Afridi banned for biting ball January 31, 2010 CRICKET: Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi is set to miss the first Twenty20 clash with England after being found guilty of biting the ball. Afridi was caught trying to alter the state of the ball during yesterday’s one-day defeat to Australia, which sealed a 5-0 whitewash for the hosts. He will miss Friday’s fixture against the [...]
‘Michael who?’ says Russian rookie January 31, 2010 FORMULA ONE: Rookie Vitaly Petrov is set to become F1’s first Russian driver after Renault confirmed his signing for the coming season. Petrov, 25, has never driven an F1 car before but is thought to be bringing £9m in sponsorship money, and said he had rejected an offer from the Campos Meta team. “I only [...]
Tories: We won’t split big banks January 28, 2010 TORY Treasury chief George Osborne yesterday moved to reassure bankers that his party had no plans to break up large banks. Speaking at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Osborne made it clear that the party had no intention of backing a return to the 1930s Glass-Steagall Act that at the time prevented [...]
Second term for Bernanke January 28, 2010 THE US SENATE yesterday approved Ben Bernanke’s nomination to a second four-year term running the world’s most powerful central bank despite deep misgivings over his perceived policy missteps. The Senate voted 70-30 to confirm Bernanke in his post again as chairman of the US Federal Reserve, America’s central bank. However, the Fed chief suffered the [...]
It’s hard not to be gloomy on the UK January 28, 2010 THERE has long been a huge gap in Britain between London and the South East and the rest of the country. The former is powered by private sector growth; the latter depends ever-more on the public sector. The latest figures, calculated by Jörg Radeke of the Centre for Economics and Business Research using Treasury data, [...]
FIRST LADY OF FOOTY IS A HIT WITH HER FANS January 28, 2010 OFF to the majestic surroundings of the Royal Courts of Justice last night for the annual Quoted Company of the Year awards – where the organisers had either pulled out all the stops to secure the services of the evening’s hostess, or had enjoyed a remarkable stroke of good fortune. Happily for the sporting fans [...]
Greece: no bailout needed January 28, 2010 GREECE has asked no country for a bailout and is the victim of speculators intent on attacking a “weak link” in the eurozone, its leader said yesterday as the premium on its debt hit a new high. Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, said [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING January 28, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES VEKSELBERG FACES RECORD FINE IN OERLIKON CASE Swiss authorities are seeking to impose a record SFr120m ($114m) fine on Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg and two Austrian investors for allegedly breaching reporting rules in building stakes in the troubled Oerlikon industrial group. The fine – which was announced on Thursday – was immediately rejected [...]
Amazon enjoys strong Christmas January 28, 2010 Amazon.com blew past Wall Street profit estimates yesterday in its closely watched holiday quarter and forecast revenue for early 2010 that topped Wall Street expectations. The online retailer – which sells everything from books to barbecues while offering a host of services to businesses and Web developers – has been viewed as a winner of [...]
SABMiller gets new Swiss base January 28, 2010 Beer producer SABMiller has snubbed London to base a new global procurement operation in Switzerland. The company already has procurement operations in Africa, Asia and South America but plans to use Zurich as a global base. It already has its European headquarters based in the town of Baar, outside Zurich. Staff for the new operation [...]
