WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING February 11, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES SHELL STAFF DETAILS LEAKED TO CAMPAIGN GROUPS Royal Dutch Shell has suffered a serious breach of security after contact details for more than 170,000 employees and contractors were e-mailed to environmental and human rights campaign groups. The database, from Shell’s internal directory, gives names and telephone numbers for all the company’s workforce worldwide, [...]
BP’s fall takes fuel out of oil stocks but FTSE rises higher February 2, 2010 Britain’s top shares closed higher for the third straight session yesterday as miners and banks extended the previous day’s gains but BP dragged energy stocks lower with fourth-quarter results that missed expectations. The FTSE 100 was up 35.90 points, or 0.7 per cent at 5,283.31, after closing 1.1 per cent higher on Monday. Miners added [...]
Games, guns and gyrating girls in Sin City March 7, 2010 FAHVE bucks? Girl, for five dollars yew can take as many pictures as yew want. Come on over, and get yo’ man over heyah too.” This was Elvis talking. Yes, Elvis. Tinted shades, jet-black jumpsuit, rhinestone belt, sideburns you could iron clothes on. Standing on a street corner. A few minutes previously, we’d been inhaling [...]
Rejuvenation and wine in Lombardy April 25, 2010 PLINY the Younger wrote his Tragedia and Comedia in a villa on Lake Como and the lake has continued to attract the best and the richest of society, from Madonna and George Clooney to Gianni Versace, Ronaldinho and Sylvester Stallone. Indeed, the lakes of the northern Italian region of Lombardy – the most famous being [...]
Bmi in talks to sell off its Heathrow slots to cut debts November 9, 2009 Loss-making carrier Bmi is in advanced negotiations to sell its prized Heathrow take-off and landing slots to plug debts of £190m. A spokesman for the airline said: “Negotiations are significantly advanced with several airline groups.” Bmi is the second largest holder of slots at Europe’s busiest airport, behind British Airways, with 11.5 per cent of [...]
Ryanair defies the downturn while BA’s passengers slump December 3, 2009 BRITISH Airways (BA) said yesterday the number of passengers flying with the airline had fallen yet again last month, as holiday-goers and business travellers continue to opt for budget travel. The number of passengers carried fell 3.4 per cent to 2.3m, the airline said, while passenger capacity fell 6.2 per cent through the reduction in [...]
BA Iberia merger set for takeoff November 11, 2009 British Airways and Spanish airline Iberia could announce a long-awaited merger agreement as early as this week, Sky News reported last night. It said the two parties were gearing up for a deal to be announced by tomorrow. BA refused to comment, saying only that talks with the carrier, which started over a year ago [...]
Sore arms and seals in Canada’s beautiful waters February 14, 2010 IT is a bright, warm and dazzling spring day and we are paddling our solo sea kayaks straight into the wind and sun. White diamond rays of sunlight bounce off the ocean; it looks like a carpet of sequins. With the wind roaring in my ears, I set my core muscles to firm, get my [...]
BA in winter of discontent December 14, 2009 BRITISH AIRWAYS (BA) is facing hundreds of thousands of pounds of losses after its cabin crew voted overwhelmingly in favour of a 12-day strike, threatening to paralyse the airline over the peak Christmas and New Year period. A bitter row over jobs, pay and working conditions escalated yesterday, when more than 12,000 BA members of [...]
BA STRIKE OFF BUT UNION FIGHTS ON December 17, 2009 A WINTER walk-out by cabin crew at ailing airline British Airways was yesterday declared illegal by the High Court. The Court’s judge Mrs Justice Cox sided with the carrier, saying that the Unite union had not correctly balloted its members on the strike action. BA had argued that the union took votes from staff who [...]