The year hurricanes Katrina and Wilma devastated Florida and Louisiana, Bill Begal’s property restoration and cleanup business took in more than $10 million in revenue. An average year, by comparison, could bring in up to $4 million — not bad for a company bootstrapped inside a family dry-cleaning store more than 20 years ago. “Flooding […]
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WHO wants mediocrity? That is what a lot of people say when the subject of index-tracking, or passive fund management, comes up. They would rather choose a fund manager (an active manager in the jargon) who tries to beat the market by picking the best stocks. It does sound like a good idea. The tricky […]
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Spain’s PM to meet Trump, but timing might deepen the Catalonia crisis
Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy is due to meet U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington D.C. Tuesday, leaving behind a growing dispute in the streets of Catalonia. Rajoy arrived in the United States Monday for a visit aimed at deepening ties with a country that is “a friend and an ally” of Spain. However, the […]
Read moreAtaribox – the latest console from gaming pioneer Atari – will likely hit stores next year. The console will be powered by an AMD-customized processor and run on operating system Linux. In an announcement Tuesday, the Ataribox team said it would seek to raise funds for the console on crowd-funding platform Indiegogo “this fall (read: […]
Read moreLow-income Americans, older people and women pay a greater share of their incomes toward out-of-pocket health costs than do others, according to a new report issued Tuesday. The broad analysis of spending by more than 2 million Americans also found that there is a strong correlation between when people tend to pay their out-of-pocket health […]
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FOR many aeroplane enthusiasts, buying a Boeing 747 is the stuff of dreams. The “Queen of the Skies” is an icon from the golden age of air travel, a period the 1960s and 1970s when the industry was at its most glamorous. And owning one would be like having a little piece of aviation history. […]
Read moreA diamond weighing 1,109 carats — the largest found since 1905 — has sold for $53 million. The Lesedi La Rona, which means “Our Light” in the Twsana language, was found in a Botswana mine in November 2015. It is the third biggest diamond ever found, and the second largest of gem quality. Diamond miner […]
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Germany coalition talks begin after bruising election result for Merkel
After the re-election of Germany’s Angela Merkel to a fourth-term in power, the hard task of political negotiations to form a coalition government has begun and could take weeks, if not months. Talks are reported to have begun between Merkel’s conservative alliance of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian […]
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Europe could be about to see a multibillion-dollar rail merger between Siemens and Alstom
German industrial group Siemens is likely to decide on Tuesday to pursue a multibillion-dollar rail merger with French rival Alstom rather than Canada’s Bombardier, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. The three major train and rail technology groups active in Europe have been looking at combining their businesses as larger Chinese state-backed rival […]
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European markets set to open lower as tensions over North Korea rise; Siemens in reported merger
European stocks are expected to open lower on Tuesday morning on rising tensions between North Korea and the United States. The FTSE 100 is seen down by 3 points at 7,304; the DAX is set to start off by 12 points at 12,580 and the CAC 40 is expected to open lower by 1 point […]
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