MOSCOW METRO BOMB HORROR March 29, 2010 A WOMAN places flowers in memory of the victims of a bomb explosion at Lubyanka metro station in Moscow. Two female suicide bombers killed at least 38 people on packed metro trains yesterday, stirring fears of a broader campaign in Russia’s heartland by Islamists from the North Caucasus.
The spy who loves papers needs deep pockets March 25, 2010 JOURNALISTS at the Independent cheered when they found out that former KGB spy Alexander Lebedev had finally bought the newspaper. Their reaction couldn’t have been more different to the doomed silence that descended on the Evening Standard offices in January 2009, when hacks at that title learned of its sale to the Russian billionaire. But [...]
Bullock is Miss Sentimentality in her apple pie Oscar role March 25, 2010 Film THE BLIND SIDE Cert: 12A IT’S certainly a remarkable story. “Big Mike” Oher, a poor black kid from the Tennessee projects abandoned by his junkie mother, became a major star in American football after being rescued by rich housewife, Leigh Anne Tuohy. She and her millionaire husband (Tim McGraw) adopted him as a teenager, [...]
Size matters when it comes to your MBA March 24, 2010 IN 2006, there were 299 people on London Business School’s full-time MBA course. In 2010, the intake was 401, bringing the total number of students on the two-year course to around 800. The 2010 intake at Paris’s INSEAD is 980. At the upper end, the number of people at the large MBA schools is increasing [...]
OUT OF OFFICE March 22, 2010 THE WHITE GUARD Following the success at the National Theatre of last year’s tales of communist Russia, Burnt by the Sun and Tom Stoppard’s Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, comes Mikhail Bulgakov’s The White Guard. A lesser-known work by the Master and Marguerita author, adapted by Andrew Upton, it’s a story of the madness of [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS March 18, 2010 Avoca Capital Holdings The European credit investment manager has hired Clayton Perry, formerly principal and managing director at Broadchalk Advisors, as its new chief operating officer. Prior to establishing Broadchalk, Perry was head of global collateralised loan obligation (CLO) business at Credit Suisse, responsible for CLO transactions in the US and Europe. The appointment comes [...]
Champagne sales down but Brits still hit bottle March 15, 2010 IMPORTS of champagne plunged by 5m bottles last year as Britons turned to alternatives such as cava and prosecco. The 15 per cent slump from 35.98 to 30.52m bottles was the lowest since 2002. With the fall in sterling, importers were hit and the recession also took its toll on customers. At the same time, [...]
OUT OF OFFICE March 14, 2010 KURSK RETURNS TO THE YOUNG VIC Having had a triumphant run at the Young Vic in 2009, the award-nominated show about fateful events onboard Russia’s doomed submarine, the Kursk, is making a welcome return to the theatre. Byron Lavery’s show is a nail-biting immersion in a submariner’s world – a promenade show, the audience is [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING March 11, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES PUSH FOR CLEARING HOUSES FAILS TO MOVE OIL TRADERS Big oil traders are choosing to keep more derivatives deals private, in spite of a global regulatory campaign to steer such contracts to clearing houses. Their willingness to take on risks viewed as intolerable just a year ago reflects renewed faith in the strength [...]
Inchcape still cautious, but profit pleases March 10, 2010 INCHCAPE, the international car dealer, posted a smaller-than-expected fall in 2009 profit, helped by cost cutting and market share gains, but said it did not see a recovery in its markets until late this year. The British firm, which sells and distributes cars for manufacturers including BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Honda and Toyota in 26 countries, said [...]