Greek PM agrees to fall on sword November 6, 2011 THE unfurling Greek tragedy claimed its biggest scalp yet last night as Prime Minister George Papandreou finally agreed to stand down. A new government of national unity will now be formed, with Papandreou yielding control when the deal is finalised. The decision followed crisis talks last night with conservative opposition leader Antonis Samaras and President [...]
Fear stokes search for jobs in City November 6, 2011 CITY workers are staking out new job opportunities as the threat of redundancy lingers over the financial sector. Despite fewer vacancies becoming available, the number of professionals entering the jobs market spiked in October, according to two separate surveys released this morning. Morgan McKinley reported a nine per cent rise in the number of people [...]
BP’s £4bn Pan Am deal fails November 6, 2011 BP’S long-awaited deal to sell a majority stake in Argentina’s second-largest oil producer Pan American Energy for $7bn (£4bn) collapsed in acrimony yesterday after the buyer walked away. Bridas, the oil and gas firm owned by Cnooc of China and Argentina’s Bulgheroni family, said BP was to blame for the collapse of the deal because [...]
Time to think about euro’s break-up November 6, 2011 IT is finally all over for George Papandreou, the Greek prime minister. Barring yet another u-turn, he will step down and a so-called national unity government will be created with the help of opposition leader Antonis Samaras. It’s not as if the two men are strangers: astonishingly, they were roommates at Amherst College in the [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 6, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES GREEK BANKS ISSUE €6.4BN IN BONDS Three of Greece’s biggest banks have issued €6.4bn of government-guaranteed bonds likely to be used as security to obtain financing from central banks, a move that points to worsening market conditions amid talk of a disorderly Greek default. Alpha Bank, EFG and Piraeus on Friday issued the [...]
Theresa May faces border row November 6, 2011 Home secretary Theresa May will today give an emergency statement on the UK Border Agency, following claims it had secretly relaxed checks on passport control. Brodie Clark, head of the border force has been suspended over the allegations. Investigations are also being held into whether port operators, including BAA which runs most of the UK’s [...]
France speeds up older retirement November 6, 2011 A new wave of 2012 budget saving measures designed to help France meet its deficit reduction targets will include speeding up its higher retirement age. Last week, France lowered its growth projections for next year to one per cent from 1.7 per cent – raising the need for further belt-tightening measures by the centre-right government [...]
UK may give £40bn to IMF November 6, 2011 BRITAIN could hand a staggering £40bn of taxpayers’ cash to the IMF without getting backing from Parliament, Danny Alexander, the chief secretary to the Treasury, revealed yesterday. That means the coalition would be able to help bail out countries such as Greece by increasing its IMF contributions without fear of being defeated in the Commons [...]
ECB could stop buying Italy’s bonds November 6, 2011 THE European Central Bank (ECB) has discussed the possibility of ending the purchase of Italian government bonds if it concludes Italy is not adopting promised reforms, ECB governing council member Yves Mersch has said. “If we observe that our interventions are undermined by a lack of efforts by national governments then we have to pose [...]
Euro split may cost less than feared November 6, 2011 THE cost of a break-up of the Eurozone could cost the UK far less than has been feared, according to new research by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR). It estimates that an immediate exit by Greece would cause the Eurozone economy as a whole to contract by an additional two per cent, [...]
