Tributes pour in after Czech freedom fighter Havel dies December 18, 2011 TRIBUTES poured in last night after the death of Václav Havel, the man who helped topple Communism in former Czechoslovakia over twenty years ago. Dissident author Havel became President following the bloodless Velvet Revolution of 1989, and was head of state of the Czech Republic for a further decade following political separation from neighbouring Slovakia [...]
Companies up cash buffers in uncertain year December 18, 2011 ONGOING uncertainty over the Eurozone’s future is forcing UK businesses to build up their cash reserves going into the New Year, according to new research. To combat the tighter lending conditions that are typical of nervous markets, the UK’s top 100 corporates have added a combined £20bn to their balance sheets – almost a 20 [...]
SINGING PROFESSOR UPSTAGES THE SOPRANOS AT LORDS OPERA NIGHT December 18, 2011 LESLEY Garrett led an evening of opera at the House of Lords last Thursday, as part of an evening sponsored by Fordham Business School in aid of dementia charity Lost Chord. “There is so much music can do for dementia sufferers,” said the soprano, a patron of Lost Chord whose aunt Joan suffered from the [...]
BILL OF THE WEEK December 18, 2011 IT WAS such a big night at Raffles on the King’s Road last Tuesday that the general manager had “only just got in” at 3.30pm the next day. To be fair, however, it was only twelve hours after a local Chelsea resident, believed to be a ship broker, had left the club after creating one [...]
Big free float for Ruspetro December 18, 2011 RUSSIAN oil firm Ruspetro would have a free float of more than 25 per cent if it lists in London in the first quarter of next year, sources told City A.M. yesterday. The group is planning a London listing, making the company the latest Russian resource company to seek liquidity and international profile on the [...]
Pension funds begin to climb out of the red December 18, 2011 THE TOTAL pension fund black hole at FTSE 100 firms has fallen by nearly a third, according to new research. Firms in the index are carrying a deficit of £47bn, down £19bn or 29 per cent, on defined benefit pension schemes, a report from JLT Pension Capital Strategies said. During the year to 30 September [...]
Hunt for survivors in Philippines December 18, 2011 Rescuers searched for more than 800 people missing in the southern Philippines yesterday after flash floods and landslides swept houses into rivers and out to sea, killing more than 650 people in areas ill-prepared to cope with storms. Cagayan de Oro and nearby Iligan cities on Mindanao island were worst hit when Typhoon Washi slammed [...]
Burley sacked after Nazi blunder December 18, 2011 A lawmaker has been sacked from his job as a parliamentary aide after he was pictured attending a Nazi-themed bachelor party where one of the guests wore an SS uniform, the Conservative Party said yesterday. Aidan Burley, 31, who was Parliamentary Private Secretary at the Department of Transport, had “behaved in a manner which is [...]
EX-UBS TRADER HIRES NEW LAWYERS December 18, 2011 FORMER UBS trader Kweku Adoboli has switched legal teams ahead of his court appearance tomorrow on rogue trading charges. London law firm Bark & Co, which specialises in fraud cases, said it is now representing him. Kingsley Napley confirmed it was no longer working on the case but declined to say why. Adoboli faces two [...]
Guardian editor to announce further cuts to stem losses December 18, 2011 GUARDIAN editor Alan Rusbridger will today announce to staff a “simplified production process” to further cut costs at the loss-making paper. The cuts will be implemented in mid-January, when the sports supplement will be integrated into the back of the main paper between Tuesday and Friday. The Guardian will publish “one or two” fewer pages [...]
