WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING
FINANCIAL TIMES
SUPER RICH TO GET NEW LONDON ADDRESS
A leading European hedge fund is preparing to build one of London’s most expensive housing developments as global investors scramble to gain a foothold in the capital’s resurgent residential market. In a deal completed over the weekend, Orion Capital Managers acquired an acre of prime residential land in Chelsea. The fund plans to build a £300m housing complex which, it hopes, will vie with One Hyde Park for the title of the capital’s priciest address.
QUANGO CHIEFS’ HIGH PAY PACKAGES VETOED
The Treasury has vetoed the high salaries of 23 quango chiefs and senior civil servants since the coalition came to power last summer, the Financial Times has learnt. But George Osborne has been criticised for refusing to reveal which officials’ pay packages were rejected – or by how much – as part of the government’s austerity drive.
CALL FOR NEW BANK
Plans for a “rebalanced” economy with more emphasis on industry and investment will only work with the help of a new government-aided bank to boost manufacturing, according to Labour peer Lord Bhattacharyya.
LAGARDE PLEADS FOR EUROPEAN UNITY OVER NEW GREEK RESCUE
European authorities should stop public bickering and speak with one voice to make the second rescue package for Greece work, warned Christine Lagarde, new managing director of the International Monetary Fund. Speaking to the Financial Times, the former French finance minister said public discord between Eurozone ministers and the European Central Bank created confusion in the markets.
THE TIMES
REVIVING LOVE AFFAIR WITH LIFE’S LITTLE LUXURIES
Sales of luxury goods in Britain have recovered from the ravages of the financial crisis, growing by 7 per cent, or €600m (£526m), in 2009-10, according to Bain & Company. The market’s value has doubled in the past 15 years and adds €8.8bn to the domestic economy annually, outperforming GDP and the pace of growth in Europe, the consultancy’s research, commissioned by the industry body Walpole, found.
TAXMAN TELLS BREWERS TO STOP THE BEER SMUGGLERS
Britain’s brewers are fighting attempts by the taxman to introduce an anti-smuggling system. They are being asked to share the burden of the £550m in tax lost on beer that is exported duty-free but then finds its way back into the UK illegally.
The Daily Telegraph
ESPN TO OFFER PREMIER LEAGUE FOOTBALL HIGHLIGHTS FOR FREE
Premier League football fans will be able to watch every Wayne Rooney goal for free within minutes of it happening this season, after ESPN decided to stop charging for its Goals app.
The Disney-owned sports news broadcaster launched ESPN Goals last year, after it beat BSkyB to exclusive mobile rights to all 380 Premier League games with a bid in the “high single-digit millions”. It has been charging £2.99 a month for the app.
NEW BLACKS LEISURE CHIEF JULIA REYNOLDS STARTS AMID MIKE ASHLEY ROW
Julia Reynolds, the new chief executive of Blacks Leisure, will begin her first day in the job amid a growing row between the retailer’s chairman David Bernstein and its largest shareholder, Sports Direct.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
EUROPE
NORTEL PATENT PROBE PICKS UP
The Justice Department is intensifying an investigation into whether tech giants including Apple, Microsoft and Research in Motion could use a recently acquired trove of patents to unfairly hobble competing smartphones using Google’s Android software, according to people familiar with the matter.
STATES BALK ON CIGARETTE PACT
A proposed deal between big cigarette makers and US states to resolve a $7.1bn payments dispute has been rejected by many state attorneys general, according to people familiar with the matter. States have turned down the proposal, which is designed to settle a long-running dispute over payments that Altria Group’s Philip Morris USA and other cigarette giants make to 46 states each year under the landmark 1998 tobacco settlement.