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HYBRID DRIVING – TOYOTA’S TOP TIPS FOR BEST FUEL ECONOMY MAY 3, 2015 Want to get the very best out of your ground-breaking Toyota hybrid? We’ve gathered a number of hybrid driving hints and tips that will help you to get the best from the Hybrid Synergy Drive system, improving fuel consumption and getting you further for less! Our full range of Toyota hybrids currently includes: New Yaris Hybrid Auris Hybrid   Auris Hybrid Touring Sports Prius Seven-seat Prius+ Prius Plug-in Whichever  Toyota hybrid  you’ve set your heart on, the following tips and pointers will maximise the range and fuel economy of your Toyota. The basics It’s not just hybrids that benefit from the first seven tips – these will help to improve any car’s fuel efficiency: 1. Clear out the boot! Keeping the boot free of unnecessary weight will give your car and immediate boost in performance and economy. 2. Check your tyre pressures – dig out your owner’s manual, and do a ...

T he risks of a clash between China and Japan are rising—and the consequences could be calamitous Jan 19th 2013 CHINA and Japan are sliding towards war. In the waters and skies around disputed islands, China is escalating actions designed to challenge decades of Japanese control. It is accompanying its campaign with increasingly blood-curdling rhetoric. Japan, says the  China Daily , is the “real danger and threat to the world”. A military clash, says  Global Times , is now “more likely…We need to prepare for the worst.” China appears to be preparing for the first armed confrontation between the two countries in seven decades (see  article ). China and Japan have well-known differences over history and territory—most pressingly over five islets, out in the East China Sea, which Japan controls and calls the Senkakus but which China lays claim to and calls the Diaoyus. Rational actors with deeply entwined economies are supposed to sort out their differences,...

It is estimated that the continuing trade surpluses for years have helped China amass a whopping two trillion US dollars in dollar-denominated assets. Last year alone, China added US$450 billion to its reserves at a rate of over a billion dollars a day. About half of the Chinese US dollar-based assets are in the form of US treasury bonds that fund the ballooning US deficits. Gao Xiqing, president of the China Investment Corporation, recently told James Fallows of the Atlantic Monthly, "Be nice to the countries that lend you money". Gao was clearly hinting at this new reality of " balance of financial terror" shifting in China's favor. If history is any guide, the power of the lender over debtor nations is not just theoretical. The key moment when the world leadership passed from Britain to the United States came during the Suez crisis of the 1950s as a result of Britain's large WWII debt owed to the United States. When Britain, France and Israel invaded...

With nearly $2 trillion (£1.2 trillion) worth of foreign currency reserves, China is being touted by some as the potential saviour of the Western banking system. In order to bail out ailing financial firms, Western governments need money - and China seems a good place to get that much-needed cash. But Chinese economists say that while Beijing is ready to play its part in the rescue efforts, it will not be writing any blank cheques. Senior Chinese officials say they are more focused on their own, internal problems, such as avoiding a domestic economic slowdown. And any help offered by the Chinese government to solve the current financial crisis is likely to come with strings attached. Gigantic Loan? China's burgeoning exports over recent years have helped the country build up the world's largest foreign exchange reserves. Figures released this week show these reserves now total $1.9 trillion. Writing in the Financial Times, US-based economist Arvind Subramanian suggests the US ...