Carter targets world success April 13, 2011 SNOOKER: World No7 Ali Carter hopes his recent return to form will help him land the Snooker World Championships, which start on Saturday in Sheffield. The 31-year-old, who reached the semi-finals last season, faces Dave Harold in the first round. “I’ve been to the final, I’ve been to the semis, so nothing other than a [...]
Oligarchs crush BP’s £10bn dream April 13, 2011 BP’S gamble on Russian oil seemed in tatters last night, paving the way for an explosive BP shareholder meeting today. BP had hoped to wow investors with the final version of its £10bn share swap with the government-run Rosneft at today’s meeting, after signing the deal in January. But Rosneft last night said it would [...]
Obama in bid to slash US deficit April 13, 2011 PRESIDENT Barack Obama yesterday proposed slashing Washington’s budget deficit by $4 trillion (£2.46 trillion) with a mix of spending cuts and tax rises, after dismissing Republican demands for deeper cuts as too radical. In his first speech since announcing that he would run for re-election next year, Obama outlined a 12-year time-frame for the deficit [...]
Senate report hits Goldman April 13, 2011 A US senate panel yesterday accused Goldman Sachs of misleading clients and manipulating markets in the most damning official report so far on Wall Street’s role in the financial crisis. Carl Levin, chairman of the senate permanent subcommittee on investigations, tore into Goldman at a press briefing on his panel’s 639-page report, which is based [...]
Private sector jobs recovery on track April 13, 2011 WE are not suffering from a jobless recovery. That is merely a myth, as yesterday’s jobs figures proved yet again. Employment jumped 390,000 year-on-year in the December to February period, the biggest gain since early 2008. Remarkably, this 1.4 per cent rise in jobs was better than the 2000-07 annual average of 0.9 per cent, [...]
PM warns on migration April 13, 2011 PRIME Minister David Cameron is to outline harsh new measures to control migration into Britain today. Cameron will make a dual attack on the large-scale immigration that led to a spike in public anxiety during the election campaign, as well as on the welfare state that he says feeds work to migrant workers. Immigration has [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING April 13, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES LANSLEY TAKES NURSES’ MEDICINE A contrite Andrew Lansley promised nurses a larger role in the commissioning of healthcare after the Royal College of Nursing passed the first vote of “no confidence” in a health secretary in its history. Attending a “listening” exercise with 65 nurses on the fringe of the RCN’s annual congressl, [...]
Fears over Greece debt rise April 13, 2011 Germany acknowledged for the first time yesterday that Greece may need to restructure its debt but said such a step could only be pursued before 2013 if it were done on a voluntary basis. In an interview with Die Welt newspaper, German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said “additional steps” would have to be taken to [...]
Commerzbank sells £5bn notes April 13, 2011 Commerzbank sold convertible notes worth €5.7bn (£5bn) yesterday in the first of two steps to raise money to repay a state bailout. Germany’s second biggest lender sold the mandatory exchangeable notes (CoMEN) at €4.25 apiece, it said. Commerzbank plans to issue up to roughly one billion mandatory exchangeable notes, which would automatically convert into shares [...]
Green shoots for Britain’s jobs market April 13, 2011 BRITAIN’S labour market has rallied in recent months, official data unexpectedly revealed yesterday. Employment shot up by 143,000 from December to February, compared to the previous three months, the Office for National Statistics revealed. Unemployment is down to 7.8 per cent, having dropped by 17,000 over the same period. “Plus, the level of redundancies fell [...]
