Di Matteo set for one-year deal at Chelsea June 10, 2012 CHELSEA are today expected to end weeks of speculation by finally handing Champions League-winning interim manager Roberto di Matteo the job on a permanent basis. But the Italian is only likely to get a one-year contract, despite arresting the team’s slump and leading them to an historic first triumph in Europe’s top club competition. Chelsea [...]
Sharapova hails her most special victory June 10, 2012 AN ELATED Maria Sharapova said that winning this year’s French Open was more special than when she won Wimbledon as a teenager, after cruising to victory in the final at Roland Garros. The new world No1 beat Sara Errani 6-3, 6-2 in Paris on Saturday to become the 10th woman to win all four Grand [...]
Czech defender confirms racial abuse June 10, 2012 Czech Republic defender Theodor Gebre Selassie has confirmed he suffered racist abuse during his team’s Euro 2012 defeat to Russia on Friday. The full-back, who is of Ethiopian descent, said his treatment from Russian fans was “nothing extreme”, while the Czechs said they would not submit an official complaint.
Quick win sets me up for final, says Sharapova June 7, 2012 WORLD No2 Maria Sharapova declared her delight after defeating Petra Kvitova 6-3, 6-3 to reach the French Open final, believing her chances of success in tomorrow’s showpiece to be significantly strengthened by doing so. Sharapova’s straight-sets victory potentially boosts not only her confidence, but leaves her physically fresh ahead of her final meeting with Italy’s [...]
Russia’s biggest lender posts 13 per cent jump in earnings June 7, 2012 RUSSIA’S biggest bank, Sberbank, said yesterday that its net profit grew 13.1 per cent for the first five months of the year, driven by growth in loans to corporate and retail clients. The figures reported are under Russian accounting standards, which have various differences to international financial reporting standards (IFRS) in the way they account [...]
LeakedIn: six million logins posted online June 6, 2012 LINKEDIN, the social network for professionals, yesterday admitted it was looking into claims that millions of its users’ passwords had been leaked online. What seemed to be almost 6.5m encrypted LinkedIn passwords were posted in a Russian forum – without the corresponding usernames – by someone claiming to have hacked into the website. LinkedIn took [...]
Aeroflot set to list in London June 6, 2012 AEROFLOT, the state-controlled Russian airline, is planning a secondary listing on the London Stock Exchange followed by a placement of around 13 per cent of its stock in 2012-2013, reports claimed yesterday. The company, in which the Independent newspaper owner Alexander Lebedev has a 15 per cent stake, is on the list of companies the [...]
Key BP papers may come out June 6, 2012 A CONFIDENTIAL document at the heart of BP’s disputes with its partners in Russian oil company TNK-BP may become public under legal amendments agreed by Russia’s competition watchdog, its deputy director said yesterday. BP and the AAR consortium of four Soviet-born tycoons, who share control of the Russian oil producer, have traded accusations of breaching [...]
BP hit by fresh court fight over TNK-BP stake June 5, 2012 OIL major BP is facing renewed investor pressure in Russia after a court reopened a $13bn (£8.5bn) lawsuit linked to its TNK-BP venture. The Russian court said minority shareholders in TNK-BP can restart their fight over last year’s failed tie-in with oil explorer Rosneft. The shareholders complained that BP’s £10bn plan to join forces with [...]
A leaner firm already looks like a better takeover target than its rebellious Russian oil subsidiary June 5, 2012 BP has been saying for years that it wants to be a smaller, leaner firm. Lopping off its occasionally combative but always lucrative Russian arm is nevertheless a radical way to streamline. TNK-BP accounted for 29 per cent of BP’s production and 16 per cent of its 2011 profits. And when its “noisy, not dysfunctional” [...]