Arsenal’s Hleb refutes rant at team-mate and manager July 9, 2008 Arsenal midfielder Alexander Hleb last night attempted to build bridges with the club by denying reports he had launched a verbal attack on his manager and team-mates. Hleb, whose expected move to Barcelona has failed to materialise, was yesterday claimed to have criticised midfielder Cesc Fabregas and Gunners boss Arsene Wenger. The Belarus international moved [...]
Lampard and Drogba will stay at Chelsea, says ‘So-So One’ Scolari July 9, 2008 Luiz Felipe Scolari yesterday announced his arrival as Chelsea manager by insisting that, contrary to expectation, midfielder Frank Lampard and striker Didier Drogba would not be departing the club. Lampard is the subject of a renewed £7.9m bid by Inter Milan and is yet to commit his future to Chelsea, but, speaking in his first [...]
England will need to up their game to tame in-form South Africa July 9, 2008 After twice taking on and comfortably beating what is a transitional New Zealand side, England will undoubtedly go into tomorrow’s first Test against South Africa confident of continuing their encouraging run. But one thing’s for certain, they’re going to have to step up their game because these South Africans will provide a much sterner test. [...]
G8 in climate dispute with poor states July 9, 2008 Big emerging economies will come under pressure today to respond to an initiative by rich countries to work towards a target of at least halving their global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The Group of Eight (G8) industrial nations want the leaders of eight fast growing countries to adopt a “shared vision” of tackling global [...]
Bank of Ireland hit as sector struggles July 9, 2008 Bank of Ireland’s share price reached a 20-year low yesterday after the governor of its board told shareholders to expect a difficult time. “It’s time for hard hats I’m afraid. It’s time to run this bank in a very conservative way,” Richard Burrows, governor of Bank of Ireland’s board, told shareholders at the company’s annual [...]
Savills sales drop 45 per cent in a year July 9, 2008 Shares in property giant Savills dived more than 10 per cent yesterday after the firm said sales in its residential business were 45 per cent down year on year. Piling misery on the battered housing market, Savills warned that the cost of prime property in London (homes priced between £1m and £5m) fell by 7.5 [...]
BP’s man in Russia lives to fight again July 9, 2008 The Kremlin, BP and four Russian moguls all want control of TNK-BP. Roger Baird reports. The embattled chief executive of BP’s Russian joint venture TNK-BP, Robert Dudley, survived an attempt by its Russian billionaire partners to remove him on Monday – but he will have to do it all over again on Friday. The screws [...]
Rose to dodge investors’ ire July 9, 2008 Marks & Spencer boss Sir Stuart Rose is likely to keep both his jobs as chief executive and chairman despite facing fiery opposition from shareholders at the retailer’s annual meeting today. Up to 30 per cent of shareholders are planning to either vote or abstain over concerns about his dual role, though analysts doubted they [...]
A Microsoft and Google tie-up is what the industry needs July 9, 2008 The wrangling between Microsoft and Yahoo is like a farce that refuses to end. After months of on-off negotiations, Microsoft’s chief executive Steve Ballmer is once again willing to return to the table, although his rekindled interest comes at a heavy price. Unless Yahoo’s shareholders oust the board, the standoff will continue. Nor is Ballmer [...]
FTSE 100 flirts with bear market July 9, 2008 London’s leading blue chip share index lurched into official bear market territory yesterday before recovering to end the day lower, but temporarily out of the danger zone. The FTSE 100 index fell below 5,385 points in early trading, 20 per cent below its June 2007 peak of 6,732, putting it in official bear territory, defined [...]