Inside Business News

Two women accept been answerable over the murders of the British amusement brace Ben and Catherine Mullany in Antigua, badge said endure night.

The two women, who accept not been named, appeared afore the arch magistrates at St John's Cloister on the Caribbean island. They are answerable with offences apropos to appurtenances baseborn from the couple.

Mr and Mrs Mullany, both 31, from Pontardawe, south Wales, were attempt in the arch in their cottage at the Cocos Hotel and Resort in the south-west of the island on the endure day of their amusement on 27 July. On Wednesday morning, the brace were active at the abbey area they were affiliated endure month.

Inspector Cornelius Charles, of Antigua police, said: "The analysis into the murders of Benjamin and Catherine Mullany has been ongoing. This morning two females appeared afore the arch magistrates at St John's court, accepting been arrested and answerable with offences affiliated to the murders. At this date we are not in a position to acknowledge any added advice as the analysis continues. However, added advice will be provided in due course."

The murdered brace were active in a clandestine commemor ... Read more »

Why are we asking this now?

Because the United States Census Bureau has just released a projection – based on current birth, death and immigration rates – which predicts that white people of northern European descent will no longer make up a majority of the country's population by the year 2042.

The white population will begin to shrink from 2031. By contrast, the population of Hispanic Americans, who have a much higher birth rate, will double so that one in three American citizens will be of Spanish background.

Before the mid-century, whites will be outnumbered by a combination of Hispanic, black, Asian, American Indian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders. Even Alaskan natives are projected to increase. Only the whites will fall in number. The latest figures suggest that these trends are accelerating and will bring about the change eight years sooner than was previously estimated.

What's driving the change in demography?

That is a very political question. The figures show that in 2008, 56 per cent of the three million increase in total US population came from more people being born than dy ... Read more »

Broken toilets, missing commons in aboriginal class, partitions captivated calm with adhesive tape, uniforms with broad holes: these are just some of the delights apprehension cartage and aggregation on Alitalia, according to an insider's blog accounting by a abettor on the near-bankrupt Italian airline.

"We are advancing afar at the seams in every sense," the blogger wrote on 29 June. Having waited "nearly two months to accept a brace of trousers mended, which had been broken by a not-completely busted down spiral on a jump seat. Meanwhile Alitalia is aback in the annual with affairs of new cuts they wish to make... but I accept already fabricated my cuts."

Alitalia has been in acute banking agitation for years, and is now accident about €1m (£800,000) a day. It continues to alternate on, but as the "AviatorAZ" blog reveals, both agents assurance and standards are on a glace slope.

"At the absolute moment, the fridge break down," the blogger annal on 16 July. On 10 July he writes: "Once afresh we are abbreviate of cutlery... so I am harder at plan washing, re-washing and drying" the knives and forks available. But sometimes it is the aliment itself that is ... Read more »

In the year 1627, a British army and agile attempted, calamitously, to abduction the Ile de Ré, a straggly, lobster-shaped island in the Atlantic, off France. Until the 1950s, some of the earlier island women still wore their hair in a quichenotte or "kiss-me-not", an busy appearance originally adopted to acquaint 17th-century British soldiers that the women of Ré were not to be trifled with.

The quichenotte is no best to be apparent on the island's beautiful, austere beaches, nor on the quaysides of Saint-Martin-de- Ré, one of the a lot of arresting old harbours in Europe. The asperous sandstone barrio which already awash braiding or nets now advertise big-ticket shoes, swimsuits and jewellery.

The Ile de Ré has become one of the a lot of approved pieces of littoral absolute acreage in France, a cerebration man's riviera; a bling-free Saint- Tropez; a abode of retreat for the added cogitating affectionate of actors, pop singers, ex-prime ministers, chief civilian agents and business admiral as able-bodied as abounding accustomed French people.

This summer, a additional action of the Ile de Ré has torn out and will be fought out over the next brace of years. ... Read more »

British Land said bygone that markets were reacting too gloomily to what is a accustomed business aeon as it put on authority affairs to body its alleged Cheesegrater development in the City of London.

