WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING
FINANCIAL TIMES
PROPOSAL FOR GRADUATE HIGH-FLIERS TO PAY EDUCATION PREMIUM
Government officials are considering a plan to make graduates who become big earners pay a premium for their education as the coalition seeks ways to find extra money for universities. The novel policy proposal reflects a desire by Conservative coalition members to appease Liberal Democrat MPs, most of whom are opposed to higher tuition fees and to ramping up student loan interest rates.
TESCO EXPERIMENTS WITH CLUBCARD
Tesco has been experimenting with further beefing up its Clubcard loyalty scheme as it fights to boost sales growth in its home market. Britain’s biggest retailer has issued high-spending Clubcard holders with a coupon to earn triple points on their shopping. The move follows a scheme to let customers double the value of Clubcard vouchers in certain product areas.
VW SET TO RETAIN CHIEF IN RACE TO OVERTAKE TOYOTA
Volkswagen is set to renew its chief executive’s contract beyond next year, highlighting how Martin Winterkorn has become a linchpin in the German carmaker’s quest to overtake Japanese rival Toyota by 2018. The firm plans to extend Mr Winterkorn’s five-year contract by another three years either at a supervisory board meeting in November or in February at the latest.
FOSTER’S WINE REJECTS BUY-OUT OFFER
Foster’s has rejected a A$2.7bn (US$2.5bn) offer for its wine assets from a buy-out group, in a move analysts said would spur fresh takeover interest in the Australian company’s highly prized beer business. The indicative proposal “significantly” undervalued the firm, Foster’s said.
THE TIMES
ASTRA BOSS’S PENSION ANGERS STRIKERS
The chief executive of AstraZeneca was at the centre of a pensions storm as staff striking over the loss of retirement rights learnt that their boss has the third-best pension deal among top executives of British companies. The TUC’s annual PensionsWatch survey found that David Brennan, 57, AstraZeneca’s chief executive, has accrued a £12.8m pension pot.
GOOGLE UNVEILS FASTER SEARCH FACILITY
Google has unveiled a new faster way to deliver search results for users, further cementing its online search dominance. A new “Instant Search” feature begins to predict and display relevant results as soon as users start to type in their requests. The search results displayed on the page refresh and change as the user continues.
The Daily Telegraph
MILLIONS OF HOUSEHOLDS HAVE NO BREADWINNER
Almost four million UK households have no adults in work after a huge increase over the past year, official figures show. The Government said the fact that no one worked in almost one out of five households was a “shocking reflection” of the scale of the problem it had inherited. A report by the Office for National Statistics also showed that 1.9m children lived in workless households.
ARM JUMPS ON TALK IT IS SAMSUNG’S FAVOURITE
ARM Holdings surged to the top of the blue-chip leaderboard amid gossip its graphics chip will be used by Samsung for its new processor. Earlier this week Samsung unveiled the new processor for smartphones, tablets and netbooks, which is codenamed Orion.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
SWISSCOM TO BID FOR REST OF FASTWEB SHARE
Swisscom said yesterday it will offer €256 million to acquire the outstanding shares in its Italian Fastweb business. The Swiss telecommunications company now indirectly owns 82.1 per cent of Fastweb shares, bought in May 2007, and is seeking to acquire the remaining 17.9 per cent of the stock for €18 per share.
INDIA LAW THREATENS US ENERGY DEALS
The US government is scrambling to preserve the benefits of a civil nuclear agreement with India ?– the cornerstone of a broad new relationship between the world’s two largest democracies – after India passed a law that threatens to effectively exclude US companies from its market for nuclear power. The Indian law was paased last week.