Microsoft Boss To Leave Amid 'New Direction'

Microsoft Revamp Amid PC Decline

Updated: 3:28pm UK, Friday 23 August 2013

By Thomas Moore, Sky News Science Correspondent

Microsoft has struggled as the PC market has declined.

Five years ago more than 90% of computers ran a version of the Windows operating system, according to tech analysts Forrester.

By 2012 - with Apple and Google dominating mobile computing - it was found on just 30% of devices.

In an effort to revamp its image for the touchscreen era, the company launched Windows 8 late last year.

But the lack of the iconic 'start' button and the new interface of tiled apps irritated users tied to a keyboard and mouse.

It's now done a U-turn and a soon-to-be-launched update - Windows 8.1 - will restore the start button.

Microsoft will hope the tweaks will breathe life into the operating system.

It has failed to convince PC users to upgrade so far, despite a marketing budget that's estimated to top $1bn  (£600m).

Eight months old and Windows 8 is still only found on 5.4% of computers, according to data from Net Applications.

Windows 7 still dominates, with a share of 44.5%.

The malaise is affecting PC makers.

HP recently reported that sales of desktop and notebook computers had slumped by 8% in a year.

So the stakes are high for Microsoft and the industry that relies on its software.

If the new-look Windows fails to stop the slide in sales many will ask whether the PC has a future.

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Post Office Staff In Fresh Wave Of Strikes

Workers at Crown post offices are launching a fresh wave of strikes today in a five-month row over jobs, pay and closures.

A UK-wide stoppage is being held today, staff in Scotland will strike on Monday, and union members in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will stop work on Tuesday.

The Communication Workers Union said the dispute involves up to 4,000 staff and shows no sign of being resolved.

The industrial action is linked to plans to franchise or close more than 70 Crown sites - the larger branches usually found on high streets.

The 373 Crown offices, which are usually the larger ones, represent just 3% of the total post office network.

But the CWU says its staff deal with a fifth of all customers and handle 40% of financial transactions involving things like banking and credit cards.

Dave Ward, CWU deputy general secretary, said: "This is the first time we have announced two days of strikes at the same time and the first time we have announced back-to-back days of strike action.

"Coupled with the 90% yes vote by members for industrial action short of strike, the message can't be much stronger to Post Office management.

"Crown post office workers do not agree with management's slash-and-burn approach and are prepared to take prolonged industrial action to defend jobs and services and win a fair pay rise.

"This is a company which made £94m profit last year and paid out £15.4m in bonuses to senior managers.

"It's a clear case of double standards and trampling those at the bottom for the benefit of those at the top. Enough is enough. It's time to resolve this."

Kevin Gilliland, network and sales director at the Post Office, said he was "extremely disappointed" at the CWU's decision to call further strike action.

"This action can only cause disruption to customers, cost our people money and place further pressure on the Crown network which is currently losing £37m a year.

"We must continue with our plans to turn around the Crown network to ensure we keep these branches on high streets and in city centres across the UK.

"We remain open to discussions with the CWU on pay options which do not add to the current loss of public money."

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Countryside Fears Over Solar Energy Growth

By Emma Birchley, East of England Correspondent

Rural campaigners say the push to generate green energy through giant solar farms is having an unacceptable impact on Britain's rural landscape.

Developments like Burntstalks Solar Farm in Norfolk, which has nearly 50,000 photovoltaic panels and captures enough of the sun's rays to power nearly 4,000 homes, are heralded as a sensible solution to the UK's energy needs.

However, some claim the sites are yet another blot on the landscape and are ruining the countryside.

David Hook, from the Campaign to Protect Rural England, told Sky News: "I think that if policy is not changed ... the industrialisation through solar farms and extra wind turbines is going to have a dramatic effect on the countryside, and a very negative effect."

It is only two years since the UK's first large scale sun park began generating electricity in Lincolnshire.

There are now nearly 160, mostly in rural areas, with a further 229 under construction or awaiting approval.

David Hook wants policy to change

Lightsource Renewable Energy owns and operates dozens of solar farms, including Burntstalks, near King's Lynn.

