Loopsign brothers bank dividend November 17, 2009 Ian and Richard Livingston, the billionaire brothers who own David Lloyd Leisure, received £242m each in dividends for the year to the end of September 2008, according to accounts filed by their property firm Loopsign. However the firm, which owns the Marks & Spencer building on Baker Street and land in Russia and the Turks, [...]
QUEEN SENT FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE November 17, 2009 FIRST there was Bobby George; the Bobby Dazzler, the King of the Bling, the first true bastion of darting glitz and glamour. Then, there was Andy Fordham. Thirty-one stone at his peak, hair down to his backside and regular consumer of 25 bottles of Holsten Pils before going on stage. Equally adored by his public. [...]
Obama delays deal on climate change November 15, 2009 US PRESIDENT Barack Obama has acknowledged that time has run out for securing a binding deal for tackling global warming at next month’s Copenhagen summit. But he and other world leaders have rallied around plans to avert a failure at the climate summit that would delay legally binding agreements until 2010 or even later. “We [...]
Another boss to step down from TNK-BP November 11, 2009 BILLIONAIRE Mikhail Fridman yesterday said that he is likely to step down as acting chief executive of BP’s Russian joint venture TNK-BP, which will appoint a new permanent chief. The void at the helm of TNK-BP is the result of a row over strategy and control that erupted last year between BP and the four [...]
Pavlyuchenko demands exit from Spurs November 11, 2009 TOTTENHAM striker Roman Pavlyuchenko is plotting his route out of White Hart Lane after telling boss Harry Redknapp he wants to leave the club in January. The Russian is yet to start a Premier League game for Spurs this season and now fears for his place in Russia’s World Cup squad if he doesn’t play [...]
Opec-like forum for gas firms November 10, 2009 The club of major gas producers should operate like oil exporters’ group OPEC in defending its members against low gas prices, Algerian energy and mines minister Chakib Khelil said yesterday. Gas importing countries, particularly in Europe, have expressed concern the Gas Exporting Countries Forum could drive up prices by acquiring the same influence over gas [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 10, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES GM CHIEF PROMISES CASH FOR NEW-LOOK OPELGeneral Motors yesterday promised a more independent Opel and vowed to support its European unit with fresh money as the US carmaker tried to calm the fury sparked by last week’s decision to keep the unit. Fritz Henderson, head of GM, spoke after a series of meetings [...]
Higher prices hurt Gazprom November 9, 2009 GAZPROM, the state-owned Russian energy giant, yesterday said its profits for the first six months of the year had halved, even as the cost of gas soared. Profits in the period tumbled to 305.8bn roubles (£6.3bn) from 609.4bn roubles in the first half. The company blamed the price of buying gas from central Asia, which [...]
BACKLASH MOUNTS AGAINST TOBIN TAX November 8, 2009 OPPOSITION politicians and City figures slammed Gordon Brown’s talk of a ‘Tobin tax’ yesterday, dismissing it as a “theoretical proposal” that would be impossible to put into effect without disastrous consequences for London. The Tories are understood to oppose Brown’s plan and are believed instead to favour levying a small fee on banks’ balance sheet, [...]
FINANCIAL TIMES November 5, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES LULA CALLS ON LEADERS TO ATTEND CLIMATE TALKSBrazil’s president has challenged other world leaders to attend next month’s climate talks in Copenhagen to break the deadlock in negotiations to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva told the Financial Times he would speak to Barack Obama, US president, next week to [...]