WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING
FINANCIAL TIMES
INSURERS TO LAUNCH REPUTATIONAL RISK PRODUCT
Insurers are planning to introduce a new product to help companies limit the financial fall-out when their brands or high-profile spokesmen such as Tiger Woods suffer reputational damage. DeWitt Stern, a 110-year-old US insurance broker, has already received expressions of interest from London underwriters about backing a reputational risk product it aims to launch early in 2010.
BRUSSELS ACCEPTS MICROSOFT’S BROWSER OFFER
Personal computer users in Europe will be presented with a ground-breaking choice of internet browsers from March next year, after Europe’s top competition watchdog accepted legal commitments from Microsoft to address allegations that it unlawfully “bundles” its software products.
SEC CHARGES FOUR WITH INSIDER TRADING
The US crackdown on insider trading widened yesterday as the Securities and Exchange Commission accused four people, including former employees of Lazard and TPG, of trading improprieties involving some of the decade’s biggest deals. Adnan Zaman, a former vice-president at the Lazard investment bank, and Vinayak Gowrish, a former associate at the TPG private equity firm, allegedly gave confidential information about five deals to two friends in exchange for cash, free rent or other items of value.
IDOL CREATOR’S NEW SHOW TO LAUNCH ONLINE
Simon Fuller, the creator of American Idol, will premiere his new entertainment show on Hulu, the online video site, several months before its expected airing on network television, in a move that signals a shift in the dynamics of US broadcasting.
THE TIMES
REVENUE PREPARES TO CLOSE NORTH SEA NATIONAL INSURANCE LOOPHOLE
The government is investigating a tax loophole that has allowed the North Sea oil industry to avoid paying hundreds of millions of pounds in national insurance contributions, The Times has learnt. The scheme, which has been exploited for years by scores of companies is thought to be depriving the Treasury of as much as £70m a year in lost tax revenues.
UK HELICOPTER-MAKING UNDER THREAT AS MOD NODS TO BOEING
Britain’s ability to build helicopters could come to an end within 10 years after the Ministry of Defence switched a contract to American rivals as part of its latest round of budget cuts. The decision to buy Chinooks from Boeing has also thrown the security of 4,000 UK jobs into doubt.
The Daily Telegraph
BAE AND GENERAL DYNAMICS FIGHT FOR £4BN MOD VEHICLE CONTRACT
The battle for a £4bn armoured reconnaissance vehicle contract is hotting up, with rivals BAE Systems and General Dynamics both vowing to sustain and create highly-skilled jobs in Britain if they win the contract. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is scrutinising proposals submitted last month, and is expected to announce the winner of the first phase of the programme, worth around £2bn, in February and agree a contract by the end of the first quarter.
ATTEMPTED COUP CAUSES CHAOS FOR SUB-PRIME LENDER CATTLES
Investors in Cattles demanded the liquidation of the embattled sub-prime lender and the resignation of its board at a highly fraught meeting. The gathering had to be adjourned twice while the board took legal advice.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
UN CLIMATE CHIEF: NEXT 24 HOURS ‘ARE ABSOLUTELY CRUCIAL’
The top United Nations climate negotiator yesterday said the next 24 hours are crucial to the success or failure of the UN climate summit, amid signs that talks among major nations are at an impasse. Yvo de Boer aid the chairman of the conference, Denmark’s Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen, was holding consultations with different regional representatives to see how best to move forward in the talks, which were heading into a deadlock.
US SUES INTEL ALLEGING MARKET ABUSES
The US Federal Trade Commission joined the legal attacks on Intel yesterday, accusing the chip giant of using illegal tactics to stifle competition in a complaint that adds new allegations against the company.