At the Geneva Motor Show this week, self-driving car concepts are everywhere.
Wednesday, March 2, 2016
Rich People Are Buying More Super-Yachts
Despite global economic uncertainty, rich people are still buying lots of giant yachts. A new report from the real estate consultancy Knight Frank found that sales of yachts longer than 78 feet increased 40% in 2015. The value of classic cars, a staple luxury item of the super-rich, also rose 17% during the year, and the value of wine and luxury watches both increased by 5%.
At the same time, the number of people who are actually extremely wealthy is in decline, thanks to volatile equity markets and a economic slowdown in China. The so-called “ultra rich,” who have assets worth at least $30 million, fell from 193,000 in 2014 to 187,000 in 2015. The number of millionaires in the world also declined by from 13.6 million to 13.3 million.
However, Knight Frank believes the rich will find a way to bounce back. The group predicts there will be more than 18 million millionaires by 2025.
At the same time, the number of people who are actually extremely wealthy is in decline, thanks to volatile equity markets and a economic slowdown in China. The so-called “ultra rich,” who have assets worth at least $30 million, fell from 193,000 in 2014 to 187,000 in 2015. The number of millionaires in the world also declined by from 13.6 million to 13.3 million.
However, Knight Frank believes the rich will find a way to bounce back. The group predicts there will be more than 18 million millionaires by 2025.
NHS 'Scandal' As UK Pays Millions To EU
New figures show the NHS is paying out millions more for EU healthcare than it is claiming back from EU countries.
In what one MP described as a "scandalous failure", it has emerged that the UK pays more than £670m to EU countries for Brits' healthcare abroad, while claiming back less than £50m from the EU, even though there are significantly more EU citizens in the UK than UK citizens in the EU.
Under the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) - countries can claim back health costs from other EU countries if their citizens use medical services abroad.
The new figures reveal that nearly every country claims more from the UK than the UK claims back from the rest of the EU.
For example the UK pays France £147,685,772, but France only pays UK £6,730,292 and the UK pays Germany £25,873,954 but Germany only pays the UK £2,189,664.
Even in countries such as Poland where net migration is massively towards the UK, the discrepancy is four-fold in Poland's favour.
MP John Mann, who obtained the figures in a parliamentary question, told Sky News that "logically the UK should be receiving more than it pays out".
He estimates "the real cost is a billion pounds a year".
In what one MP described as a "scandalous failure", it has emerged that the UK pays more than £670m to EU countries for Brits' healthcare abroad, while claiming back less than £50m from the EU, even though there are significantly more EU citizens in the UK than UK citizens in the EU.
Under the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) - countries can claim back health costs from other EU countries if their citizens use medical services abroad.
The new figures reveal that nearly every country claims more from the UK than the UK claims back from the rest of the EU.
For example the UK pays France £147,685,772, but France only pays UK £6,730,292 and the UK pays Germany £25,873,954 but Germany only pays the UK £2,189,664.
Even in countries such as Poland where net migration is massively towards the UK, the discrepancy is four-fold in Poland's favour.
MP John Mann, who obtained the figures in a parliamentary question, told Sky News that "logically the UK should be receiving more than it pays out".
He estimates "the real cost is a billion pounds a year".
Ben Carson Says No Path Forward For Campaign
Republican presidential hopeful Ben Carson has said he does not see a path forward after Super Tuesday's results, effectively ending his campaign.
The former neurosurgeon said he would make an announcement on Friday about the future of his 2016 bid for the White House.
Mr Carson said he would not attend Thursday's Republican debate hosted by Fox News in his hometown of Detroit.
"I do not see a path forward for my campaign in light of last evening's Super Tuesday primary results," he said in a statement.
"However, this grassroots movement on behalf of 'We the People' will continue."
not suspend his campaign, his statement signals the death knell for a bid that once seemed filled with promise.
He was propelled to the lead in opinion polls last year only to steadily lose steam amid stumbles blamed on his political inexperience.
Mr Carson is due to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington DC on Friday.
His withdrawal would leave four candidates vying to be the Republican nominee for November's White House election.
Mr Carson's statement comes as Republican leaders scramble to derail the momentum of their own front runner, Donald Trump.
The party fears the pugnacious 69-year-old billionaire would be an electoral liability in an expected match-up against Democratic contender Hillary Clinton.
Amid the prospect that the party of Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan could be led by a political newcomer who has called for Muslims to be banned from entering the US, some power brokers have even raised the option of forming a completely new party.
Republican leaders fear a Trump nomination could not only ruin their chances of recapturing the White House, but even cost them their control of Congress if undecided voters shun the party.
Mr Trump and Mrs Clinton won seven states apiece in Super Tuesday's contests, taking a big stride towards their respective parties' presidential nominations, which will be decided at conventions in July.
But while Democrats are increasingly rallying behind Mrs Clinton, the former Secretary of State, the Republican party is in disarray.
Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who won his first presidential state contest in liberal Minnesota on Tuesday, told Fox News the party would "never" unite behind Mr Trump.
The party's 2012 nominee, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, has scheduled a speech for Thursday about the state of the race.
