Brazil: Between the rule of law and the rule of politics March 31, 2016 President Dilma Rousseff's hope of surviving a looming impeachment are becoming dimmer each day. On Monday, the Brazilian Bar association filed a new process to remove her from power on the grounds of accounting fraud. Yesterday, her party, PT, lost their largest ally in the Brazilian Congress as centrist party PMDB, presided by vice-president Michel Temer, withdrew their support [...]
Shades on: London’s about to get warm and sunny as spring finally gets sprung March 31, 2016 No, you're not imagining it. Having been rained, hailed and possibly even snowed on during the Easter bank holiday weekend thanks to Storm Katie, London is about to get hot. Temperatures in the capital are on the rise from now until early next week, the Met Office has forecast. Today has got us off to a [...]
Three reasons why Apple’s iPhone SE will be a smartphone hit March 31, 2016 Apple’s latest handset, the iPhone SE, will be unleashed this week upon a weary consumer. Why weary? Gartner figures show that global smartphone sales in Q4 2015 saw their slowest growth since 2008. Industry behemoth Apple hasn’t been immune with sales of its iPhone range starting to flat-line, currently growing at the slowest rate since the [...]
Five surprising facts about London’s shoppers March 31, 2016 As the spring sun slowly crawls up the Thames and warms up London’s cold streets, people are emerging from their winter cocoons to embark on some springtime shopping. The longer, brighter and warmer days all make for happier and more comfortable trips to Oxford Street, Brick Lane and Westfield. But who is really making their flexible friend work [...]
Sweden’s Landvetter Airport evacuated over “serious” threat after suspicious packages found March 31, 2016 Part of Sweden's second largest airport Landvetter has been evacuated following a "serious" bomb threat made this morning. The domestic hall has been evacuated and cordoned off, the paper reports. Although there is limited information at this stage, Swedish paper Expressen is reporting that the airport, which is just outside Gothenborg, received threats against it earlier this morning [...]
Our current account deficit has risen sharply and is way above estimates March 31, 2016 The ONS has just published the UK's current account deficit for the fourth quarter of last year and the figure has risen sharply. Our current account deficit was £32.7bn, or seven per cent of GDP (though this has – callooh callay – been revised upwards). This compares with the third quarter's figure of £20.1bn. It's also way above estimates, which [...]
Tata Steel crisis: Jeremy Corbyn’s petition to get David Cameron to recall parliament passes 100,000 signatures – but why is the Labour leader doing it? March 31, 2016 Jeremy Corbyn launched a petition yesterday to get David Cameron to recall parliament over the growing steel crisis. That's right. Instead of using his existing platform (and mandate) to call the Prime Minister to account, the leader of the opposition is resorting to grassroots tactics to get him to act. The good news is it's a popular [...]
AO World’s share price surges as it raises its full year forecast March 31, 2016 AO World's share price soared this morning after raising its full year forecast this morning. The electricals retailer said its UK business had performed strongly in the last three months of its financial year, with both revenue and Ebitda ahead of expectations. As a result, UK revenues for the year to 31 March are expected [...]
Royal London boasts record breaking year March 31, 2016 Pensions and investments group Royal London has reported strong full year growth, thanks to record-breaking performance and cost savings. The figures New business in Royal London's life and pensions arm was up 40 per cent to £6.7bn, as the financial firm also improved operating margins by two per cent to 43 per cent, achieved as operating [...]
Tui’s share price rises as travel firm shrugs off terror impact to be upbeat about year’s prospects March 31, 2016 Tui's share price climbed this morning as it shrugged off issues plaguing other travel firms, with solid current trading and a full year earnings forecast of at least 10 per cent. The figures Revenues for the year to 20 March are up three per cent, although total customer numbers are flat. In the UK bookings are [...]