News

ONE of the UK’s premium hotel and bar operators based in the North East has successfully refinanced £101m with the help of HSBC, in a deal supported by Mincoffs Solicitors LLP. Cairn Group, a privately owned business, will use £50m of the total pot for acquisition and development to strengthen its portfolio, which already includes 26 hotels and more than 30 bars and restaurants as well as care homes across the UK. The news follows the latest acquisitions of the...

Countdown’s Rachel Riley modelled a potential car of the future ahead of the Shell Eco-Marathon in London. The vehicles, weighing in at just 30kg, were designed by students competing in the world’s longest running student competition, Shell Eco-marathon, where vehicles are measured on how far they can travel on just a litre of fuel. The current record is 3771km/l - the equivalent of travelling from London to Helsinki and back! This year,the marathon will be showcased at Make the Future London – a...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor I was always told that goldfish have a two second memory, so assumed that fish were not the brightest of animals. It appears I was very very wrong. A team of scientists have shown that one tropical species of fish can recognise peoples' faces.  Archerfish spit jets of water  to catch insects, but the research team also found that they can also tell faces apart. In tests, by the team of US and Australian researchers,...

Coca Cola has dropped out of the BrandZ ranking of the top 10 global brands for the first time. The brand report has been running since 2006 and sees the soft drink brand fall to thirteenth place as the top ten list gets littered by tech and social companies. Google hang on to the top spot, with Facebook, Amazon, McDonald's and Chinese tech company Tencent all moving about Coca Cola in the past year. Millward Brown’s BrandZ valuation process takes the financial...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor This video looks like the stuff of nightmares, as a giant panther stalks a man, who seems oblivious of the attack. As his back is turned the animal gets closer and closer. The dangerous beast keeps itself low to the ground ready to pounce, and just as the panther punches on its prey, the man and animal grapple. The panther jaws open showing huge fangs, but all is well and the two give each other...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Saddening footage has emerged from Loro Parque in Spain’s Canary Islands, of Killer whale Morgan lying next to her tank as tourists leave stadium after another show. As it finished the whale beached herself leaving one viewer to write: “Looks to me as if she’s trying to take her own life, I don’t blame her.” Another added: “’Shame on humans who exploit whales.” If a killer whale is beached for too long the weight of their body...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Under fire Sports Direct owner Mike Ashley will now compensate workers after admitting his company failed to pay the minimum wage to his workers. Union chiefs have said their was a “culture of fear” at the warehouse and ambulances have been called over a hundred times, sparking health and safety fears for their employees. Now Ashley has said he has come to an arrangement with HM Revenue & Customs to give compensation to warehouse employees...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor SNP supporters will be overjoyed to find that the Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon has been placed in the top 50 most powerful women in the world. Scotland appears to be flexing its muscles on the world stage and it’s being led by Sturgeon, who is beginning to gather powerful allies across he globe. The only woman from the UK who came in above her was the Queen. Sturgeon was rated 50th in the latest...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor A report has claimed that secret work is underway to upgrade the current Trident weapons to be more accurate and devastating that ever, while an entirely new system is being developed. According to the Nuclear Information Service upgrading work in happening at Britain’s nuclear bomb factory. The report has revealed that at two sites, Aldermaston and Burghfield in Berkshire, they believe work has already begun to produce a “Mark 4A” warhead, which is much more...