LONDON: NHS England has revealed that it will invest £78 million this year in technology for health and social care providers across the country. Of this funding, £43 million will form part of the Integrated Digital Care Fund that will be used by NHS Trusts and local authorities to put in place electronic information systems in order to make sharing ... Read More »
LONDON: Mayors from 30 European towns and cities, including London and Bristol, have pledged to curb their greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40 per cent by 2030, and boost investment in clean technologies. During a summit organised by the city of Paris yesterday, mayors of Rome, Athens, Amsterdam and Dublin, among others, adopted a declaration that pledges to meet ... Read More »
LONDON: George Osborne, a British finance minister said the matter should be left for tax officials to investigate by defending his government’s response to the scandal engulfing London based HSBC. Osborne said allegations that London based HSBC’s Swiss division helped clients in more than 200 countries dodge taxes on accounts containing 180 billion euros ($204 billion) were very serious, but ... Read More »
LONDON: The Bank of England may look into allegations that Europe’s biggest bank HSBC helped clients to avoid paying tax, a top Bank of England official said. Jon Cunliffe, the Bank of England’s deputy governor for financial stability said “The allegations around HSBC raise serious issues around HSBC’s conduct”. He further said the leadership of a large group, to be ... Read More »
LONDON: The Britain’s trade in goods deficit has widened sharply in December on a rush in oil imports, making the trade gap for last year as a whole the biggest since 2010. There were signs of a shift in the trade balance in the final quarter, when the goods deficit narrowed by the largest amount in three years as export volumes ... Read More »
KINGSTON: The Morant Bay Distillery owner Peter Townsend will make its international debut in London at the International Food & Drink Expo (IFE) at the Excel centre in March. The four-day IFE Expo is said to attract people from more than 100 countries, covering food and drink retailing, distribution, export and the hospitality sectors, the key markets the Morant Bay ... Read More »
LONDON: Oil extended losses to fall under $56 per barrel, reversing a four session rally after US crude inventories jumped to a record high, shifting the global glut back in to focus. Brent was $2.10 lower at $55.81 per barrel, having traded as high as $59 per barrel well above lows for the year close to $45 a barrel hit ... Read More »
LONDON: The plunge in oil prices is double–edged as miners benefit from reduced production costs in the short term, but on the other front it has an impact on the value of the commodity produced. Brent crude oil has slumped to below $55 per barrel from $116 per barrel in the past six months and Standard Bank’s global head of ... Read More »
LONDON: Bank of England top policymaker said the fall in petrol prices has cut UK inflation to 0.5 per cent, interest rates in the UK could rise sooner than markets expect. Traders have pushed back expectations of interest rates rising from a record low of 0.5 per cent because inflation has come down sharply in recent months. Kristin Forbes, one ... Read More »
LONDON: Flybe Group shares slumped more than 20 per cent after the British budget airline said it would break even before tax in its financial year ending in March 2015 after a fall in third quarter passenger revenue. But Flybe has since been on rocky ground, swinging back to a loss in the first half of its current fiscal year ... Read More »
ONDON: Britain’s top share index hit a seven week high in cautious trading ahead of the European Central Bank’s (ECB) policy meeting at which it is likely to announce a government bond buying scheme to try to boost the region’s economy. A euro zone source said on Wednesday the ECB’s Executive Board has proposed that the bank should buy 50 ... Read More »
LONDON: World oil prices resumed their downward spiral, as dealers eyed the poor global economic outlook, after rallying in the previous session on bargain buying. Crude futures also sank as traders digested news that US stockpiles had risen, adding to long running concerns about a supply glut and weak demand. Brent North Sea crude for February delivery slid $1.18 to ... Read More »
LONDON: Turkey’s economy will grow some 4 per cent in 2015 and inflation will fall comfortably to Central Bank forecast of 6.1 per cent, Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek said pledging continued fiscal discipline ahead of a June election. Turkey could reach at around 3 per cent of growth in 2014 despite the negative developments in the global economy, the Federations ... Read More »
LONDON: Britain urged the European Central Bank to take all necessary steps to fight off the risk of deflation, a week before ECB policymakers meet to discuss whether to embark on an unprecedented government bond buying program. George Osborne, Chancellor said that distinguished between Britain where inflation has just hit a 14 year low of 0.5 per cent and the euro zone ... Read More »
LONDON: UK’s Sainsbury’s is cutting 500 jobs from its store support centers in the latest round of cost cutting from Britain’s biggest supermarkets as they fight to win back customers from the discounters. Sainsbury’s said it will streamline our central divisions and bring our supermarkets and convenience businesses together resulting in 500 fewer jobs across all grades at its store ... Read More »
LONDON: Brent and US West Texas Intermediate crude oil prices fell to their lowest levels since March 2009 as a big Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) producer stood by the group’s decision not to cut output to tackle a glut in the market. Oil prices have fallen 60 percent from their June 2014 peaks, driven down by rising ... Read More »
LONDON: Oil prices renewed their declines, dropping below $49 per barrel as US bank Goldman Sachs slashed its short term forecasts and Gulf producers showed no signs of cutting production. Goldman Sachs slashed it oil forecasts, saying fuel prices needed to stay low for much longer in order to curb production and end a global supply glut. Jeffrey Currie, Goldman Sachs oil ... Read More »
LONDON: European equities rebounded, led by airlines and auto stocks after positive updates by German’s Continental Associated Group and Lufthansa Airline Company. German airline Lufthansa rose 2.5 per cent in brisk volume after saying it expects the lower price of oil to cut its fuel bill for 2015 by 13 per cent after the cost of hedging, setting it on ... Read More »
LONDON: XL Group Public Limited Company will buy underwriter Catlin Group Limited for about 2.79 billion pounds ($4.22 billion), giving the Dublin based insurer and reinsurer a bigger chunk of the Lloyd’s of London market. XL Group which has a market value of more than $9 billion had offered 2.53 billion pounds for Catlin. The offer of 388 pence in ... Read More »
LONDON: The Bank of England (BoE) kept interest rates unchanged at 0.5 per cent after its first meeting of 2015, as dropping oil prices have pushed inflation to a 12 year low and last year’s rapid growth shows some signs of easing. The central bank also said it would reinvest 4.35 billion pounds of proceeds from a maturing January 2015 ... Read More »
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