WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING
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 software developers were working on “interesting hacks” to stop any blocking by foreign governments.
BOSCH CHIEF CRITICISES BANKERS OVER BONUSES
Franz Fehrenbach, one of Germany’s most influential industrialists, added fire to the global debate over tighter regulation of banks by hitting out at large institutions and said he would stop doing business with those that maximise bonuses. The chief executive of Bosch, the world’s largest car-parts supplier, said on Wednesday: “Industry and other clients of banks … will no longer have to accept uncritically the omnipotence of the large banks.
BRUSSELS TO LIFT SUGAR EXPORTS AMID SHORTFALL
The European Commission plans to allow European farmers to export an additional 500,000 tonnes of sugar before the end of July to ease a worldwide supply shortage that has driven prices to their highest levels for almost 30 years. “The current situation on the world market is exceptional,” said Mariann Fischer Boel, European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development: “Sugar prices have risen to unprecedented levels, to the detriment of consumers in poorer countries.” The Commission’s move is opposed by Brazil’s sugar industry association, Unica, because it will exceed the ceiling earlier agreed.
THE TIMES
OLIGARCH BIDDING FOR INDEPENDENT GETS HUGE CASH INJECTION FROM PUTIN
The Russian billionaire bidding to buy The Independent newspaper is poised to gain a massive cash injection from the Kremlin in a deal personally sanctioned by Vladimir Putin.
Alexander Lebedev, who bought London’s Evening Standard for £1 a year ago, is selling his stakes in the airline Aeroflot and in Russia’s largest aircraft leasing corporation back to the government.
FRAUD CLAIMS DRIVE SHARP RISE IN COST OF INSURANCE
A sharp increase in fraudulent insurance claims is helping to fuel a record rise in the cost of motor cover, according to the AA, the roadside recovery group. A marked rise in the number of insurance claims has also driven up premiums for household insurance.
The Daily Telegraph
BUSINESSES ARE MISSING THE POINT OF SOCIAL NETWORKS
Businesses are failing to understand social networks because they still think of them as a way of communicating to customers rather than listening to them. At a session on social networks at Davos, Don Tapscott, the chairman of nGenera, the technology company, said that business should think about “social production”rather than social networks. “This is changing the way you do business,” he said.
SOROS ATTACKS “TONE DEAF” BANKERS
George Soros, the financier who made a fortune betting against the pound in the 1990s, blasted “tone deaf” bankers for resisting reforms and joined growing calls for China to let its currency appreciate. He said political resistance to new state borrowing risked causing a double-dip recession.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
SWISS SEEK NEW UBS DEAL WITH US
In the wake of a court decision that blocks the Swiss government from handing over the details of accounts belonging to US tax dodgers, officials in Bern said they will seek to rescue a historic tax settlement with the US.On Friday, a client of UBS AG client won an appeal to a Swiss court to prevent Swiss authorities from handing over her account data to US. authorities. The decision was a setback for an agreement that the US and Switzerland had struck in August.
PORTUGAL BUDGET STRESS PRESSURES EURO
The euro came under renewed pressure yesterday after Portugal’s report of an unexpectedly large 2009 budget deficit reminded investors that Greece isn’t the only euro-zone country with a fiscal problem.