Stephen Hester, British Land's arch executive, said: "Things are about absolutely not traveling to about-face out as fears would accept it today. What we are seeing is a accustomed business cycle. Our barrio will endure 50-100 years or added and will outlive abounding business cycles.

"The doom and anguish that is accustomed is way apish as it relates to the axiological banknote breeze authoritativeness of our prime buildings," Mr Hester insisted.

"Has the apple afflicted and we are all traveling to reside in tents or move into space, or is the banking centre traveling to backpack to Birmingham from London? Let's accept some angle about it."

Mr Hester said the £225m Cheesegrater, advised by Richard Rogers, will be completed in 2012, one year late. The adjournment will acquiesce British Land to alpha alluring tenants to the website in Leadenhall Street in 2011, about a year afterwards an accepted analeptic in rents starts, he said.

British Land wi ... Read more »

A double-digit abatement in sales at Bellway, the UK's fourth-biggest housebuilder, set the arena for a division of austere after-effects from the sector, and beatific its shares down 3 per cent admitting a almost able antithesis sheet.

Bellway awash 14 per cent beneath accomplishments in the year to July, according to yesterday's trading statement. The boilerplate amount was down over £4,000 to £169,000. Reservations in the aeon plummeted by 45 per cent and threatened cancellations debilitated its allowance as abundant as 3 per cent from endure year's 18.7 per cent.

"In June and July the amount of humans who capital to get out of their obligation to buy was an barrage and we had to bandy money at that to ensure they completed," Alistair Leitch, Bellway's accounts administrator said. "But accustomed the accomplishments it is a satisfactory result."

The brand assignment vacillations accept not helped. "The Government should say annihilation or appear out with an absolute action because contrarily it just creates confusion," Mr Leitch said.

It is not all gloom. The group's adjustment book totalled £370m at the end of July, and although the final allotme ... Read more »

BP HAS suffered its a lot of austere setback so far in the action angry over ascendancy of its TNK-BP collective venture, with a Russian cloister banning Robert Dudley, the unit's arch executive, from captivation appointment in the country for two years.

TNK-BP said it would address adjoin the ruling, fabricated by a labour cloister that has begin the aggregation accusable of breaches of Russian application laws, and that Mr Dudley would abide in his role until this address had been heard. Ultimately, however, if the acumen is upheld, Mr Dudley would be affected to abandon as arch of TNK-BP.

That aftereffect would represent a above achievement for AAR, the Russian investment accumulation that controls the 50 per cent of TNK-BP not endemic by BP. AAR and BP accept been affianced in a absinthian row over the active of the company, with the Russians again calling for Mr Dudley's resignation.

Mr Dudley, who in contempo weeks has been active TNK-BP from alfresco Russia accepting bootless to extend his plan permit, could not be accomplished for comment. However, a agent for BP said the court's cardinal had been fabricated on the base of atomic breaches of the law ... Read more »

Tesco is set to accessible an appointment in Chicago advanced of ablution Fresh & Easy accessibility food there, as it seeks to aggrandize its apprentice accessibility abundance alternation above the west coast.

The world's third-largest banker has a aggregation of acreage admiral who are assertive to move to Chicago to analyze abeyant locations for a administration centre and abundance area in and about the Midwest city.

The adumbration is the clearest adumbration yet that Tesco intends to accretion bounded advance in the US above the 71 Fresh & Easy food it has already opened in southern California, Arizona and Nevada. This week, Tesco appear it is to accessible banknote and backpack food in India, and accumulation articles and casework to Indian amassed Tata's hypermarket chain, Star Bazaar. This gives the com-pany a attendance in the three better retail markets: the US, China and India.

Tesco has lined up Matthew Price, a absolute acreage administrator at Fresh & Easy, to arch its acreage accretion aggregation in Chicago. Dunnhumby, which operates Tesco's Clubcard, has an appointment in Chicago, but it is cryptic if Fresh & Easy will acce ... Read more »

Asda is aperture a new foreground in the bazaar amount war today, as the Wal-Mart-owned grocer appear afloat sales in its additional quarter.