Mark Turner, the company's operations director, said: "The balance we have to strike is between a solar farm that can generally only be seen by people very close up to it and usually by fleeting glimpses through hedgerows as you are driving along, versus potential wind farms or the other alternatives of non-renewables including nuclear power stations and coal-fired power stations.

"The amount of ground taken up by the farm is minimal and what we then try to do, as far as possible, is to use the land for dual use.

"We graze sheep or plant wild flowers, so the land is used for the kind of purpose it would be used for before the panels were here."

The Government has made it clear it backs the production of solar energy, which it hopes will eventually produce 20GW of energy every year - eight times more than at present and enough to power around six million homes.

Its priority is for panels to be put on brownfield sites and the roofs of factories, hospitals and houses but according to Mr Turner, that is not always possible.

"Finding roof tops that are owned by companies we can rely on to be there in the 25 years we need to return the investment is extremely difficult," he said.

"And finding brownfield sites that are sufficiently far enough south to generate enough electricity, are close enough to the grid and aren't dedicated to other purposes, is extremely difficult."

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Nasdaq Trading Halted Due To Computer Glitch

By Sky News US Team, in New York

Trading in the Nasdaq, a major stock exchange dominated by the biggest names in technology, has resumed after a three-hour halt caused by a technical glitch.

The disruption sent brokers scurrying to figure out what went wrong and raised new questions about the pitfalls of computer-driven stock trading.

Other US exchanges were trading normally.

The Nasdaq freeze echoed earlier stock market problems, such as the sudden plunge in stocks in May 2010 that came to be known as the "flash crash" and the glitch-plagued initial public offering of Facebook last year.

The exchange sent out an alert to traders saying that trading was being halted until further notice because of problems with a quote dissemination system.

Nasdaq said it would not be cancelling any open orders, but that customers could cancel orders if they wanted to.

Securities and Exchange Commission spokesman John Nester said: "We are monitoring the situation and are in close contact with the exchanges."

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Bank Holiday Discounts: Warning From Watchdog

The consumer watchdog has urged shoppers to quiz carpet and furniture retailers before they buy this long weekend - after it found some used artificially high prices to exaggerate sales and price cuts.

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is investigating six chains after discovering many retailers in the sector were misleading customers into thinking they were getting a bargain by artificially inflating the original price.

It found "systematic" examples of artificially inflated reference pricing within the industry, through the use of "was" prices formerly charged by the retailer, "after sale" prices that the trader intended to charge in the future, or recommended retail prices (RRPs) set by the manufacturer.

During monitoring of the six companies, the overall average of sales of items at the reference price was just 5%.

OFT director Gaucho Rasmussen said: "This bank holiday sale season we would recommend that consumers ask sales staff when and for how long the reference price was used and also how many sales they achieved at this price."

The OFT said there were a significant number of products sold by some retailers where no sales at all took place at the artificially inflated price.

In all cases, no explanation of how and when these higher prices were established were provided.

The consumer watchdog has written to the six retailers asking them to stop using the pricing practices that mislead consumers, giving them until autumn to respond.

The OFT did not name the companies in the hope of reaching a quick resolution, however Carpetright has since confirmed it has been contacted as part of the investigation.

It said: "Carpetright strives to operate fully within all laws and regulations at all times. Carpetright is co-operating fully with the OFT and will respond to the letter in due course."

"There is no suggestion in the letter of Carpetright having behaved in a manner which breaches competition law."

Approached by Sky News, retailer DFS declined to comment.

Furniture Village said: 'We are aware of ... the ongoing investigations being undertaken, and it would be inappropriate for us to comment until such time as its findings are published.

"Furniture Village is fully supportive of any initiative which ensures that, industry-wide, future pricing policies and practices are fair and accurate."

Mr Rasmussen said: "OFT research has found that reference pricing can mislead consumers into thinking the item they have bought is of higher value and quality.

"(With) pressure them to buy there and then so they don't 'miss out' on the deal and also impair their judgment, as buying an item immediately means they do not get the chance to search the market for the real best deals.

