What the other papers say this morning – 04 September 2013
FINANCIAL TIMES
City grandee countersues ENRC
Sir Paul Judge, the City grandee and former board member of ENRC, is counter-suing the miner for alleged libel in the latest twist in the legal battle between the parties. Judge alleges that a press release published by ENRC in July stating that it was suing him for alleged breach of fiduciary duty over the leaking of confidential information was defamatory and caused “immense hurt, distress and embarrassment”, according to his legal documents lodged at the High Court in London. Judge is also seeking £62,500 from ENRC after he failed to gain majority board support for re-election as a non-executive director, according to the documents.
Minister sacked in China corruption
The minister in charge of China’s state-owned assets regulator has been removed from his post as an investigation widens into suspected high-level corruption among senior Communist party officials. Jiang Jiemin was fired from his position as head of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, which regulates and holds shares in China’s state-owned firms.
Agency given deadline on City list
The UK’s organised crime-fighting agency has been hit with an ultimatum to publish a secret list of over 100 City companies who employed rogue private detectives – or MPs will do so themselves. The deadline was delivered yesterday by the home affairs committee.
THE TIMES
Union threatens City Link strike
After the spectre was raised of a strike shutting down Royal Mail, another of the country’s leading delivery companies is on the brink of industrial action. The RMT union, better known for disputes on the railways and London Underground, said yesterday that 700 City Link drivers and depot staff had voted by nine to one for strike action.
Dart raises £14m for campaign
One of Britain’s biggest shale gas explorers has raised £14m to fund a new drilling campaign that could bring fracking back to the North West next year. Dart Energy, which is listed in Sydney and based in Singapore, will today unveil the fundraising.
The Daily Telegraph
Elderly crisis claims a million homes
More than one million families have been forced to sell their home in just five years to meet the cost of paying for residential care, new figures have revealed. The estimate, based on polling measuring families’ individual experiences, is far higher than Government projections have previously suggested.
Pernod looks to US for acquisitions
Pernod Ricard’s drinks cabinet may include renown brands such as Jameson whiskey and Absolut vodka but the French drinks giant is on the hunt for further acquisitions in the US after admitting it is “under-exposed” to the booming American market.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Flat is the new up’ for EU car market
New auto registration data for August from Europe’s biggest car markets show that a near six-year slump in sales hasn’t leveled off.
The data, a proxy for sales, raise an uninviting prospect for the region’s mass-market auto makers: Europeans may never buy as many cars as they did before the financial crisis, leaving manufacturers competing for a permanently shrunken market. The August figures by major countries show continued drops in some of the EU’s largest car markets and comes just ahead of the Frankfurt motor show, where auto makers will showcase a wide range of new models beginning on the 12 September.