THE DAY THE MUSIC DIED March 28, 2011 A DRAMATIC collapse of CD sales and online piracy dragged global recorded music sales down by $1.5bn (£940m) last year – more than the total annual revenue of the UK music industry. Income from recorded music slumped 8.4 per cent to $15.9bn. CD sales dragged the total down with a drop of 14 per cent [...]
EU bailout nears for Portugal March 28, 2011 PORTUGAL lurched closer to an EU bailout yesterday as its largest banks were downgraded by S&P and the European Central Bank (ECB) revealed that it was forced to intervene in bond markets last week for the first time in a month. The ECB bought €432m’s (£380.6m) worth of bonds on the secondary market, with economists [...]
Pressure on Gaddafi rises March 28, 2011 GADDAFI “must go immediately”, David Cameron and French president Nicolas Sarkozy declared yesterday in a joint statement, adding: “We call on all his followers to leave him before it is too late.” The statement came a day before 40 foreign ministers meet for a summit in London today to discuss the Libyan war. Cameron and [...]
Mapping the growing power of cities March 28, 2011 HUMANITY recently reached something of a milestone: for the first time, more than half of the global population is now living in towns and cities, rather than in the countryside where we all started off as hunter-gatherers. The global urban population is growing by 65m a year. Cities are great for economic growth and wealth-creation: [...]
BA faces fresh strikes March 28, 2011 BRITISH AIRWAYS cabin crew yesterday voted in favour of taking fresh strike action in a dispute that has so far cost the airline more than £150m. The Unite union, which represents 90 per cent of BA’s 12,000 cabin crew, said more than four-fifths of the 6,981 staff who returned valid voting papers voted in favour [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING March 28, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES ICBC HEAD PLAYS DOWN POST-CRISIS LOAN RISK China’s largest bank lent Rmb640bn ($61bn) to local governments in the post-crisis credit boom, but insists these loans do not pose a danger to the country’s banking system. In an interview with the Financial Times, Jiang Jianqing, chairman of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the [...]
Marriott drops revenue forecast March 28, 2011 Marriott International has predicted its revenue per available room rate will be at the low end of previous forecasts because rising fuel prices have hit demand for leisure travel. The hotel operator said revenue per available room, which multiplies the occupancy rate by the room rate, would be up seven per cent in the first [...]
Bank against public ratings March 28, 2011 A report by the Bank of England said yesterday that creating a European public ratings agency, as suggested by some EU?leaders, would “create moral hazard” and “crowd out private credit opinions”. It also said that there is a case for “strong” regulation to improve transparency and potentially alter the agencies’ business models.
Lloyds appoints JP Morgan, Citi March 28, 2011 Lloyds Banking Group yesterday appointed US banks JPMorgan Chase & Co and Citigroup to oversee the forced sale of 600 branches triggered by a British taxpayer bailout during the financial crisis.
Boris agrees to riot summit after protests March 28, 2011 THE MAYOR of London Boris Johnson (pictured) is to hold a summit for retailers and businesses affected by the violence at Saturday’s anti-cuts protests. Johnson said in a letter to the New West End Company yesterday that he and the Metropolitan Police “want to continue… dialogue and see what lessons can be learned”. Retailers including [...]
