ECB cuts rates and ups assets buys

The European Central Bank has cut interest rates and increased its asset-buying programme in order to stop exceptionally lower inflation from leaking into the overall economy, sais ECB President Mario Draghi (Rough cut - no reporter narration)

Was Jennifer Lawrence right about smartphone etiquette?

The actor was criticised after she chided a reporter for using his phone at Golden Globes press call, sparking fierce disagreement about modern manners

Michael Hogan, Observer writer As any sane person knows, Hollywood heroine Jennifer Lawrence can do little wrong and her so-called “outburst” about mobile phones at last weekend’s Golden Globes was typically spot-on. “You can’t live your whole life behind your phone, bro,” Lawrence told a reporter. “You gotta live in the now.” Too right. We’ve become so transfixed by our mobiles that we frequently forget basic manners and people skills. Go into a shop nowadays and you’ll often find both customer and staff on their phones, grunting at each other distractedly. Friends plonk their mobiles in front of them on pub or restaurant tables, meaning the actual human being sitting opposite has to compete for their attention. And don’t get me started on the endless selfie merchants, food Instagrammers or gig-goers who “enjoy” proceedings through a tiny screen. Technology is a great, life-enhancing thing but we need to relearn how to use our devices, rather than letting them use us. J-Law’s word is, well, law.

I don’t love playing second fiddle to a phone, but you never know what news someone might be awaiting

Time spent working out of hours on phones and tablets averages 29 days per year – more than most holiday allowances

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European car sales rise 9.2% in 2015

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Ken Jacobs, Chairman and CEO of Lazard, talks to Reuters Breakingviews Editor Rob Cox at the Predictions 2016 launch in New York on Jan. 12.

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Periphery a pesky problem for Draghi?

Greece votes through its latest reform programme, but a shrinking government majority there and political upheaval in Portugal spell growing trouble for the Eurozone's fragile periphery economies. Sara Hemrajani reports.