, 2016 The Russian rouble has fallen to its lowest value against the dollar since its 1998 redenomination. The rouble has lost around 57 per cent of its dollar value since mid-2014, when oil prices began to decline sharply. Swings in the rouble have closely tracked movements in oil prices over the last two years. Crude oil [...]
Brics foundations are proving to be shaky January 20, 2016 In the world of macro-economics, a good rule of thumb is as follows: whenever you read the word “forecast”, replace it with the word “guess”. This advice came to mind yesterday when the International Monetary Fund (IMF) published the latest update to its world economic outlook, a document that contains some astonishing revisions. Brazil is [...]
Davos: Businesses will wither and die if they ignore the coming technological paradigm shift January 20, 2016 It might be tempting to think that the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos this week is a talking shop where nothing meaningful happens. You have 2,500 people in the mountains going from presentation to reception to dinner for three days. But the event is a vital way for business, policy-makers and civil society to [...]
IMF has cut its global growth outlook due to China, the US dollar and geopolitical tensions January 19, 2016 The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has cut its global growth forecast for this year by 0.2 percentage points to 3.4 per cent, citing risks relating to the emerging markets. It comes amid a medley of risks which includes a sharper-than-expected slowdown in China, the impact of a strong dollar on the US economy and geopolitical tensions in a [...]