London Stock Exchange becomes takeover target
The London Stock Exchange has become a takeover target after its proposed merger with Canadian rival TMX was ditched. The Toronto-based group indicated it was unlikely to win the necessary two-thirds support from its shareholders. The collapse of the deal…
UK factory PMI surges to 16-month high, exports recover
Growth at British factories surged unexpectedly to a 16-month high in October, helped by a recovery in export orders, according to a survey that will temper some of the concern that the economy is losing steam after two years of…
Europe Calls for Tougher Rules on Global Markets
Sometimes it’s not just what is said that counts, but the way it is said. And if tone is anything to go by, the leaders of the European Union’s largest economies are dead serious about cleaning up global finance markets….
Petrol Politics: How Much Should an Oil Spill Cost?
How serious should the penalties for an oil spill be? In early November, Chevron and its drilling partner Transocean accidentally spilled some 3,000 barrels of oil into the ocean off the coast of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. As oil…
Betting on Big Solar
It’s good news for solar advocates and bad news for competitors: General Electric is breaking into the solar business in a major way. In April, GE announced it had built a solar module with the highest publicly reported efficiency rate…
Can Silicon Valley and Detroit Reinvent the Car Business?
In the month of October, General Motors, Ford and Chrysler once again increased their share of cars and light trucks sold in America. In the third quarter of this year, the companies all reported solid profits. In fact, for the…
Sheet Metal Worker
Sheet metal workers make sure you stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer by servicing the heating and cooling equipment in buildings. These tradesmen and women may specialize in heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems (also known as…
US and 11 other countries reach landmark Pacific trade pact
Trade ministers from 12 countries announced the largest trade-liberalizing pact in a generation on Monday. In a press conference in Atlanta, trade ministers from the US, Australia and Japan called the the Trans-Pacific Partnership an “ambitious” and “challenging” negotiation that…
The mixed fortunes of a fuel
IN A high-tech world, dirty black lumps of coal might seem like an anachronism. Yet coal is far from a thing of the past. However whizzy your iPad, your wall-mounted television or your electric car, the chances are that it…
New DNA test for embryos could boost IVF success rates
A test that checks for abnormal amounts of DNA in IVF embryos has raised pregnancy rates at US fertility clinics that have started to offer the procedure. Scientists in Oxford who helped develop the test claim it can boost the…
Renewable electricity overtakes coal for first time in UK
Britain generated more of its electricity from renewable sources than from burning coal for the first time in the second quarter of 2015, as more wind and solar farms were built. A record high of 25.3 per cent of the…
Truckers strike four shipping companies at Southern California ports
Tractor-trailer drivers who haul freight from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach went on strike on Monday against four trucking companies, a Teamster union official said, in a move that could revive labor tension at the nation’s busiest…
RHS Sunflower seed giveaway
April 14-20 is National Gardening Week, the RHS’ annual attempt to get us off the sofa and onto the beds with a series of events and initiatives. It has extra oomph because 2014 is also the 50th anniversary of Britain…
UK construction growth bolsters economic recovery hopes
Britain’s construction industry grew at the fastest pace in nearly a year in February, bolstering expectations that the UK will escape a double dip recession. February data from economic research firm Markit signalled a solid rise in construction output, extending…
‘Stem rust’ fungus threatens global wheat harvest
The world’s leading crop scientists issued a stark warning that a deadly airborne fungus could devastate wheat harvests in poor countries and lead to famines and civil unrest over significant regions of central Asia and Africa. Ug99 — so called…
Italian vintners forced to harvest crops early due to sultry summer
Italy is set for one of its smallest wine harvests after an arid, torrid summer – and will almost certainly cede its title as the world’s biggest wine producer to France. Growers say scorching temperatures and meagre rainfall have affected…
Banks fail to meet targets to increase lending to small business
Banks failed to increase lending to small businesses in the first three months of 2010, despite political pressure to free up the credit markets. The Bank of England’s latest credit conditions survey found that credit made available to small business…
Tackling the problem of really slow ADSL broadband
