‘Michael who?’ says Russian rookie January 31, 2010 FORMULA ONE: Rookie Vitaly Petrov is set to become F1’s first Russian driver after Renault confirmed his signing for the coming season. Petrov, 25, has never driven an F1 car before but is thought to be bringing £9m in sponsorship money, and said he had rejected an offer from the Campos Meta team. “I only [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING January 28, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES VEKSELBERG FACES RECORD FINE IN OERLIKON CASE Swiss authorities are seeking to impose a record SFr120m ($114m) fine on Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg and two Austrian investors for allegedly breaching reporting rules in building stakes in the troubled Oerlikon industrial group. The fine – which was announced on Thursday – was immediately rejected [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING January 27, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES TWITTER WORKS ON TECHNOLOGY TO EVADE CENSORS Twitter, the internet social network, is developing technology it hopes will prevent the Chinese and Iranian governments being able to censor its users. Evan Williams, the chief executive and co-founder of Twitter, which has been credited with helping anti-government protesters in Iran to organise resistance, said [...]
Rusal off to a slippery start January 27, 2010 RUSAL, the Russian aluminium producer owned by oligarch Oleg Deripaska, suffered a rough debut on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange yesterday after its $2.2bn (£1.4bn) float. The company’s shares tumbled 11 per cent to HK$9.66 from their listing price of HK$10.80. Analysts attributed the poor performance to market worries over Rusal’s $14.9bn debt pile and [...]
Red dragon breathes IPOs as Bric issues boom in January January 27, 2010 CHINESE companies have dominated this year’s initial public offerings in key emerging markets, according to data compiled by Thomson Reuters. More than 65 per cent of IPOs in Brazil, India and China in 2010 have come from the far east. China Electric’s $1.5bn (£930m) share issue on 20 January led the way among Chinese companies, [...]
Federer marches on but Djokovic crashes January 27, 2010 WORLD No1 Roger Federer overcame a shaky start to see off nemesis Nikolay Davydenko and reach a 23rd consecutive Grand Slam semi-final. The Swiss star recovered from a set and 3-1 down with a storming run of 13 consecutive games before coming through 2-6, 6-3, 6-0, 7-5 against the Russian, who had beaten him in [...]
SPORT | IN BRIEF January 26, 2010 Manchester to host Haye return BOXING: Britain’s David Haye will make the first defence of his WBA world heavyweight championship against John Ruiz in Manchester on 3 April. American Ruiz is the mandatory challenge for Haye, who clinched the title with a crushing defeat of Russian giant Nikolay Valuev in November. “It’s been 10 years [...]
Comeback queen Henin in last four January 26, 2010 JUSTINE HENIN’S fairytale comeback continued as she moved one step closer to a dream Australian Open title with a quarter-final victory over Nadia Petrova. The former world No1, playing in her first Grand Slam since coming out of retirement, showed her battling qualities to come through a tough match 7-6 (7-3), 7-5 and book a [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING January 25, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES CHAIRMAN OF HSBC HITS AT BIG BONUSES Stephen Green, chairman of HSBC and British Bankers’ Association, has hit out at the inflated level and distorted structure of bonuses, predicting future pay-outs will be lower and more rationally calculated. In a video interview with the FT, published on the eve of the World Economic [...]
Nemesis Davydenko next up for Federer January 25, 2010 WORLD No1 Roger Federer remained on course for an incredible 16th Grand Slam title after turning on the style to beat home favourite Lleyton Hewitt in Melbourne. The Swiss star hardly broke sweat to claim a resounding 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 victory and book a quarter-final date with sixth seed Nikolay Davydenko, who saw off Fernando [...]