Italian Medicine Agency has formulated an advanced strategies in drug spending. The agency has developed an innovative deal with pharmaceutical companies to institute a refund for ineffective medicinal treatment.

The UK-based technology firms mobilized $3.6 billion (£2.5 billion) funds from venture capitalists (VC) in 2015 and this is 70 percent higher than $2.1 billion in 2014. London technology companies accounted for more than half of the mobilized VC funds. The increasing investor appetite for technology startups and fintech firms has been the main factor that propelled the VC funding.

Several firms from Canada, China and Europe among 77 renewable energy firms have submitted bids for solar projects in Australia. The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has shortlisted 22 projects, which will have capacity of 766 megawatts at combined project cost of $1.68 billion. The solar energy projects developers will also receive a grant of $30 million for each project from the Australian government.

Standard & Poor's (S&P) has downgraded credit rating of Tata Steel's bonds. S&P cited reasons such as the poor operating performance and high leverage at Tata Steel for downgrading. Indian steel industry is suffering from glut in production and surging imports.

Bank of England has been keeping its interest rates at the lowest point at 0.5% since March 2009. However, some signals of the interest rate upsurge will be a shock to some people in Britain.

UK's second largest retailer J Sainsbury Plc registered revenues for the third quarter as per the forecasts. The total retail sales of Sainsbury were up 0.8 percent excluding fuel and were down 0.7 percent including fuel as against the analysts' average forecast of 0.6 percent decline for the quarter. However, Sainsbury has surpassed the forests for Christmas sales.

The United Nations (UN) has received funding of $250million and needs additional $500 million for education programs for over one million Syrian children. Gordon Brown, the former UK Prime Minister and UN envoy for global education, is committed to mobilize money in next month. Brown has decided to raise money from the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos and other international conferences.

Israeli's Tactical Robotics Ltd. has successfully conducted another test flight for AirMule Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) last month. The drone is designed for search and rescue operation in an area which is unaccessible for helicopter.

Rents in London were up over eight percent, while overall national average was 4.8 percent in 2015. Majority of millennials prefer rented accommodation rather than buying a house or flat. Millennials are not bothered about maintenance works and other mortgage tension these days. The Generation Rent also considers buying a property is very expensive.

The weakening business confidence coupled with global economic challenges is impacting the UK manufacturing sector in more negative way. Despite odds forecast for 2016, majority of manufacturing firms in the UK are going ahead with their investment plan for technology and innovation. About 44 percent of UK companies participated in a survey expressed their concerns about challenging 2016 year.