WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING
FINANCIAL TIMES
GOOGLE AND VERIZON EYE WEB ACCESS DEAL
Google and Verizon have agreed on the outline of a plan covering key aspects of how internet services are carried over communications networks, establishing what could become a financial and operational blueprint for the next phase of the web’s development.
US HEDGE FUNDS EMBRACE THE BENEFITS OF UCITS
On a Monaco rooftop in June, the sun glittering over the Mediterranean as it dipped below the Cap d’Ail, about 200 hedge fund managers, many from the US, glugged champagne after a day discussing something rather less bubbly: “undertakings for collective investments in transferable securities”. Ucits, though, are the biggest thing in the hedge fund industry. Ostensibly a variety of European mutual fund, tightly regulated by EU laws, they have become the toast of London’s Mayfair and now New York.
LONMIN TOLD BY SA TO STOP SELLING SOME METALS
Lonmin, one of the world’s biggest platinum miners, has been told by the South African government’s department of mineral resources that it cannot sell certain metals that added $63m to sales in its last financial year.
MINISTERS SEEK MORE TOP-LEVEL WOMEN BY 2015
Women should make up half of all new appointments to the boards of public bodies by 2015, ministers have said, as the government seeks to galvanise a drive for gender equality with a review into the obstacles facing women. But the proposal, which is an aspiration rather than a pledge, falls short of promises made in the Conservative manifesto.
THE TIMES
WHOLE FOODS TO INCREASE BRITISH PRESENCE
Whole Foods Market, the natural food store beloved of organic foodies, is to open more shops in Britain despite heavy losses. The upmarket grocer arrived in Britain in 2004 with the purchase of seven Fresh & Wild stores and in 2007 opened a flagship store in Kensington, West London, but has struggled since.
VENEZUELA TO PAY CHINA DEBT WITH OIL
Venezuela will pay back its record-breaking $20bn (£12.6bn) loan from China with daily shipments of oil. The deal marks one of the biggest successes in China’s efforts to leverage its foreign exchange war chest into substantial diplomatic, strategic and symbolic coups. The majority of that programme, said analysts, will be focused on securing energy.
The Daily Telegraph
CHINESE STEEL EXECUTIVE JAILED FOR LEAKING SECRETS TO RIO TINTO
A Chinese executive once touted as the future head of steelmaker Shougang was jailed for leaking commercial secrets to employees of Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto who have since been jailed, a court official said on Thursday. The Rio Tinto case strained ties between China and Australia and created jitters among foreign investors wary of Beijing’s sweeping definitions of what constitutes a secret.
US ECONOMY ON THE ROAD TO
deflation, warns Pimco boss Mohamed El-Erian, the head the world’s largest bond fund, has said the United States faces a one in four chance of suffering deflation and a double-dip recession. Mr El-Erian, who helps manage more than $1 trillion in assets.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
BOND SALES SPUR HUNGARY TO REJECT IMF HELP
Hungary’s successful bond issues explain the government’s recent rejection of International Monetary Fund assistance, a previously undisclosed document reveals, while Romania on Wednesday moved toward receiving more IMF help. In July, the government of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban rebuffed requests from the IMF and the European Union to impose more austerity measures.
BRAZIL BOOSTS PORTUGAL TELECOM RESULTS
Portugal Telecom said yesterdayb its second-quarter net profit rose 83 per cent as higher revenue from its key Brazilian market offset weakness in the beleaguered Portuguese market. PT, Portugal’s biggest telecommunications company by market