Rooney out of Ajax return leg February 22, 2012 FOOTBALL: Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney will miss tonight’s Europa League last-32 second leg match against Ajax with a sore throat. United lead 2-0 from the away leg.
England Legends to face Ireland February 22, 2012 RUGBY UNION: Martin Corry and Jason Robinson are among England Legends set to face Irish Legends at The Stoop on 16 March. Tickets start at £5 and proceeds go towards the RFU Injured Players Foundation and other rugby causes. See www.quins.co.uk for details.
RBS staff hit by shock pay freeze February 22, 2012 RBS will announce a pay freeze for up to 27,000 staff this morning, including all of its investment bankers and thousands of other executives, in a move designed to signal to the public and the government that it is embracing austerity. The nationalised bank will also reveal that the bonus pool in its investment bank [...]
Oil price at record £78 per barrel February 22, 2012 THE PRICE of oil hit an all-time high in sterling yesterday, paving the way for record petrol costs at the pumps in the coming weeks. The relatively weak pound means Brent crude spiked at around £78.50 a barrel, beating the previous record of £77.70 set last spring. In dollar terms crude, squeezed up by supply [...]
Weak house sales hit Dow February 22, 2012 US STOCKS fell back from earlier highs yesterday as weak housing figures and poor European and Chinese growth prospects dented market confidence. The Dow Jones hit a post-financial crisis record of 13,000 on Tuesday, but fell 0.11 per cent yesterday to 12,951, while the Standard and Poor’s 500 slid 0.19 per cent over the day. [...]
Bonus row now completely irrational February 22, 2012 UTTERLY absurd: that is the only way to describe the debate on bonuses. Here is why. Imagine a salesperson at a widget company so brilliant that she brings in £10m a year for her firm. She is the best widget salesperson in the UK and her firm’s biggest asset. Her company, unfortunately, is loss-making – [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING February 22, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES RUSSIAN LINK IN FRAUD CLAIM A $150m fraud allegedly attempted by a former fund manager at Threadneedle Asset Management is linked to a trade in more than a billion Argentinian warrants by former staff at Otkritie, the Russian financial services group. Threadneedle confirmed on Tuesday that a former trader had been dismissed in [...]
Warner’s eye still on EMI February 22, 2012 WARNER Music Group refuses to surrender its thirst for British record label EMI, whose recorded music business is set to go to Universal Music for £1.2bn following November’s bidding war. Warner Music is reportedly lobbying Brussels to block Universal’s takeover of the record label behind Coldplay and The Beatles, alongside indie music representative Impala. But [...]
Cherie Blair sues over hacking February 22, 2012 The wife of former Prime Minister Tony Blair has begun legal action over the alleged interception of her private phone messages, her lawyer said yesterday. Barrister Cherie Blair, 57, issued a statement through a London law firm that has pursued phone-hacking cases against Rupert Murdoch’s British newspapers on behalf of several high profile clients. “I [...]
BHP stops manganese operation February 22, 2012 BHP Billiton, the world’s biggest mining firm, announced this morning that it will suspend production at its manganese alloy production facility in Tasmania by early to mid-March, citing stiff international competition and rising operating costs. “Recently, there has been further erosion of its international competitiveness due to the strong Australian dollar and steady increases in [...]
