A baby was smuggled inside a passenger's hang luggage on board an Air France flight on Monday night, according to local sources. A passenger on board the flight from Istanbul to Paris CDG raised the alarm when they saw a woman was carrying a baby in her hand luggage, Planet.fr reports. He alerted the crew and they were redirected towards the front of the plane. The press service of Air France confirmed the information and said the child was travelling without a ticket.

The Government's campaign to encourage small and medium-sized businesses to export is failing to achieve its objectives, according to new research. A QuoteSearcher survey of 618 SMEs found just seven per cent of businesses are likely to take part in the campaign, with 69 per cent of respondents saying they had never heard of the campaign before. The UK Trade and Investment department is already facing an investigation as to whether it’s providing enough value to small businesses. The 'Exporting is Great' campaign...

If there’s one film series, which has sparked our love of gadgets, it must be the James Bond franchise. Ever since the chauffeur blew himself up with the cyanide cigarette in Dr No, we’ve been fascinated by the quirky gadgets. The scenes were Q would present James Bond with the latest equipment has become a thrilling event in itself. Not only have these gadgets managed to captivate our imaginations on screen, some of them have found their way on to...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Today is international Women’s Day and it has been revealed there is ONE town in UK where women get the same pay as their male counterparts...almost. In another area women even get paid more, but the rest of the country remains unequal. On the south coast, in the seaside town of Hastings, is the place where you will find the fairest pay structure in Britain.Full-time workers here on average earn £24,112 a year - just...

In celebration of International Women's Day we've put together an unrelentingly awesome playlist of the female acts rocking our world at TLE. These range from the matriarchs who paved the way for a strong female presence in the music industry, right up to the new blood pushing the envelope at the forefront of the 2016 music scene. This is by no means an exhaustive list, and if you spot a glaring omission then please feel free to add to the playlist or...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor There has been anger after Tory minister Baroness Williams said homeless people chose to sleep rough. Charities have said "rough sleeping isn't a lifestyle choice" after her remarks in the upper house during a debate. The Communities Minister made her controversial statement as she argued with other peers over the amount of beds available to get people off the streets. Labour's Baroness Armstrong, said rough sleeping had more than doubled since the Tories took power...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) have said that extra direct competition would see greater efficiency, lower fares and better use of rail capacity. They said that rival train firms should run services on the same lines, which would see an end to the franchises on major intercity lines. This idea was considered and rejected on operational grounds when railways were first privatised in 1994. This report has been released just before Nicola Shaw’s review into the...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor It was described by one peer as a “black day for disabled people” as the Lords was forced to accept cuts to ESA (Employment Support Allowance) given to sick and disabled people, the most vulnerable in society. After a brave fight by the Lords they were forced to back down in their opposition to the Government’s brutal plans. The Lords had managed to defeat ministers twice over plans to cut £30 a week from ESA. However,...

This is the latest guest feature from Richard Roberts, 26, author of Musings of a Young Londoner .  If you would like to feature on The London Economic, you can submit your articles here.   I’m a pro-capitalist social democrat. No, it’s not an oxymoron. It means roughly this: Philosophically, sure, I have qualms about a system that privileges the accumulation of private financial wealth above all other ends in life. But practically, I see no viable alternative to capitalism....