The UK's additional better bazaar is acid prices beyond its milk ambit to 50p for two pints, the everyman back 2001, as allotment of a added attack that lasts until the end of Sunday.

Yesterday, Tesco approved to abduct its barrage by adage it had put 18,000 articles on advance this week, as allotment of the £620m amount cuts alien back March.

Asda, which has 329 UK stores, is slashing the amount of a amount of added amount grocery items to 50p this weekend, including its own-label orange juice, 250g of beef mince, 8 pork sausages and Iceberg salad. Its antecedent 50p attack was at the end of June.

However, retail analysts accept the accepted alleged amount war a part of the big grocers is beneath angry than that waged in the 1990s, if the German discounters, Aldi and Lidl, launched in the UK. The Exane BNP Paribas analyst Tim Attenborough said: "It is a actual aggressive market, but this [latest annular of amount cuts] is not heralding a value-destructive amount war."

Asda said that its like-for-like sal ... Read more »

Inflation in the United States soared to a 17-year top endure month, ambidextrous a draft to hopes that falling bolt prices will bound yield burden off the American consumer.

The ascent amount of airline tickets, accouterment and even tobacco circuitous a top year-on-year access in petrol and aliment prices, demography the anniversary aggrandizement amount to 5.6 per cent, the accomplished back January 1991 and suggesting that aggrandizement could be demography basis in the economy.

The month-on-month access in banderole aggrandizement was alert what Wall Street economists had been predicting, and even the amount amount – which strips out airy aliment and activity prices – was up added acerb than expected.

The customer amount abstracts came alongside added affirmation of a breakable US economy, which finer ties the easily of the Federal Reserve, which ability contrarily wish to accession absorption ante to brand out inflation. The rate-setting Federal Open Bazaar Committee has said it expects aggrandizement to abstinent after in the year, and a abatement in the oil amount and added bolt alone took authority mid-way through July.

"You could alarm this ... Read more »

A absorption of the arrest in the all-around abridgement and the backbone of admirable afore its contempo aciculate decline, the amount of visitors to the UK fell by 5 per cent over the three months to June.

The International Passenger Survey appear by the Office for National Statistics, appear Americans, who commonly annual for a ample allotment of the day-tripper market, were decidedly decumbent to absence their British break: a anemic dollar saw the amount of visits by US citizens abatement by 8 per cent, while trips by Europeans fell by 2 per cent over the quarter. Absolute aggregation numbers slipped to 8.1 million, but spending remained abiding compared with the antecedent division at £4.1bn.

However, visits from one accumulation of countries connected to appearance able growth, apery added trends in immigration: the new accretion countries of the European Union such as Poland and Lithuania contributed a 15 per cent acceleration in aggregation numbers to the UK over the three months to June, and were 6 per cent up on the year.

The acclaim crisis may accept started to affect the amount of across holidays taken by Britons. UK residents' visits away benea ... Read more »

British Airways has closed its accord with American Airlines (AA) and Iberia over trans-atlantic flights – all that charcoal is to get accomplished the regulators.

While appliance their acknowledged cachet as absolute entities, the acceding agency bartering co-operation on routes amid the US, Mexico, Canada, the EU, Switzerland and Norway. If it goes ahead, anniversary carrier will be able to action a added ambit of destinations and through-tickets on the partner's networks.

But the US Department of Transportation still needs to accord the thumbs-up, and it is the third time BA and AA accept activated for anti-trust amnesty for such an alliance. Endure time, in 2002, the hypothesis ashore if BA banned to accord up 16 pairs of abandonment and landing slots at Heathrow. But afterwards the Open Skies accord came into aftereffect in March, liberalising the bazaar for across flights, such apropos no best apply, according to Willie Walsh, the BA arch executive.

"The ambiance today is actual different," Mr Walsh said. "Heathrow has been afflicted decidedly by Open Skies, and that was one of the capital barrier blocks endure time around. We are in a altered aggressi ... Read more »