Up to 50,000 public sector jobs could go, Scottish budget review warns

The review presents Alex Salmond, the Scottish first minister, with a formidable political problem. Photograph: Murdo Macleod Up to 50,000 public sector jobs could be lost and universal benefits such as free care for the elderly could be either cut or scrapped because of dramatic reductions in public spending in Scotland, an official review has [...]

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Carlos Slim buys another piece of New York

The Duke Semans mansion, located on the corner of 82nd Street and 5th Avenue in New York, will not be a residence for Carlos Slim. Photograph: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg News Mexican telecoms billionaire Carlos Slim, reputed to be the world’s richest man, has splashed out m (£28m) on an eight-storey mansion on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue in [...]

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Penguin boss has no problems with ebooks

John Makinson: the consumer must be given what the consumer wants. Photograph: David Levene/for the Guardian Penguin this week celebrates its 75th year and is marking the anniversary by repackaging a series of seminal books from the 1960s to the 1980s. Although the company might afford itself a brief look backwards, it feels as though [...]

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Virgin Media chief: rivals’ broadband ads are ‘grossly misleading’

Neil Berkett: said Ofcom’s report on broadband speeds ‘only went halfway’ The Virgin Media chief executive, Neil Berkett, has attacked rivals as “grossly misleading” in the way they market internet speeds to consumers. He called on the government to crack down on advertising if it expects the cable company to invest hundreds of millions of [...]

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