As you have discovered, in our new competitive broadband market, the buck frequently doesn’t stop anywhere. Demon is your internet service provider (ISP), but it sounds as though your broadband is actually provided by BT Wholesale. However, OpenReach looks after…
Sri Lanka’s tea growers have gone organic
Until quite recently, Sri Lanka had disappeared from the British tea connoisseur’s map. While European tea lovers have always rated top Ceylon estates highly, here the 60s Ceylon Tea centres – which served up a cup of heartburn-inducing tannic brew…
Small businesses: the importance of knowing your market
So you’ve had a lightbulb moment and come up with a business idea. Now you need to ask yourself a simple question: “‘Will my idea work?” The only way to answer this is by doing research. But, even though the…
The experts’ step-by-step guide to cyber security
Where does cyber security fall on your to-do list? If it’s not a priority, it should be because 60% of small businesses suffered a breach in the year leading up to October 2014. The worst of these breaches disrupted operations…
Farmers fall prey to rice rustlers as price of staple crop rockets
Knee-deep in muddy water, her face smeared with sandalwood paste and a broad-brimmed hat for protection against the broiling sun, Samniang Ketia grins broadly at her good fortune to be in the rice growing business as she replants shoots for…
United Airlines will honour flight tickets mistakenly sold for $5 to $10
United Airlines will honour plane tickets it mistakenly sold online for between $5 and $10, the company said on Friday. Customers using the airline’s website were able to book tickets without paying airline fares – just airport and security fees…
Seven reasons the world’s stock markets are falling
European markets are in panic mode with all major indices down sharply. It follows a widespread sell-off on both sides of the Atlantic on Wednesday. Here are seven reasons why investors are so nervous: Fears of a global slowdown led…
South Sudan to export coffee for the first time
The world has long been pleading with South Sudan’s feuding leaders to wake up and smell the coffee. The four-year-old country is notorious for conflict and oil but less well known for a coffee farming industry that was wiped out…
The European Union needs reforming, not abandoning
Jonathan Freedland (Opinion, 10 October) is right to warn that a “remain” vote in the forthcoming EU referendum is by no means a foregone conclusion, not least because some will doubtless use it as an opportunity to show two fingers…
Günter Grass: final interview reveals author’s fears of another world war
Germany’s Nobel-winning author Günter Grass said he feared humanity was “sleepwalking” into a world war in the last interview he gave before his death on Monday. “We have on the one side Ukraine, whose situation is not improving; in Israel…
Wall Street still sees itself as its own best client. Can that ever be remedied?
Imagine, if you can, a world in which the big banks subscribe to a code of conduct that includes a pledge that “we seek no more than a level of profit commensurate with the value we create for our customers”….
Car manufacturing hits reverse gear
UK car manufacturing went into reverse in August as factories closed for the summer holidays. A total of 71,065 cars rolled off production lines last month, 22% less than the 91,282 cars built in August 2013, according to the Society…
Modern cargo ships slow to the speed of the sailing clippers
The world’s largest cargo ships are travelling at lower speeds today than sailing clippers such as the Cutty Sark did more than 130 years ago. A combination of the recession and growing awareness in the shipping industry about climate change…
Europe’s plan for alternative pipeline faces big problems
With its vast underground storage tanks and network of pipes, valves and tubes, Baumgarten in the flatlands east of Vienna is one of Europe’s biggest gas hubs. The first gas to cross the iron curtain was pumped through thousands of…
Britain flying high as top of Europe for private jets
The increasing numbers of the UK-based super-rich are sending ownership levels of private jets soaring to all-time highs. More corporate jets have been delivered to Britain in the past five years than to any other European country, according to a…
Global ranking on corruption and justice aims to promote good governance
The World Justice Project (WJP) says that its Rule of Law Index, which ranks 102 countries, is the most comprehensive of its kind and the only one to rely on primary data. The scores are based on responses from 1,000…
Google Glass is back! But now it’s for businesses?
Google has quietly resurrected its wearable computer, Glass, as an enterprise-focused device aimed at industries such as healthcare, manufacturing and energy. The unannounced relaunch, reported by the Wall Street Journal, could be followed a year later by a new consumer…
Switzerland begins postal delivery by drone
Switzerland’s postal service said on Tuesday it had begun testing parcel deliveries by unmanned drones, although widespread use of the flying postmen is not likely to kick in for another five years. Postal service executives showed off the drones for…