"This will help them to determine whether they are getting a good deal."

Richard Lloyd, executive director of Which?, the consumer campaigning charity, added: "The OFT's warning sends a clear message to carpet and furniture stores that special offers really have to be special.

"It's unacceptable that shoppers are misled into thinking they're getting a good deal when that might not be the case."

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UK GDP Revised Upward In Second Quarter

UK GDP output for the second quarter of 2013 has been revised upwards, according to officially released figures.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the economy grew by 0.7% in the three months.

The ONS figure was up 0.1% from the estimate released in July.

Rosier growth was seen across all sectors of the economy, with small upward revisions across manufacturing, construction and parts of services.

Second-quarter growth more than doubled from 0.3% expansion in the first three months, raising hopes that the economy is now powering out of its five-year slump.

More follows...

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Threat To 250 Jobs At Heinz UK And Ireland

Food giant Heinz has warned that almost 250 jobs could be cut in the UK and Ireland.

The firm said it had developed a new "streamlined structure", which could include the loss of 248 office jobs, adding it regretted the impact it would have on its employees.

Earlier this month, Heinz laid off 600 employees in the United States. 

Heinz said in a statement: "As part of our transition to a private company, the senior leadership team has examined every part of our global business to better position Heinz for accelerated growth in a very competitive global market.

"The proposal is subject to a consultation process with employees and their representatives, and Heinz is committed to ensuring all employees are treated with the utmost respect and compassion."

It added that if a decision is made to proceed with the proposals, the company would offer enhanced severance benefits and help affected employees to pursue new career opportunities.

"The difficult actions we are proposing to take will, if implemented, better position the company to support and fund our next chapter of growth while further strengthening our world-leading brands," it added.

"Our new organisational structure will simplify, strengthen and leverage the company's global scale, while enabling faster decision-making, increased accountability, and accelerated growth."

In June, Berkshire Hathaway, the private equity firm operated by former richest man in the world Warren Buffett, and 3G Capital, which owns Burger King, acquired Heinz for £14.85bn. 

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Millions To Share £1.3bn Bank Compensation

Regulators have confirmed a compensation fund of £1.3bn for up to seven million victims of another insurance mis-selling scandal.

The announcement, which was made 12 hours after Sky News was handed details of the Financial Conduct Authority's agreement with banks, outlined how Card Protection Plan Limited (CPP) and 13 high street banks and credit card issuers would pay.

The FCA said the mis-selling centred on CPP's Card Protection and Identity Protection policies between 2005 and 2011 - with many people not even needing the cover.

York-based CPP - which has already been fined £10.5m for its behaviour - was brought to the brink of bankruptcy by the case but secured a new £36m financing deal with its lenders last month to assure its future.

The FCA said today: "Customers were given misleading and unclear information about the policies so that they bought cover that either was not needed, or to cover risks that had been greatly exaggerated.

CPP needed new funding to survive the mis-selling scandal

"As well as CPP selling directly to customers, high street banks and credit card issuers introduced millions of customers to CPP," the regulator said.

It named those institutions as Bank of Scotland, Barclays, Canada Square Operations (formerly Egg), Capital One, Clydesdale, Home Retail Group Insurance Services, HSBC, MBNA, Morgan Stanley, Nationwide Building Society, Santander UK, The Royal Bank of Scotland and Tesco Personal Finance.

The scandal - while already in the public domain - marks another round of compensation by banks for their past behaviour in the wake of the mis-selling of Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) which may eventually cost UK banks a total of £20bn.

This means redress itself is not expected to be paid out until Spring 2014. The time between now and then will be spent seeking Court approval of the Scheme and ensuring CPP customers' voices are heard.

The compensation scheme must be approved by victims

Martin Wheatley, chief executive of the FCA, commented: "We have been encouraged that, working closely with the FCA and despite their different business needs, a large number of firms have voluntarily come together to create a redress scheme that will provide a fair outcome for customers.

"This kind of collaborative and responsible approach is a good example of how firms are taking more responsibility and helping - step by step - to rebuild trust.

