The UK Government Is Planning To Pay Off Debt That Stretches Back To The 18th Century | ||
| | ||
The UK Treasury has announced plans to buy back £218 million of loans first issued by Winston Churchill in 1927, when he was Chancellor. The majority of the bonds being redeemed were issued to refinance debt taken on during the First World War. However, some of the debt goes back even further — with part of the borrowing pre-dating the signing of the US Declaration of Independence. Also included in the government buyback are: loans originally taken out to cover losses from the collapse of the South Sea Company in 1720, debt taken on to fund Britain's fight against Napoléon Bonaparte, and some that helped finance the Slavery Abolition Act of 1835. These loans are unusual because they were issued as perpetual bonds. This means that they payed out interest but have no maturity date, in effect making them more like owning a stock that pays a dividend than a traditional bond. The government has the right but no obligation to pay off the debt. So why have they done it now? The Debt Management Office estimates that the UK has paid £1.26 billion ($2 billion) in total interest on these bonds since 1927 and, with a yield of 4%, these bonds were paying a much higher interest rate than the government would have to pay if it raised the same amount of money now. For example, the yield on the 30-year UK government bonds is currently 2.96%. As Toby Nangle, head of multi-asset investment at Threadneedle, wrote in the FT earlier this month: And so the £1.93bn 3.5 per cent 90-day callable perpetual bond issue could be redeemed and replaced with a £1.63bn 3.5 per cent 30-year callable perpetual bond delivering a no-brainer £300m debt reduction to the taxpayer and an associated £9m per annum saving in interest costs (in perpetuity). Alternatively the same savings could be delivered by refinancing the War Loan into the large and liquid 30-50 year part of the conventional Gilt market. Value of the call to the UK taxpayer using Market rates as of 2nd October: £300m. SEE ALSO: Here Are The Impossible Cuts The Next UK Government Will Be Forced To Make Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
| |
Israel Has Reopened A Jerusalem Mosque That Closed Following A Palestinian Death | ||
| | ||
Jerusalem (AFP) — Israel reopened Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound Friday ahead of the weekly Muslim prayers, after a rare closure following clashes sparked by the killing of a Palestinian by police. The streets of east Jerusalem were calm ahead of the prayers at midday, following an Israeli clampdown on the shrine, which is holy for Muslims and Jews alike. Clashes erupted when Israeli police on Wednesday night shot dead a Palestinian accused of trying to kill a Jewish hardliner. The closure was the first for decades and prompted a spokesman for Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas to condemn the move as an Israeli "declaration of war". Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said that because of fears of unrest at the midday prayers, entry for Muslim men would be restricted to those over 50. Additional police were deployed around the Al-Aqsa compound in the heart of the Old City, with local media reporting the presence of some 3,000 officers, three times more than usual. The Al-Aqsa mosque compound — known to Jews as the Temple Mount — is the third holiest site in Islam and Judaism's holiest. The clashes subsided late Thursday with a few sporadic confrontations between stone-throwing Palestinians and police firing rubber bullets and tear gas. Three Palestinians were arrested, Samri said. The funeral of the Palestinian passed off without incident, she added. Jerusalem has been shaken by months of unrest sparked by the murder of a Palestinian teenager in July in revenge for the killings of three Jewish teenagers in the West Bank. A 50-day war between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza in July and August intensified protests and clashes in the Holy City.
SEE ALSO: Israeli Far Right Activist Shot And Wounded Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
| |
Colsaerts gets out big guns to take Shanghai lead | ||
| | ||
Shanghai (AFP) - Big-hitting Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts fired a superb eight-under 64 Friday to take a one-shot lead after the second round of the BMW Masters in Shanghai. Colsaerts used his booming length to great effect, grabbing four of the nine birdies on his card at each of the par-fives on the 7,607-yard rain-softened Lake Malaren layout. Colsaerts leads by one to France's long-hitter Alexander Levy with compatriot Romain Wattel -- no slouch off the tee himself -- a further shot back. The 2012 Ryder Cup winner has enjoyed a resurgence in form of late, shooting a rare round of 60 at the Portugal Masters three weeks ago. And only last month he destroyed the European Tour's all-time long-driving record with a monstrous 447-yard blast at Celtic Manor at the Wales Open. Colsaerts also blasted three birdies and an eagle on the par fives in his opening round 66 on Thursday. He acknowledged that the soft course and heavy conditions were playing into the hands of the men with the big guns off the tee. "We spoke about this yesterday," Colsaerts told AFP after his round. "Some guys in the mornings had four-irons into the 10th and I hit a gap wedge. "I think the condition of the golf course and the way the air is here makes a big difference. It will definitely suit long hitters without a doubt." Ryder Cup star and 2013 US open winner Justin Rose enjoyed one of the rounds of the day with a seven-under 65, but finds himself seven off the lead going into the weekend. "Put it this way, I don't think Nicolas is going to come back to us," he said. "I think I need another two low rounds to have a chance to win." One of the few shorter men off the tee to stand tall on the leaderboard was Northern Ireland's 2010 US Open winner Graeme McDowell. He is six back from Colsaerts after a three-under 69 left him