International News

VANCOUVER - Home sales and new listings set all-time records across Metro Vancouver last month, reports the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver. Residential home sales totaled 5,708 in March, up by more than 53 per cent from February and 126 per cent from March 2020, the board said Friday. That's the highest-ever monthly sales total recorded in the region stretching from B.C.'s Lower Mainland to Whistler and the Sunshine Coast, it said. Sales were up more than 72 per cent a...

The British technology industry had a solid 2020, despite the pandemic and fears over Brexit, an annual study shows. Tech start-ups and scale-ups in the UK have more than doubled their collective value since 2017, according to Tech Nation. Collectively, they are valued at $585billion (£422.55billion) which is more than double the next most valuable European scale-up ecosystem, Germany. Gerard Grech, founding chief executive, of Tech Nation, says: 'This year has highligh...

Plans to build a film studio and "bring Hollywood to the UK" have been approved. Shinfield Studios has been granted planning permission to set up four sound stages and four workshops near Reading for five years. It said it had already been approached by US film production companies. The project is part of a long-term vision for a "Cine Valley" where TV studios could also be built. The plans for the site at Thames Valley Science Park were approved by Wokingham Borough Council's pl...

The newspaper said that Mubadala, one of the UAE's most active state funds, will invest £800 million into life sciences over the five years as part of a post-Brexit deal that will also include a £200 million investment by the British government. Similar investments are expected to follow in the technology, clean energy and infrastructure sectors. Lord Gerry Grimstone, minister at the Office for Investment established by the government last November, said he was expecting "equa...

Boris Johnson has said that he is "immensely proud to lead a government that is so comprehensively committed” to supporting the tech sector, as a major new report highlighted the soaring levels of capital tech firms are raising for London IPOs. Tech Nation, a growth platform for tech companies and leaders that has seen start-ups including Monzo through from very early stage, released its annual report on the state of the sector on Tuesday. The report found tech firms raised twice as mu...

This year, the index has introduced a transport score into the ranking, with a particular focus on mass transit systems. As a result, car-reliant Los Angeles fell from first place last year to 14th position. Cities in the Schroders’ Global Cities Index are scored on four metrics: economic, environmental, innovation and transport. The ranking identifies cities with a combination of economic dynamism, excellent universities, forward-thinking environmental policies and excellent trans...

TikTok, the social media company owned by China’s ByteDance Ltd., has agreed to lease a new London office building months after a spat between the U.K. and China threatened to derail its expansion. The firm has signed a 15-year lease for the 88,500 square foot (8,200 square meters) Kaleidoscope building in Farringdon, according to a statement from developer Helical Plc. The property was built above London’s still unfinished Crossrail train line and boasts a 5,000 square foot roof ...

The government will offer incentives to lenders, bringing back 95% mortgages which have "virtually disappeared" during the pandemic, the Treasury says. Chancellor Rishi Sunak says public finances are facing a "challenge" from the pandemic's impact on the economy. The government has borrowed £271bn this financial year - up £222bn on 2019-20. This has pushed the national debt to £2.13 trillion. Explaining the government's economic response to the pandemic, Mr ...