"We believe this will be a good outcome for customers who may have been mis-sold the card and identity protection policies.

"Subject to CPP's customers approving the scheme, these policy holders will be able to claim a full refund of premiums with interest."

The FCA added that if the scheme were approved, it could start making payments to victims from spring 2014.

A CPP spokesperson added: "Our priority is to achieve the best outcome for customers affected by these historic issues and ensure customers receive a fair and high quality end-to-end service."

Shares in the company plunged more than 20% today at one stage as investors balked at the cost of the redress scheme.

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Markets Feel Pain Over Cheap Money Addiction

Financial pain is being felt world-wide as the US Federal Reserve remains on track to ease its economic stimulus programme from as early as next month.

Minutes from the Fed's last meeting confirmed that some policymakers were in favour of immediately slowing down bond-buying though others preferred to wait until later in the year as economic recovery gathers pace.

Since the financial crisis of 2008, the Fed has spent more than $2tn (£1.3tn) buying bonds to pump money into the US economy - cash that has eventually spread further afield.

But while the flood of cheap money into the world has had benefits for growth, the prospect of its eventual withdrawal has markets in a spin.

Confirmation on Wednesday night that the Fed's current programme - of making $85bn (£55bn) of bond purchases monthly - is set to be slowed prompted a spike in US bond yields, which also drove up borrowing costs globally on Thursday despite surprisingly strong manufacturing data from China.

Rising yields make borrowing more expensive (yields correct at 0840 BST)

Emerging markets in Asia have suffered most in recent weeks as many countries have come to rely on cheap dollars to underpin domestic demand and fund current account deficits.

Currencies in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand all hit multi-year lows, while the Indian rupee fell to another historic low against the dollar.

Their stocks markets all fell between 1 and 2 percent - on top of previous recent falls - with investors instead running for the perceived safety of the dollar.

After a 1% fall yesterday in anticipation of the Fed minutes, the FTSE 100 gained 0.7% in early trading on Thursday while the UK's 10 year debt yield climbed towards 2.8%.

The minutes had sent 10-year US Treasury yields up as far as 2.93%, highs last seen in July 2011.

US yields tend to set the benchmark for borrowing costs across the globe, so the rise will make it more difficult for indebted countries and companies to pay their bills.

Plunging currencies also force up import costs - hitting consumers and companies alike.

While the looming slowdown in Fed bond-buying is a reaction to improved economic performance, it remains to be seen whether the world will be ready for the withdrawal of US stimulus.

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Tax Office Warns Football Clubs Over Low Pay

By Enda Brady, Sky News Correspondent

Dozens of top-flight English football clubs are to receive a letter from tax inspectors warning them that they must pay staff the minimum wage or face a fine of up to £5,000 and potential prosecution.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) says it will soon begin "targeted checks" amid claims that some club mascots are not paid at all for their match-day work.

National minimum wage laws make it illegal not to pay people classed as workers.

"Paying the National Minimum Wage (NMW) is not a choice, it's the law," said Michelle Wyer, assistant director of HMRC's minimum wage team.

"It can't be right that as some players are paid millions of pounds, other members of staff are paid below the legal limit.

"HMRC enforces the rules, protecting workers from rogue employers and ensuring they get at least the wage to which they are legally entitled.

"Where an employer ignores these rules, we will take steps to ensure arrears are paid out in full and the employer fined. In the most serious cases, criminal prosecution can follow."

The move is being described as "pre-emptive" ahead of a "series of targeted checks" within football after HMRC received complaints about non-payment from at least one current club mascot.

In April Swansea City and Reading advertised for unpaid interns, including one position which lasted for a year.

Many people will be surprised that this happens within football - where some players can earn as much as £250,000 per week - but given the high profile nature of the English game clubs will always have a ready supply of young people keen to break into what they see as a glamorous, attractive industry.

Last year HMRC enforcement action resulted in 708 employers receiving automatic penalty charges of up to £5,000 and 26,519 employees receiving back pay totalling over £4m, topping up wages that had previously been below the legal minimum rate.

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