At least nine people killed in car bomb attack in south-east Turkey August 26, 2016 South-east Turkey has been hit by by another deadly car bomb – this time in the town of Cizre – which local sources said had killed nine people and wounded many more. The bomb was set off outside a police station in the town, with local news networks showing footage of plumes of smoke billowing from a police [...]
How the latest Clinton email twist lays bare the miserable choice Americans have to make August 26, 2016 Hillary Clinton’s email scandal just can’t seem to die. Good; it shouldn’t. On Wednesday, the Associated Press (AP) broke news that “more than half the people outside the government who met with Hillary Clinton while she was secretary of state gave money – either personally or through companies or groups – to the Clinton Foundation.” [...]
Losses mount at US department store Sears as it takes another cash injection August 25, 2016 US department store Sears has posted another loss for its latest quarter, setting it on the way to its seventh consecutive year in the red. To make matters worse Sears has had to again dip into its chief executive’s hedge fund for a cash injection, helping itself to $300m (£227.4m) in debt financing from ESL Investments. Adding to the [...]
US Presidential Election 2016: Fears creeping into US economy as service sector stumbles August 25, 2016 The US services industry is growing at its slowest pace in six months, as uncertainty ahead of November's presidential election is beginning to hamper the world's largest economy. Markit's purchasing managers' index (PMI) for the sector came in at 50.9 in August, down from a score of 51.4 in July and hovering perilously close to [...]
Jeweller Tiffany & Co polishes up a sparkling rise in quarterly profit as sales continue to slide August 25, 2016 Dollar strength and weak tourism are still putting pressure on New York jeweller Tiffany & Co. Profit inched up however to $105.7m, sending its stock higher. Shares were up by six per cent in New York following the results announcement. A run of falling sales has sparked a change in strategy at Tiffany, which is now focusing its efforts on growing [...]
EU responds to US treasury complaints over commission investigation into tax arrangements August 25, 2016 The EU has brushed off complaints from the US Treasury about its investigations into tax deals between companies like Apple and McDonald's and member states. The US Treasury published a white paper yesterday in which it attacked the EU's tax probes, arguing that they will create an "unfortunate" precedent in international tax policies and leave [...]
German and French economies enter summer slump August 25, 2016 The powerhouses of the Eurozone could be languishing in a summer slump, figures out today have hinted. Measures of business confidence in both Germany and France missed expectations this morning, denting prospects for either economy to bounce back from a growth slowdown in the run-up to the UK's EU referendum. The closely-watched Ifo survey of [...]
The Spanish economy keeps growing as investment and household spending strengthen August 25, 2016 The Spanish economy grew by a faster rate than expected in the second quarter of this year, driven by increased investment and an uptick in household spending. Gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 0.8 per cent, up 0.1 percentage points from initial estimates. This is the same rate of growth Spain has seen in each quarter over [...]
Death toll in Italian earthquake rises to 247, officials say August 25, 2016 The number of people killed in the earthquake that devastated parts of central Italy on Wednesday rose to 247 this morning, officials have said. The Civil Protection department in Rome said a tally by local officials showed that 190 people were killed Rieti province and 57 in the province of Ascoli Piceno. The 6.2 magnitude [...]
Option Zero: Why Britain should embrace unilateral free trade post-Brexit August 25, 2016 Sherlock Holmes said that, when you’ve exhausted all other possibilities, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. In last week’s column I explained why the assumed roads forward for Brexit (the Norwegian, Swiss, Turkish and conventional World Trade Organisation tariff models) all had major stumbling blocks and should be seen as non-starters. This week [...]