Retirement Warnings: Work Until Your 70s
People are not saving enough and may have to work until well into their 70s to receive the retirement income they want, experts have warned.
One report, the Independent Review of Retirement Income (IRRI), has said people should be putting 15% of their lifetime earnings into their pension pot "to avoid future pensioner poverty".
Under workplace pension schemes, the minimum contribution as a percentage of earnings is currently set at 2% and will increase to 8% in the coming years.
The IRRI report follows a two-year study commissioned by Labour. The review is chaired by Professor David Blake, director of the Pensions Institute at Cass Business School.
It also warned pensioners withdrawing lump sums from their pension pots under new retirement freedoms introduced last year could become a "honey pot" for fraudsters.
Another report, from Royal London, found people making minimum workplace pension contributions from the age of 22 would need to work until 77 to be able to enjoy the sort of "gold standard" pensions enjoyed by many of their parents' generation.
This varies across the country due to different wage levels so that it would be as high as 81 in Westminster.
Former pensions minister Steve Webb, director of policy at Royal London, said: "It is great news that millions more workers are now being enrolled into workplace pensions, but the amounts going in are simply not enough to give people the kind of retirement they would want for themselves."
The warnings come as the Government launched a review of the state pension age - which experts think will see the benefit not being available until employees currently joining the workforce have reached their 70s - to be led by former CBI director general John Cridland.
The state pension age has already been undergoing changes since 2010 so that its long-standing level of 60 for women will equalise with men at 65. From 2018 it will rise for both and reach 67 by 2028 under Government plans.
Legislation requires the policy to be reviewed during each Parliament. This will be the first such review to take place.
It will not cover the existing timetable for changes up to April 2028. Mr Cridland will report in time to allow the Government to consider the recommendations by May 2017.
Financial services firm Hargreaves Lansdown said further changes were likely to mean it goes up faster than currently planned.
Tom McPhail, head of retirement policy at the firm, said: "Those joining the workforce today are likely to find themselves waiting until their mid-70s to get a payout from the state system."
Nigerian man accused of Ese abduction faces charges
Ese's family travelled from their southern home state of Bayelsa to be reunited with her.
A social media campaign with around 50,000 tweets using the hashtag #FreeEse prompted Sunday's search for her after she went missing in August.
The man denies taking Ese against her will and forcing her to convert to Islam before the wedding.
From Bayelsa, she is said to have been moved to the city of Kano, some 900km (600 miles) away from her home.
Police who delayed Ese's release would also be prosecuted, Abuja police spokesman Olabisi Kolawole told the BBC's Yakubu Liman in the capital, Abuja
The family say they made several efforts to bring Ese back from Kano, but were told she was no longer their daughter.
The alleged abductor of the girl was a long-standing customer of Ese's mother, who is a food vendor.
The marriage was reported to have taken place at the palace of the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, an influential Muslim leader in Nigeria, which he has denied.
The Emir said the girl was brought to his palace after her alleged conversion to Islam but he said she was too young.
"We asked that if he really wants her, he should wait for her until she turns 18 and then if she still wants him they can get married. No-one will stand in the way," Mr Sanusi said in a statement.
Ese and the man were sent to the police by the Emir as he said she should be returned to Bayelsa state because of her age.
However, this was not acted upon.
Though reunited with her mother, Nigeria's Premium Times newspaper has reported that Ese said she wants to remain in Kano.
She told police she was not forced to convert to Islam, it reports.
A debate about child brides and forced marriages in Nigeria has erupted due to the alleged abduction.
The UN said more than one in three girls are married before the age of 18, mostly in poor rural families in Africa.
American Gladiator 'Hawk' Dies Aged 49
A former football star who rose to fame on the popular 1990s television show American Gladiators has died at the age of 49.
Lee Reherman, who performed as Hawk on the show, died at his home in Manhattan Beach, his publicist Anthony Turk said.
The cause of his death is unknown, but the former Cornell University offensive tackle had not been feeling well in recent days after undergoing hip replacement surgery, Mr Turk said.
He died soon after his girlfriend returned home on Tuesday to find him unwell.
Mr Reherman had a tryout with the Miami Dolphins after graduating with honours from Cornell. He also earned a master's in business administration and was pursuing a doctorate in economics at the University of California in Los Angeles when he won his slot on American Gladiators.
On its Twitter page, Gladiators wrote: "It is with much sadness we inform you #AmericanGladiators star Hawk @LeeReherman sadly passed away this morning. RIP."
At 6ft 4ins, Hawk became an immediate fan favourite on the show.
Kathy Carter, his manager of 17 years, said: "Anybody who came in contact with him, even people who may have been on a film set with him for just one day, Lee was very much loved by everyone."
After Gladiators, he continued to have TV and film roles over the next 20 years, including roles in Last Action Hero, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Star Trek Into Darkness.
He also had guest appearances on TV shows including Ellen, The X-Files and The Shield.
He produced several shows, including an upcoming documentary called The League which looks at character-building in Ivy League college football, which does not offer scholarships.
Mr Reherman is survived by his father and two brothers.
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