Peshawar school attack: More than 100 children dead in Taliban siege December 16, 2014 At least 126 people, including more than 100 children, have died and 122 have been wounded after a Taliban attack on a school in the Pakistani city of Peshawar today. Hundreds of students at the Army Public School were taken hostage earlier today, with the Taliban – which is seeking to topple the government [...]
London Bridge is burning down? Tube station shut as emergency services deal with “small fire” December 16, 2014 London Bridge underground station has been shut while the London Fire Brigade deals with what is being called a “small fire”. The rail station is still open, but the underground station was evacuated this morning. The London Fire Brigade confirmed it was at the scene minutes ago. Witnesses took to social media to [...]
Oil prices: Brent crude falls below $60 a barrel December 16, 2014 Until recently the joke that was doing the rounds was that the rouble, the price of oil and President Putin would all reach 63 next year. Now just one of those is left waiting – and he's not likely to be in a celebratory mood. Oil prices have fallen to the lowest level in more [...]
Grocery deflation continues to tumble as Aldi and Lidl ramp up supermarket price war December 16, 2014 The supermarket sector has nudged back into growth after the surprise decline recorded last month. Figures out today from Kantar Worldpanel show that for the 12 weeks to December 7, the grocery market grew 0.1 per cent. The data company said this was down to “shoppers putting slightly more in their baskets compared with [...]
Thames Water releases updated 12 Days of Christmas video as an “anti-fatberg” message December 15, 2014 If you're the sort of person for whom jolly Christmas songs can all get a bit sickly then Thames Water might just have the festive message for you. The utilities company – which has spent much of the year battling fatbergs in the city's sewers – has recorded a reworked version of the 12 [...]
Customer satisfaction up, delays down: Can this be the London Underground we know and love? December 15, 2014 Figures out today show that while passenger numbers keep on growing, our satisfaction with London Underground has increased, while delays keep on dropping. Can this be the London Underground we know and love? Between July 20 and October 11 the Tube carried eight million passengers, and we made a total of 104.1m journeys, compared [...]
23 pictures that sum up 2014 December 15, 2014 The year is drawing to an end so it's time to take a look back at 2014 in pictures. In January, workers at the French Goodyear factory went on strike and then took two executives hostage after it was announced that the company was going to close the plant, with the loss of more [...]
Blackrock’s Jonathan Burrows: The FCA has “more profound wrongdoing than mine” to investigate December 15, 2014 Former Blackrock managing director Jonathan Burrows – who was today banned from working in the regulated financial industry – has said the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has "more profound wrongdoing than mine" to deal with. Burrows was unmasked this summer as the serial train fare dodger whose actions cost him a £43,000 settlement and [...]
Former JJB Sports chief executive Chris Ronnie receives four-year jail term for £1m fraud December 15, 2014 JJB Sports' former chief executive Chris Ronnie has been handed a four-year jail sentence for fraud. Ronnie was found guilty of taking around £1m-worth of backhanders from suppliers to the now-defunct sportswear retailer last month. The money was used to buy property in Florida, London's Southwark Crown Court heard. Handing down the sentence [...]
Who won the ratings war between The X Factor, Strictly Come Dancing and Sports Personality of the Year 2014? December 15, 2014 It was a night of heavyweight TV shows, but is some of the sparkle coming off the ITV's long-time banker The X Factor? The singing competition saw Croydon crooner Ben Haenow crowned winner, but the show recorded its second lowest finale audience in its 10-year history. According to industry bible Broadcast, some 9.4m [...]