Barrick to offload stake in Russia’s Highland Gold February 13, 2012 BARRICK Gold, the world’s largest gold producer, plans to sell its 20 per cent stake in Russia’s Highland Gold, it announced yesterday. Barrick bought the stake in Highland, a venture backed by tycoon Roman Abramovich, almost a decade ago, with the aim of using it to gain a foothold to grow in Russia, home to [...]
Rusal aluminium output dips February 13, 2012 Rusal said yesterday that it expects more companies to cut aluminium output this year, with China accounting for about a third of global cuts, but still forecast that global output would top demand. A supply glut on the back of a deepening European debt crisis and global economic slowdown has hurt demand and prices for [...]
A nation of tax cheats changed by new rules February 13, 2012 TAX evasion is rife in the UK. In the last few months a friend of mine has spent over £1,000 on various household jobs. On each occasion the labourer was paid in cash. Was VAT included? Did the workman pay income tax? I have other acquaintances who consider themselves left of centre politically, but do [...]
OECD says economic recovery broadening February 13, 2012 The international economic outlook is showing tentative signs of improvement, with the momentum shift spreading from the United States and Japan to other developed countries, the OECD’s December survey of growth prospects showed. The survey picture was mixed in the Eurozone, where seven countries were now “pointing towards a positive change in momentum” while the [...]
Polymetal buys out Ashanti February 8, 2012 RUSSIAN gold and silver miner Polymetal yesterday bought out AngloGold Ashanti from a joint venture in Siberia for $20m (£12.6m). FTSE 100-listed Polymetal acquired the 50 per cent it did not already own of the Veduga deposit in Russia’s Krasnoyarsk region. The companies worked on the project together from 2008 but Polymetal has found new [...]
Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya… Is it time to intervene in Syria? February 8, 2012 YES MICHAEL WEISS THE question is not whether or not the West ought to intervene in Syria but when it will. For 11 months, President Assad’s regime has rejected all offers for substantive reform, while massacring upwards of 7,000 civilians, displacing tens of thousands more and running a network of arbitrary detention facilities rivalling Saddamist [...]
Beijing rents outstrip NY February 7, 2012 BEIJING office rents have soared over 75 per cent over the past year, making China’s capital more expensive to locate an office than New York’s Midtown district, new research shows. Cushman & Wakefield, a property consultant, said Beijing experienced the steepest increase and now ranks as the fifth most expensive office market in the world [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING February 7, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES BOMBARDIER JOBS BELIEVED SAFE Workers at the UK’s last train maker are expected to hear this week that their jobs are safe, ending months of uncertainty about the future of the factory in Derby. Its owner, Bombardier, put the future of the site under review in the middle of last year, after the [...]
Britain decries Syria bloodshed February 6, 2012 Britain yesterday recalled its ambassador from Damascus and the US closed its embassy in Syria in a bid to force President Bashar al-Assad to leave power and halt the fast-growing death toll. As Syrian troops targeted the city of Homs, Foreign secretary William Hague hit out at Russia and China’s veto of a recent UN [...]
Putin protests gather steam February 5, 2012 Vladimir Putin’s opponents vowed yesterday to press on with demonstrations against his 12-year domination of Russia after tens of thousands attended a march which kept up the momentum of their protest movement. “We’ll be back,” the organisers said on a social network site, one day after demonstrators defied the cold to stage the third mass [...]