He is due to commence talks with Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras today, with the two countries financial situations being the main point of discussion. Reports indicate that Anastasiades will be asking for Greece to provide €2bn from its €48bn bank recapitalisation package to support Cypriot lenders. Little over a fortnight ago, Anastasiades, said that…
When you think about Florida what comes to mind?For me it’s sunshine… golf courses… Lincolns, Buicks and Cadillacs… big-box “senior living” centers… and, of course, ubiquitous retirees.We may make fun of Florida as one big old folks’ home. But by 2030 the average American will be older than the average Floridian is today. That observation…
Researchers at the University of Rome in Italy have concluded that playing an hour of Nintendo Wii a day for a month actually improves hand eye coordination and can make surgeons more adept at performing important surgeries. The reason for this phenomenon has a lot to do with how the surgeries themselves are performed. Instead…
After last minute discussions failed to reach a consensus, the American Congress was unable to prevent a wave of unpalatable cuts coming into effect. President Obama has since signed off on the sequester, which will see over $85bn wiped from the federal budget over the year. When the cuts were conceived in 2011, they were…
So you’ve decided you’re going to put your house up for sale. Before you take the next big step of listing your house on the market, you may want to consider the possibility of improving the current condition of your house. Here are some simple, inexpensive ways you can polish up your house before prospective buyers come…
New figures from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development reveal that sales of new single-family houses in January rose 15.6 percent above the December 2012 rate, and 28.9 percent from the same time last year. Over 437,000 single family homes were purchased in January, exceeding the forecast of 381,000. Sales have been boosted…
The pound slipped to a two-year nadir as news that Moody’s Investor service became the first ratings agency to downgrade the UK from its triple A score since 1978. Domestic and foreign-currency government bond ratings have had their scored lowered to an AA1, though the outlook on these ratings remains stable. In a statement the…
Departing chairman of Novartis, Daniel Vasella was set to receive a payout of $78m over six years, supposedly for consulting services and a very strict non-compete agreement. But the generous ‘golden gag’ package- as the payout has been dubbed by the media- caused waves of protests in Switzerland, a country on the verge of a…
With the number Americans applying for unemployment benefits at an all time low, things are looking up for those looking for a job. Just last week, the number of applicants fell by 27,000 indicating that hiring is steadily improving. These trends are not volatile, evidenced by Jim O’Sullivan, an economist at High Frequency Economics. In…
The European Commission has announced plans to demand global manufacturers importing goods into the EU to apply a ‘made in’ label to all their products or risk sanctions. The World Trade Organisation is a staunch critic of such labels which it describes as making little sense in a world of globalised supply chains. Similar regulations…
