Energy crunch: Oil prices rise over Iraq fears as cost of gas jumps after Ukraine cut-off June 16, 2014 Fears of a disruptive energy price spike grew yesterday as conflict escalated in Iraq and Ukraine’s gas supplies from Russia were abruptly cut off. Experts warned that growing geopolitical risk could send oil and gas prices sharply upwards, prompting a more severe market reaction and even a slowdown in the global economic recovery. The US [...]
World Cup: Muller magic puts Portugal to the sword June 16, 2014 GERMANY 4 PORTUGAL 0 GERMANY forward Thomas Muller believes the experience of playing in two major international tournaments set him up perfectly to shake off first day nerves and bag a hat-trick against 10-man Portugal. Having finished the 2010 World Cup as joint-top scorer with five goals, the Bayern Munich star struck three more at [...]
World Cup in brief June 16, 2014 Mexico have plan to stifle Brazil MEXICO captain Rafael Marquez is confident his team can cope with Brazil’s holy trinity in tonight’s second Group A match. He said: “It will surely be a very difficult game, we know the talent of Neymar, Oscar, Hulk, but we will train in ways to handle them.” Russia have [...]
G7 catching up with emerging markets on business creation June 16, 2014 THE GAP between business creation in the G7 advanced economies and that in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) narrowed in 2013, according to research released today. The net number of new firms in the G7 countries grew by 1.9 per cent last year, while there were 4.9 per cent more in BRICS [...]
Global oil and gas firms gear up for re-entry into Iranian market June 16, 2014 INTERNATIONAL energy firms are poised to re-enter the Iranian market later this month, when the EU is expected to ease trade sanctions on the oil-rich country. In January, the EU granted “limited, temporary, and targeted relief” from embargoes targeting Iran’s key energy and financial sectors, which were originally imposed to deter the country from developing [...]
Car makers hit by Russian slump June 16, 2014 Germany’s automobile manufacturers are suffering from the Russian downturn, according to reports in Der Spiegel over the weekend. The magazine said that sales of Volkswagen and Opel vehicles had dropped by 10 and 12 per cent respectively in Russia during 2014 so far. The report also indicated that Opel had gone as far as to [...]
World Cup in brief June 15, 2014 Ronaldo fit to play Germany ■ PORTUGAL captain Cristiano Ronaldo has declared himself fit to take on Germany today following a recent knee injury. Ronaldo limped out of training on Friday with an ice pack on his left knee, but said last night: “I’m ready, I’m feeling well, I don’t have anything to prove.” Sanctions [...]
Britain’s energy security is under threat: It’s time to frack June 12, 2014 WITH extremist ISIS fighters less than 60 miles from Baghdad, rogue generals in Libya periodically blockading its ports, and continued dependence on a volatile Russia, concern about the security of our energy supplies is high and rising. We were already in a bad state. UK energy resource production fell by 6.5 per cent in 2013 [...]
WH Smith halts sales fall with overseas shops June 11, 2014 WH SMITH, the books to stationery retailer, brought years of sales decline to a halt in the last quarter, thanks to its strategy of opening more shops in airports and travel locations around the world. Shares in WH Smith edged up 1.5 per cent yesterday as it revealed that total group sales were flat in [...]
Zara owner Inditex’s quarterly profits hit by falling currencies June 11, 2014 ZARA and Massimo Dutti owner Inditex posted its biggest fall in quarterly profits in half a decade yesterday after a strong euro dragged down sales. Net profits fell to €406m in the first quarter compared with €438m the same time last year. Falling currencies in some of its markets, such as Japan and Russia, knocked [...]