What the other papers say this morning – 09 April 2014 April 8, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Heartbleed bug threatens web A flaw has been discovered in a encryption method used on about two-thirds of all websites, including Google, Amazon, Yahoo and Dropbox, potentially exposing web traffic, user data and stored content to cyber criminals. The heartbleed bug was found in the OpenSSL software by a team of security engineers [...]
Any Other Business – 21/03 March 21, 2014 THE BUDGET-related gags still hadn’t run out of steam when the Taxpayers’ Alliance held a briefing on Tufton Street yesterday. Lib Dem MP Jeremy Browne kicked things off: “We can go and celebrate, buy 350 beers get one free,” he chortled. Lord McFall wasn’t far behind though, likening the chancellor to game show legend Noel Edmonds. [...]
What you need to know before the open March 20, 2014 Following a broadly favourable Budget yesterday, then something of a curveball from Janet Yellen – her suggestions about the course of interest rates unsettling markets, European bourses are expected lower today, tracking Asian and US counterparts. Markets sold off sharply on talk that the Fed could raise rates by the spring of next year, and [...]
Putin’s calculations make Ukraine escalation all too likely March 17, 2014 GETTING inside the thinking of Vladimir Putin is a daunting prospect at the best of times; and these aren’t the best of times. Yet doing so shows why a worst-case outcome just a few days ago suddenly seems entirely plausible. After the Crimean referendum, the thoughts ringing around Putin’s head go something like this: “I [...]
Persimmon to bring forward £1.9bn payout February 25, 2014 PERSIMMON says it will bring forward a £1.9bn payout to shareholders after a strong rebound in the housing market and a surge in customer demand helped the housebuilder to more than double profits last year. The company plans to return 115p per share to shareholders by 2021, but announced plans yesterday to make additional dividend [...]
Drax Group shares rise despite 83pc profit plunge February 18, 2014 Drax Group, Britain’s largest coal-fired power station which is set to become one of the world’s biggest renewable generators, has reported a whopping 83 per cent drop in statutory profit before tax – from £190m to £32m – for 2013, because of rising carbon costs. Underlying earnings per share fell 32 per cent to 35p [...]
Growth is back – but here are five challenges still facing the UK January 30, 2014 THERE can be no doubt that the UK’s economic picture has improved dramatically. Growth is back, employment is buoyant and optimism is returning. But the economy remains horribly scarred by the downturn, with many issues still needing to be tackled. Here are five especially pressing challenges. 1) Median incomes remain six per cent lower in [...]
China, Japan, and the row that shook Davos January 22, 2014 JAPANESE Prime Minister Shinzo Abe raised the terrifying prospect of conflict in east Asia yesterday, comparing Japan and China’s cold relationship to relations between the UK and Germany in the years before World War One. At the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos yesterday, Abe told journalists that while China and Japan had a [...]
MPs stand up for British institutions after French Embassy slurs January 14, 2014 Last week, City A.M. editor Allister Heath wrote this piece: France’s failed socialist experiment is turning into a tragedy In response, the French Embassy has launched something of an (un)diplomatic rejoinder: 10 accounts on which City A.M. has got it wrong on France The embassy has levelled that France has a better health service, roads, [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 9 January 2014 January 8, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES UK mobile services in Channel tunnel British Eurotunnel passengers will finally be able to use mobile phones under the sea following an agreement between the Channel tunnel operator and UK telecoms groups to provide the same sort of voice and data services that have been available to the French since 2012. China offers [...]