Debt deal needs $2.4 trillion cuts August 1, 2011 ■ Three-stage plan to up debt ceiling ■ Balanced budget vote survives US LEGISLATORS moved towards a deal with the White House last night in a bid to tackle America’s $14.3 trillion (£8.7 trillion) debt pile. Though the final vote on a compromise plan was again pushed back, with the US Senate expected to pass [...]
50p tax rate causes fresh split August 1, 2011 DANNY Alexander blindsided his Tory colleagues yesterday by dismissing calls to abolish the 50p tax-rate as an idea from “cloud cuckoo land”. Asked if the top-rate tax should be cut, the chief secretary to the treasury said: “Anyone who thinks we’re going to shift our priority to reducing the tax burden for the wealthiest has [...]
Bad taste left by Tea Party August 1, 2011 WHILE the age-old war between Republicans and Democrats wages over the US debt crisis, conservative splinter group the Tea Party has threatened to bring the talks crashing down altogether. Tea Party cheerleader Michele Bachmann, an early front-runner in the race to oust Barack Obama, has shot to prominence with her persistent condemnation of the President [...]
Farewell to risk-free rates as delays hit US credibility August 1, 2011 WHETHER or not the deal being worked on intensively in Washington over the past few hours avoids a US downgrade, there is one matter on which all observers agree: the whole debt wrangling saga has dealt a lasting blow to America’s financial credibility. Credit ratings agencies might yet be persuaded to hold off on a [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING August 1, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES SUPER RICH TO GET NEW LONDON ADDRESS A leading European hedge fund is preparing to build one of London’s most expensive housing developments as global investors scramble to gain a foothold in the capital’s resurgent residential market. In a deal completed over the weekend, Orion Capital Managers acquired an acre of prime residential [...]
US DEBT TALKS | THE KEY PLAYERS August 1, 2011 HARRY REID Senate majority leader • On the talks: “This is likely our last chance to save this nation from default.” • On the Tea Party: “We would be back in the midst of partisan wrangling with our economy once again held prisoner by extremists.” MITCH MCCONNELL Senate Minority Leader • On the talks: “In [...]
Syrians kill 80 in Hama attack August 1, 2011 Syrian tanks firing shells and machineguns stormed the city of Hama yesterday, killing 80 civilians, rights activists said, in one of the bloodiest days in a popular revolt against President Bashar al-Assad. Hama residents said tanks and snipers fired into unarmed residential areas where people had set up makeshift roadblocks to try and stop their [...]
University place chaos forecast July 31, 2011 More than 200,000 university applicants in Britain will fail to get places this year, the head of the admissions service said in an interview published today. Chief executive of Ucas Mary Curnock Cook told the Independent a “carbon copy” of last year’s confusion, when 210,000 youngsters did not get places, is inevitable.
Cooper left frustrated by Laird defiance July 31, 2011 COOPER Industries was left frustrated in its two-month battle to buy Laird after the British electronic components firm refused to stand down on its 220p demand ahead of today’s deadline. The board of US-based Cooper, which has until 5pm today under takeover rules to make a formal offer, flew into London last week in an [...]
US buyers fuel UK M&A activity July 31, 2011 EXPANDING US corporates such as Kraft accounted for almost half of overseas purchases of UK listed companies last year, a leading City law firm said today. Groups based in the US acquired 22 UK listed companies in the twelve months to the end of June, an increase of 83 per cent on the number of [...]