decently placed at eight-under for the tournament. "There's a not a lot of short hitters on the leaderboard," agreed McDowell. "Colsaerts moves it. Levy moves it. Wattel moves it. "But there's more to it than that. The soft conditions mean any iron is going to stop coming into these surfaces. "So I feel I can compete this weekend even with the long guys. I'm right where I want to be and can give myself a chance come Sunday." Another European Ryder Cup stalwart, Thomas Bjorn, fought back from four over par for the day after just three holes to record a five-under par 67. The Dane missed a short par putt on the first and then took a disastrous triple-bogey eight at the third. But he repaired the damage in commanding style with five consecutive birdies from the seventh hole and nine in all. "You have days like that when, all of a sudden, it starts going your way. I'd like to play the first three again," Bjorn said. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
| |
Philippines' rare dwarf buffalo charges against extinction | ||
| | ||
Manila (AFP) - The population of the Philippines' dwarf buffalo, one of the world's rarest animals, has grown to its largest since efforts to save them from extinction began, conservationists said Friday. An annual survey counted 382 tamaraws in a protected mountain area this year, an increase from 345 in 2013, according to data from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The tamaraw, famed for its distinct v-shaped horns, can be found only in the mountains of Mindoro, a farming island in the central Philippines. The stocky tamaraw, with its chocolate brown coat, runs wild in the forest and weighs half as much as the more common carabao, which is used by farmers in the Philippines to plough rice fields. "The tamaraw is the flagship species of the Philippines. It is our moral obligation and international commitment to preserve them," forest ranger Rodel Boyles, who heads a joint government and private sector conservation effort, told AFP. "If they are not protected, the species might get wiped out in five years," he said. The tamaraw is considered "critically endangered" -- two steps away from extinction -- by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Hunting and the destruction of their habitat to make way for grazing areas for cattle led to their near decimation, as the population fell from 10,000 in the 1900s to just 154 by 2000, according to the WWF. The government and private sector's Tamaraw Conservation Programme aims to double the dwarf buffalo's population from 300 in the mid-2000s to 600 by 2020, Gregg Yan, a local spokesman for the WWF told AFP. This requires ramping up forest patrols to ward off poachers and installing hidden cameras in the mountains to better understand the behaviour of the beast, Yann said. A team of 30 forest rangers patrol a 37-acre portion of a mountain that is considered the buffalo's "core habitat", Boyles said. "They are hunted down for food and trophy. When a species is rare, their price in the black market also goes up," he said. Boyles said conservationists had held meetings with locals to discourage them from eating tamaraw meat. "People also have this misconception that the flesh of wild animals taste better than farmed ones," he said. The effort is paying off as the tamaraw population has been increasing every year for the last 12 years, WWF data shows. This year's survey also showed an increased number of young tamaraws, indicating that they have been reproducing in the wild, Boyles said, adding past attempts at captive breeding have failed. "We are hopeful that their numbers will continue increasing," he said. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
| |
Here Comes Europe's Unemployment and Inflation... | ||
| | ||
At 6 a.m. ET we'll get figures on the eurozone's unemployment (for September) and inflation (for October). Analysts weren't expecting a change in the unemployment figure, which is 11.5%. It's slowly declined from 12% earlier this year. However, Italian unemployment figures just out showed an unexpected spike from 12.3% to 12.5%, which will add some upward pressure to the figure. Analysts are expecting a inflation to come in at 0.4%. That's very slightly up from the 0.3% recorded for September, but there's very little pressure moving prices upwards in Europe. SEE ALSO: German Retail Sales Fall Through The Floor Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
| |
10 Things In Advertising You Need To Know Today | ||
| | ||
Before you head off for your Halloween parties, make sure you are up to date on the most important stories in advertising today. 1. WPP’s third quarter results are out and the world’s biggest advertising group has beaten estimates. Revenues were up 7.6% to $2.76 billion, far outpacing recent results from Omnicom (6.5% growth) and Publicis (up 1%). 2. Yahoo has hired Amazon’s top ad sales executive Lisa Utzschneider. She becomes the company’s senior vice president of sales, Americas, and will report into CEO Marissa Mayer. 3. Wal-Mart has said it will expand its offering of discounted products during the holiday season and may broaden a price-matching scheme to include online rivals. The latest announcement from the world’s second biggest retailer (behind Alibaba) is the latest sign of an escalating price war among big US retailers. 4. Free streaming site FilmOn is suing ad verification service DoubleVerify for allegedly cutting off “millions” of dollars in revenue. FilmOn’s chief executive Alki David told Business Insider he thinks DoubleVerify are “d*uchebags” that “throw legitimate companies under the bus in order to generate a body count.” 5. Nike has released an intense commercial about LeBron James returning to Cleveland. The ad from the sports brand is very similar to a spot Beats released earlier this month, which followed the same storyline. 6. Twitter has promoted its head of revenue products, Kevin Weil, to chief of consumer products. He replaces Daniel Graf who was only hired into the role six months ago — its unclear where he is headed within the company. 