The Big Stories of January 2016

January 2016 was much of the same with wars raging on and scandals engulfing the worlds of sports and entertainment.

Headlines

The war against ISIS raged on with targeted attacks on leaders from all coalition forces sending ever more refugees fleeing to Europe while elsewhere terrorist attacks took place with Jakarta hit with bombings.

Weather wreaked havoc globally with blizzards hitting the East coast of America and flooding hitting Europe while the southern hemisphere was dried up with droughts spreading as far as South Africa.

Business

Bitcoin had a bumpy start to the year losing one of it's head developers while the issue of taxation continued with stories of evasion and avoidance dominating. The aftermath of the VW emissions scandal continued to reverberate around the globe while the US Federal Reserve struggled with some tough decisions.

Sports

The world of tennis was rocked by accusations of match fixing casting a shadow over the Australian Open. The future of sports also made headlines with the Olympics on everyone's minds with concerns over the Zika virus to the price tag of the spectacle but it was the controversial past in the form of FIFA corruption that ultimately dragged everyone's hopes down with it.

Entertainment

Most of the talk in the entertainment world centered around awards with the Oscars and controversy over the lack of diversity surrounding the event. While the Oscars had major PR problems the Golden Globes went off without a hitch along with the Critics Choice Awards. Elsewhere the Grammy's managed to build interest while the Sundance Film Festival had everyone trekking to the famous frozen film festival.

Outside of major events we said goodbye to much loved icons in the industry with the deaths of celebrities like David Bowie and Alan Rickman along with Celine Dion's husband and then brother two days later. Other celebrities in the news include Bill Cosby who had a small victory when a lawsuit against him was dismissed after months of sexual assault allegations against him.

Technology

The world of technology and science saw Ebola making a come back after being declared over while cyber crimes made headway thanks to infections in various networks. The technology industry however saw Apple reporting some disappointing numbers while it's peers continued innovating.

Style

In the world of style we saw Men's fashion take to the stage while Paris Couture Fashion Week kicked the year off to a fashionable start.

What Happened? 2014 Business News

Business experienced the usual ups and downs in 2014 but it was the actions of high powered individuals that impacted entire nations.

Politics

Russia suffered severe economic sanctions for it's involvement in Crimea but it was the falling oil price, due to OPEC's decision not to cut production, that was the final blow making the most impact on Russia's oil driven economy along with the Rouple. The US government had a busy year with Ben Bernanke being grilled about the decisions leading to the AIG bailout and politics narrowly avoided another shutdown when a $1.1 trillion bill was signed at the last minute. Protests in Hong Kong's business district nearly crippled the region and ended up costing retailers millions while in South America Argentina defaulted on it's loans for a second time ignoring a US courts ruling.

In the world of taxes Frances ridiculous 75% tax on millionaires was dropped while in the States over 30,000 IRS emails previously thought lost were found regarding the accusation that the IRS was targeting individuals based on their political views. Parts of Europe implemented what was termed the Google tax in an attempt to squeeze more from foreign companies operating in Europe and finally it seems European nations really had it out for Google trying to have the internet behemoth split.

Companies

Some companies probably wished for a quicker end to the year with not one but two high profile incidents, MH370 and MH17, Malasian airlines stock took a massive knock and had to be suspended at one stage. GM was on Capital Hill due to the large number of recalls due to safety issues with their vehicles. The hacking of Sony Entertainment's network caused havoc with confidential documents being released in droves bringing speculation of possible sales of assets while a previously targeted company, Target, faced a lawsuit over last years holiday hacks that saw 110 million customer details stolen. Not everyone managed to escape their fate with more former Madoff aides heading to prison and Uber was in the spotlight after an exec wanted to snoop on a journalist to discredit her work.

It wasn't all doom and gloom with the technology world seeing Alibaba make it's grand listing with the largest tech IPO ever. Apple had an interesting year with successful new products like the iPhone 6 and it's new smart watch which isn't available just yet but it also ran into issues with an Apple employee class action lawsuit and was the unwilling participant in many "die-ins" staged in protest of police brutality. Burger King successfully acquired Canada's Tim Hortons in a move to cut it's tax exposure and minimum wages made the spotlight with Walmart claiming to do away with it.

Banks

Years after they sent the world economy into a tailspin the European Central Banks conducted a health test and found everything to be fine. However things weren't over with banks still facing billion dollar fines from the US and UK for their involvement in the Libor scandal.

JPMorgan faced a class action lawsuit over $10 billion of mortgage-backed securities and finally Barclays faced a suit by the SEC over "dark pools".

Business, Bitcoin and Bureaucracy

It's been an interesting week for business with one or two highlight's in a sea of gloom, from the US to Iraq, Argentina and China, it's been a global affair.

The week started on a positive note when Starbucks announced it would pay tuition for thousands of it's employee's to take courses through Arizona State University to complete their Bachelor's degree. It seemed like business as usual with Amazon announcing the it's latest product, the Fire Phone, to take on the smartphone market.

But it didn't last long heading downwards from there with the GM CEO set to face more Capital Hill questions after the recent spate of recalls and got worse when hackers stole customer data from Domino's pizza in Europe and demanded a ransom.

Things seemed to only get worse when the US Marshal's leaked the list of potential bidders for Bitcoins confiscated from Silk Road. Bitcoin continued the negative ride when the Bitcoin doomsday scenario arrived as it was revealed that 51% of Bitcoin's processing power was controlled by a single group. There was some light for Mt. Gox who got approval for US bankruptcy protection.

While the Obama Administration made strides determined to extend family leave for same-sex couples the Federal Reserve announced it would curtail it's bond buying activity but continue with mortgage bonds and potentially Treasury securities too. But it wouldn't last long with a Veterans Affairs official being arrested for accepting $40k in illegal gifts.

Internationally it got downright ugly with the Argentine government trying to side step a US Supreme Court order by offering a debt swap to it's creditors. China then rejected a shipping alliance despite support from the US and EU which would have saved the industry money. And if all that wasn't bad enough the escalating violence in Iraq shook the markets with oil prices surging.

Money, who's in control?

Money kept it's momentum even with government interventions, policies and preventative measures.

The people in charge

Russia's actions over Crimea have landed it in hot water with the international community who have only one hand to play... sanctions. According to the US State Department Russia was hit with "Real Economic Pain" over it's handling of Crimea. The SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) contacted investments firms with exposure to Russia to make sure they were properly managing risk. Initial sanctions were met with defiance with some under sanction threatening to take their business elsewhere.

The Federal Reserves chairman, Janet Yellen, hinted at raising rates shaking markets around the world.

The Justice Department reached a $1 billion settlement with Toyota over it's response to consumer concerns.

Taiwan students took over Taiwan's legislature over a trade deal with China which they fear gives mainland too much influence.

Retail Therapy

Chinese e-commerce giant, Alibaba, has confirmed it will list in the United States aiming to rise $10billion.

Labelux, the owners of Jimmy Choo, said it may float the business for £1billion but is still in talks with investments banks.

An investigation into the recent suicide of fashion designer L'Wren Scott reveals her company was in debt of $6.5million.

Currencies

Mt.Gox managed to find 200,000 bitcoins valued at $116million in an old format digital wallet.

Bitcoin's have been used to purchase a $500,000 Villa in Bali in what is considered the largest Bitcoin purchase ever.

A new £1 coin was introduced to prevent counterfeiting and is set to be introduced in 2017.

General

Unskilled and destitute workers have become hiring targets for the decommissioning of the Fukushima nuclear plant as finding skilled labour becomes more difficult.

BP bids $41.6 million to return to drilling in the gulf after it's disastrous Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010.