According to the CBI’s monthly distributive trades survey, in June, year-on-year UK retail sales fell by the largest amount for 22 year. Approximately 23% of retailers recorded a year-on-year increase in sales, but 42% recorded a decline, giving a balance figure of -19, ...

 

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, approximately 40,000 jobs were created in 2004/05 from 1,066 investment projects from foreign firms, a substantial increase from the 25,463 jobs created by 811 projects in the previous year. The number of IT and software projects increased by 61% to 240, and ...

 

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Wanadoo, the Internet service provider, is changing its name to Orange. France Telecom, the owner of both Wanadoo and Orange is implementing the change to create more unified business identity. Wanadoo will be phased out both in the UK and across all its other ...

 

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A UK-based American citizen, Douglas Havard, has received a six-year jail sentence for stealing up to £6.5m through identity fraud. He was sentenced at Leeds Crown Court. Havard, who comes from Dallas, Texas, created fake credit cards with stolen bank details as part of ...

 

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Prime Minister Tony Blair said that he will listen to concerns about plans for identity cards after his Commons majority was reduced from 67 to 31 on the issue. Twenty Labour MPs rejected the ID card plans on Tuesday night. Senior MPs advise that ...

 

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A study by the charity Sense has shown that deafblind people find technology difficult to use, despite the fact that many rely on technology for communication, access to information and achieving independence. Nearly 50% of those surveyed who used assistive technology were experiencing ...

 

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Technology industry experts are concerned about the implications of a ruling by the US Supreme Court that file-sharing networks, such as Grokster, can be held responsible if the main purpose of their software is to allow customers to swap songs and movies illegally. ...

 

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Apple’s new version of its iTunes program includes the ability to download podcasts – downloadable audio shows. The company aims to take podcasting into the mainstream by providing a directory of 3,000 shows. The ITunes software allows users to submit their podcasts for ...

 

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RoyalDutch/Shell, the Anglo-Dutch oil company, has secured shareholders approval to merge its dual-ownership structure and create a single company worth £120bn. The firm is 60% owned by Royal Dutch Petroleum and 40% by Shell Transport & Trading Company. A merger is expected to ...

 

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Computacenter, the PC sales and services firm, has issued its second profits warning for 2005. The company said it expected sales in the first six months of the year to be approximately 10% down on the same period last year. The company said ...

 

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The US Supreme Court has ruled that file-sharing companies, such as Grokster and Morpheus, . It had been thought that the Supreme Court would rule in favour of file-sharers because of legal precedents set when video recorders first appeared. The legal case against ...

 

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In its Financial Stability Review, the Bank of England warned that a downturn in the economy could cause problems with individual and company debt repayment. Although short-term risks are low, the Bank warned about a possible long-term domino effect if banks called ...

 

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Tony Blair re-confirmed his commitment to the introduction of ID cards the day before the ID Cards Bill has its second reading in the House of Commons. Mr Blair said he is confident that the public back them in principle. According to ...

 

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Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7 browser, scheduled for release this summer, will make it easier for people to be made aware of website updates. IE7 was revealed at the Gnomedex technology conference in Seattle, US, on Friday. It will feature an orange button, which ...

 

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has warned that it expects its gas to increase significantly over the coming year. , which owns British Gas, said its electricity bills would also increase. It attributed the planned increases to soaring wholesale prices. In 2004, British Gas increased its ...

 

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A survey of 175 IT professionals, by IT security firm Cyber-Ark found that 10% of firms never changed their central administrative passwords and a further 5% did not even change the manufacturer's default password which was supplied with the system. One IT manager ...

 

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