PROTESTERS BEATEN DURING EGYPT UNREST December 18, 2011 UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon condemned excessive use of force by Egypt’s security forces yesterday after three days of battles with protesters demanding an end to military rule imposed since Hosni Mubarak was toppled in February. Troops in riot gear have been filmed beating protesters even after they had fallen to the ground.
3i lining up bid for Edinburgh Airport December 18, 2011 PRIVATE equity house 3i has lined up a bid to buy Edinburgh airport from BAA. London-listed 3i, whose investments have been buffeted by global turmoil, has joined forces with pension fund manager the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) and fund manager M&G to make an offer. Any deal would be done through the separately listed 3i [...]
Politicians’ bickering is bad news for businesses December 18, 2011 THE brawl has made for cracking entertainment. It’s been a super-fun read. But it’s time for government officials in the UK and France to shut their traps and get their heads back into the game of saving the Eurozone’s economy. This weekend’s papers radiated with more headlines about the ongoing verbal affray between government heavyweights [...]
Qantas settles pay disputes after a stand-off lasting more than a year December 18, 2011 AUSTRALIA’S Qantas Airways has agreed a pay deal with the engineers’ union, one of the three unions that the airline has had a stand-off for over a year, The Australian newspaper said yesterday. Qantas has reached an agreement with the engineers’ union and would present the deal to the labour umpire, the report said, adding [...]
Sherlock Holmes tops US box office December 18, 2011 Action adventure film Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows led a trio of sequels at the US box office over the weekend with $40m in ticket sales, according to studio estimates compiled yesterday. The sequel to 2009’s Sherlock Holmes starring Robert Downey Jr. beat Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, the third film in the popular [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS December 18, 2011 The Miles Partnership Sue Shipley is to join the search firm as a partner to specialise in retail. Shipley was previously the global practice leader at Odgers Berndtson, where she led successful searches for the chief executives of Primark and Thorntons, the managing director of Wickes, and the director general of the British Retail Consortium. [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS December 18, 2011 BP Evolution has maintained its “buy” recommendation on BP, after the oil giant settled its dispute with contractor Cameron over the Macondo accident – although its target price of 510p is at “the lower end” of a valuation range that scales to 771p/sh. Evolution also notes that BP is talking to Ophir Energy about farming [...]
PwC faces probe over auditing of BarCap December 16, 2011 Accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is being investigated over its auditing of Barclays Capital Securities in relation to the investment bank’s compliance with rules governing the protection of client money. The Accountancy and Actuarial Discipline Board said on Friday its investigation would cover PwC’s conduct in preparing reports on Barclays Capital, the investment banking arm of [...]
Fresh French assault on UK economy December 16, 2011 French Finance Minister Francois Baroin added to the verbal assault on the UK economy by his country’s officials as France struggles to cope with the threat of an imminent ratings downgrade. “The economic situation in Britain today is very worrying, and you’d rather be French than British in economic terms,” Baroin told Europe 1 radio. [...]
Laura Ashley closes stores as online sales rise December 16, 2011 British fashion and homeware retailer Laura Ashley added to the gloom on the high street by reporting a decline in sales in its stores in recent weeks, but said that online business was booming. The firm closed five stores this year, on top of the fourteen it closed last year, and said that overall UK [...]