Best proud to lead Ireland for Scotland clash March 7, 2012 ULSTER hooker Rory Best will captain Ireland in the absence of Paul O’Connell for Saturday’s Six Nations clash with Scotland. O’Connell, who was ruled out for the rest of the tournament with a knee injury earlier this week, has been replaced at lock by Donnacha Ryan, while scrum-half Eoin Reddan comes in for Conor Murray. [...]
MIRACLE MAN TERRY TOOK TWO DAYS TO RECOVER March 7, 2012 CHELSEA captain John Terry underlined his commitment to the cause by taking just two days off after undergoing minor knee surgery a fortnight ago. It was estimated that the 31-year-old would be out for six weeks but he returned as an unused substitute in Tuesday’s 1-0 FA Cup replay win over Birmingham and is in [...]
Gers could fail to finish the season March 7, 2012 RANGERS administrators have warned that the financially-stricken Scottish champions are in severe danger of being unable to complete the season. Duff and Phelps said yesterday they had again failed to agree cost-cutting measures with players, leaving them with little choice but to accelerate attempts to sell the club. David Whitehouse of Duff and Phelps said: [...]
Messi breaks another record March 7, 2012 FOOTBALL: Barcelona striker Lionel Messi became the first player in Champions League history to score five goals in a single match as the holders ran riot at Camp Nou against Bayer Leverkusen last night. Barca romped to a 7-1 victory, securing a 10-2 aggregate win and a place in the last eight, which also featured [...]
Gandy secures Olympic berth March 7, 2012 OLYMPICS: World championship silver medallist Ellen Gandy secured her second Team GB Olympic berth with victory in the 200m butterfly final at the British Swimming Championships last night. Joining Gandy and Lowe at London 2012 will be Andrew Willis and Michael Jamieson. The 200m breastrokers edged out British record-holder Kris Gilchrist into third.
Brazil’s economy overtakes the UK March 6, 2012 BRAZIL’S economy is now bigger than the UK’s, making it the second emerging market to enter the top-tier of world economies and heralding the beginning of the end of Western economic dominance. Britain’s star is fading fast – the country now has the seventh biggest economy in the world, down from fourth in 2005, thanks [...]
Banks: stop FSA’s block on credit March 6, 2012 BANKS have hit out at the City watchdog for introducing new rules that are crippling the flow of credit to small firms, according to a secret document seen by City A.M. In a sign of frustration at the FSA’s hyper-strict regime, banks have called on a special government taskforce to intervene and curb what they [...]
Greek nerves dent markets March 6, 2012 PRE-BAILOUT nerves set global markets tumbling yesterday, as investors fretted about the prospect of Greece’s looming bond swap failing as well as the broader health of the Eurozone’s economy. The FTSE 100 lost 1.9 per cent to close at 5,765.80 points yesterday, suffering its biggest one-day fall in nearly three months, while Paris’s CAC 40 [...]
Industrial policies are doomed to fail March 6, 2012 SLOWLY but surely, the British establishment is forgetting the lessons of the past 35 years. We have seen the return of high taxes, a softer approach to inflation, talk of wealth taxes (eerily similar to those supported by the Labour party in 1979), the rationalisation of envy and now even a comeback for economic nationalism. [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING March 6, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES FEARS GROW FOR $45BN UTILITY AS BUYOUT GROUPS’ HEDGES NEAR EXPIRY The world’s biggest private equity deal is facing rising financial pressure during the next two years with the expiry of contracts that underpinned the takeover of utility TXU. Investors in the $45bn buyout of the company, now known as Energy Future Holdings, [...]