THE BREAKDOWN | WORLD CUP BRIEFS September 22, 2011 MURRAY IN SUNDAYS PLEA Scotland prop Euan Murray has called for Sunday matches to be removed form the calendar for religious reasons. Murray, a Christian, has elected to sit out this weekend’s crunch Pool B clash with Argentina because of his faith. He said: “I don’t see why there have to be games on Sundays. [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING September 22, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES EU TO SPEED RECAPITALISATION OF 16 BANKS European officials look set to speed up plans to recapitalise the 16 banks that came close to failing last summer’s pan-EU stress tests as part of a co-ordinated effort to reassure the markets about the strength of the 27-nation bloc’s banking sector. A senior French official [...]
ANALYST | OF THE YEAR September 21, 2011 JEFF CURRIE GOLDMAN SACHS Goldman’s global head of commodities research was a near-unanimous choice from the judges, because his calls on oil have the power to move markets. He has also advised governments in the US, Europe and Russia. SHORTLIST Peter Davey, Standard Bank Simon Ward, Henderson Global Investors Kevin Cammack, Cenkos Securities Jenny Barker, [...]
THE BREAKDOWN | WORLD CUP BRIEFS September 20, 2011 CONTEPOMI COY ON SCOTS ARGENTINA captain Felipe Contepomi is staying tight-lipped on his hopes of facing Scotland in Sunday’s crucial Pool B showdown. The Pumas fly-half is being tipped to recover from a rib injury for a match that is likely to decide who joins England in the last eight. But Contepomi said: “If I’m [...]
MAMMA MIA! ITALY ROUT RUSSIA September 20, 2011 ITALY romped to their biggest ever World Cup win with a nine-try, 53-17 thrashing of Russia in Pool C yesterday. Giulio Toniolatt and Tommaso Benvenuti scored two tries apiece, Sergio Parisse, Edoardo Gori, Luke McLean and Alessandro Zanni also touched down and their ninth was a penalty try. The win leaves Italy third in the [...]
French Connection boosted as profits begin to recover September 19, 2011 FASHION group French Connection said it was firmly back on a growth path, highlighting major overseas opportunities as it posted a rise in half-year profit yesterday. The retailer, which has sold off or closed a string of underperforming businesses, including Nicole Farhi, made a pre-tax profit of £700,000 in the six months to 31 July, [...]
THE BREAKDOWN | WORLD CUP BRIEFS September 16, 2011 EAGLES TAKE FLIGHT The USA ensured there was no historic World Cup debut for Russia as the Eagles edged a tight Pool C encounter 13-6. The Russians, the 25th team to take part in the World Cup got on the scoreboard thanks to penalties from Yury Kushnarev and Konstantin Rachkov. But Chris Wyles responded with [...]
Kingfisher plots expansion after beating forecasts September 15, 2011 Kingfisher beat first-half earnings forecasts, helped by a drive to improve profit margins, and said it was stepping up expansion as rivals struggle in a tough market. The group, which runs market leader B&Q in Britain as well as Castorama and Brico Depot in France and elsewhere, said profit before tax and one-off items jumped [...]
How to teach that bribery doesn’t pay September 14, 2011 CORRUPTION is a bad thing. Widespread bribery can reduce a country’s GDP by up to 1 per cent, according to the World Bank. A trillion dollars is paid in bribes every year. A decade ago, a quarter of Africa’s GDP was paid in bribes. This isn’t just a problem for poor countries. A report by [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING September 13, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES MICROSOFT OPENS WINDOWS TO TOUCHSCREEN Microsoft has laid out a wide-ranging plan to overhaul its Windows software platform, marking an attempt to stem the erosion of its core PC software business amid the rise of touchscreen computing popularised by Apple. Along with the first full touchscreen version of Windows, the world’s biggest software [...]