7. An Amazon executive has admitted the company “didn’t get the price right” on the Fire phone. Amazon’s senior vide president of devices David Limp said “we missed,” in pricing the smartphone too high. 8. Senator Rand Paul, a likely 2016 presidential contender, thinks the Republican brand “sucks” when it comes to wooing African-American voters. Paul said: “Remember Domino's Pizza? They admitted, 'Hey, our pizza crust sucks.' The Republican Party brand sucks and so people don't want to be a Republican and for 80 years, African-Americans have had nothing to do with Republicans.” 9. The long-awaited Instagram video ads have finally arrived, Adweek reports. Disney, Activision and Banana Republic are among the early buyers. 10. Get in the mood for Halloween with these 13 branded treats Digiday has rounded up. From sexy Ebola hazmat suits to Arby’s offering up some ghoulish digital treats, there’s plenty to dig your vampire teeth into. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
| |
10 Things In Tech You Need To Know Today (GOOG, AAPL, YHOO, GPRO, LNKD, AMZN, TWTR, FB) | ||
| | ||
Good morning! It's going to be a rainy day in New York. Here's the tech news you need to know for today. 1. Andy Rubin, the founder of Android, is leaving Google. He has been running Google's robotics division. 2. Apple CEO Tim Cook has come out as gay. He wrote a touching essay in Businessweek. 3. Yahoo has hired Amazon's top sales executive to be its senior vice president of sales, Americas. She previously headed up Amazon's ad sales. 4. GoPro announced earnings that were better than expectations. Shares jumped 8% on the news. 5. LinkedIn's Q3 earnings were better than expectations. The stock fell initially but then rose 1.7%. 6. Google Glass is now banned in all US movie theaters. The movie industry is scared that people will use the device to illegally record movies. 7. Amazon has admitted that it made a mistake with the price of the Fire Phone. "We didn't get the price right," said one executive. 8. Twitter is going through another executive change. Six months after hiring a new head of consumer products, Twitter is already replacing him. 9. Timex has unveiled its new smartwatch. The Ironman One GPS+ will go on sale for $400 in November. 10. Instagram has launched its first video ads. They will start appearing today. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
| |
Hong Kong activists mull taking protest to Beijing | ||
| | ||
Hong Kong (AFP) - Hong Kong's democracy protesters are considering travelling to Beijing to directly petition Communist authorities as the Chinese capital hosts US President Barack Obama and other world leaders at an upcoming summit. The protesters have held continuous street rallies for a month, demanding free leadership elections for the semi-autonomous city in 2017. Beijing has refused to back down on its insistence made on August 31 that candidates in the vote must be vetted by a loyalist committee, a decision critics say is designed to ensure the election of a pro-Beijing stooge. Alex Chow, head of Hong Kong's main student union which has been at the vanguard of the protests, said demonstrators were considering upping the ante by attempting to travel to Beijing and press authorities for direct talks. "We should tell the world and the government... that the decision made on August 31 must be rescinded," Chow told demonstrators at the main protest site late Thursday, urging them to think about "directly approaching Beijing". Protesters are apparently considering whether to attempt to crash the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Beijing on November 10-11, when Chinese President Xi Jinping will host leaders from the United States, Russia and Japan among others. But it is not clear whether student leaders, who have become well known through their speeches and media appearances, would be allowed to travel to the capital. Hong Kong citizens may travel freely into China as long as they have travel permits issued by mainland authorities, but border officials can deny their entry -- a tactic that has been used to keep critics of Beijing out in the past. "If we can't go through customs then Beijing is sending a message that they do not care about Hong Kongers' views about the NPC (National People's Congress) decision and the direction of constitutional development," Chow said. Demonstrators remain encamped on three of Hong Kong's major thoroughfares, but are under pressure to keep up the momentum in their campaign. The crowds, which numbered in their tens of thousands at the beginning of the month, have sharply dwindled. Hong Kong's authorities appear to be pursuing a strategy of attempting to tire them out, rather than clearing them by force. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
| |
European Markets Are Climbing After A Huge Rally In Asia | ||
| | ||
European stocks are all climbing Friday morning, after a big Asian boost following Japan's unexpected decision to extend its quantitative easing program. Here's the scorecard: France's CAC 40 is up 1.62% Spain's IBEX is up 1.48% Italy's FTSE MIB is up 1.45% Britain's FTSE 100 is up 0.92% Germany's DAX is up 1.53% Asian markets saw a massive rally. The Nikkei closed up 4.83%. The Hang Seng closed up 1.25%. US futures are climbing too: The S&P is up 16.75 points and the Dow is up 149 points. This morning, we've already had some terrible retail sales figures for Germany: with a 3.2% drop in September, they are the worst since 2007. From Europe, at 6:00 a.m ET, we have inflation and unemployment numbers. Analysts expect that unemployment stayed basically flat in the eurozone in September, and that inflation crept up from 0.3% to 0.4% in October, remaining extremely depressed. At 8:30 a.m. ET from the US, personal spending data is out. Analysts are expecting a 0.3% boost to personal income and a 0.1% boost to spending for September. SEE ALSO: The 10 Most Important Things In The World Right Now Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
| |
