Npower puts gas and electricity prices up inflation-busting 5%

Npower puts gas and electricity prices up inflation-busting 5% ENERGY giant Npower yesterday announced an inflation-busting price hike – leaving customers facing a £62 New Year headache.Gas and electricity prices will rise by 5% for existing consumers from January 4, while new clients are hit straight away.

The move, affecting 6.3 million users, will see an average dual-fuel bill leap from £1,196 to £1,258 a year.

Npower is the fourth big supplier to announce a winter bill increase, with the German-owned firm insisting it was forced to pass on higher costs, including a 50% jump in wholesale costs.

Yet its profits hit £220million last year and the Mirror revealed yesterday that energy firms are cashing in on the big freeze with gas demand soaring 25%. Industry regulator Ofgem is launching an investigation into rip-off claims as suppliers’ profits have soared 40% since autumn.

Audrey Gallacher, of watchdog Consumer Focus, said: “Customers will have been bracing themselves for this bad news but that won’t make them any less worried about affording their bills.”

3The price of petrol has soared to a record high, the AA said yesterday. The average price is now 121.76p a litre, beating the previous record of 121.61p.

Oncobasidium theobromae Theobroma cacao

Oncobasidium theobromae Theobroma cacao ; Theobroma cacao also cacao tree and cocoa tree, is a small (4–8 m or 15–26 ft tall) evergreen tree in the family Sterculiaceae (alternatively Malvaceae), native to the deep tropical region of the Americas. Its seeds are used to make cocoa powder and chocolate. There are two prominent competing hypotheses about the origins of the domestication of the originally wild Theobroma cacao tree. One is that wild examples were originally distributed from southeastern Mexico to the Amazon basin, with domestication taking place both in the Lacandon area of Mexico and in lowland South America. But recent studies of Theobroma cacao genetics seem to show that the plant originated in the Amazon and was distributed by humans throughout Central America and Mesoamerica.

Combien de temps pour chauffer une Piece de 60 m2 avec un poele a petrole

Combien de temps pour chauffer une Piece de 60 m2 avec un poele a petrole ; Le biofioul est un néologisme pour qualifier l’huile végétale que l’on utilise pour se chauffer, par opposition au fioul tout court qui est un dérivé du pétrole dont on peut avoir régulièrement un aperçu sur notre littoral. Dans ce chapitre nous allons donc passer en revue toutes les solutions possibles pour se chauffer avec de l’huile végétale. Dans la rubrique «on nous cache tout, on nous dit rien», vous pourrez aussi trouver de l’information sur le moteur Stirling, qui permet à la fois de se chauffer avec du biofioul, mais aussi de produire toute l’électricité nécessaire pour l’habitat dans une logique de développement durable.

Starbucks to Triple Its Store Count In China

Starbucks to Triple Its Store Count In China ; Starbucks Corp. plans to more than triple the number of stores it has in mainland China in the next five years, the company said Wednesday. Starbucks plans to make China its largest market outside the U.S. Right now, Canada is the company's second-largest market. The Seattle-based coffee chain currently has 406 stores in China and plans to have more than 1,500 by 2015, the company said at an investor conference in New York.

The company, which has recently enjoyed a turnaround in the U.S., is trying to focus on expanding its international business, with plans to open 400 new stores around the world next year. Starbucks will continue rolling out its Via instant coffee, customizable frappuccino drinks and Starbucks rewards cards internationally,

Indian Coffee exporters fail to crack North American markets

Indian Coffee exporters fail to crack North American markets : Indian coffee exporters are steadily losing ground in the US and other North American countries. This is despite export subsidies by the Coffee Board of India.India, which had a significant market share in the US two decades ago, has now a marginal presence there, owing to higher freight costs.

“During the 1980’s, the US was a significant market for Indian coffee. However, with the advent of free market policies, exporters are finding it difficult to supply to the US due to high freight costs,” said Ramesh Rajah, president, Coffee Exporters Association of India.

Stock Futures Lower Ahead of Jobs. Stocks to Watch: AAPL, BAC, CVX, CROX, JPM, KFT, PGH, SBUX

Stock Futures Lower Ahead of Jobs. Stocks to Watch: AAPL, BAC, CVX, CROX, JPM, KFT, PGH, SBUX : Stock futures pointed to a slightly negative open ahead of the Labor Department’s employment report after the market rallying to 2-year highs. Investors are being cautious ahead of the latest monthly employment report, due at 8:30 am. Economists expect that nonfarm payrolls rose by 60,000 in October, the first gain in five months. The unemployment rate is expected to remain at 9.6%.

September pending home sales comes out at 10 am and a consumer credit report for September will be released at 3 pm. Today’s stocks to watch: Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), Chevron (NYSE:CVX), Crocs (NASDAQ:CROX), JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM), Kraft (NYSE:KFT), Pengrowth Energy (NYSE:PGH), and Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX).

Dell Starhub unveil Android-based Streak tablet

Dell, Starhub unveil Android-based Streak tablet : Tablet lovers in Singapore will soon have a new option - the Dell Streak, Dell's first all-in-one ultra-portable five-inch Android-based tablet. Equipped with WiFi, Bluetooth and 3G connectivity, the 220g Streak allows for easy web browsing, digital entertainment and social networking. It is integrated with A-GPS and e-compass for digital navigation and location-based applications. Dell's new user interface, Stage, provides users instant access to their favourite content.

The tablet sports a damage-resistant Gorilla Glass touchscreen and comes with a rear-facing 5-megapixel auto-focus camera with dual LED flash as well as a front-facing VGA webcam. It is powered by a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and features 2GB built-in memory that is expandable up to 32GB via a MicroSD slot.

Berlusconi in focus on Clinton's WikiLeaks tour

Berlusconi in focus on Clinton's WikiLeaks tour ; Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has done a lot of explaining to foreign leaders after the embarrassing Wikileaks release of U.S. embassy cables -- but few needed as much placating as Italy's Silvio Berlusconi. Clinton took the opportunity of a meeting at a Kazakhstan summit to personally reassure the Italian prime minister, whose feathers were clearly ruffled by U.S. cables which called him "feckless" and a hard-partyer.

"We have no better friend, we have no one who supports the American policies as consistently as Prime Minister Berlusconi has," Clinton told the news cameras as the two met. "The United States, Republican and Democratic administrations like, know that they can count on the prime minister to support the policies and values that Italy and the United States share in common," Clinton said.