WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING
FINANCIAL TIMES
POLICE SHUT DOWN MARIPOSA HACKER RING
Police, private security experts and internet service providers said yesterday they had shut down the Mariposa botnet, one of the largest networks of hacked personal computers discovered. It had siphoned off financial and other information from inside half of the largest 1,000 US companies. Computers using about 12.7m internet addresses in 190 countries were compromised, though some machines might have been using multiple addresses.
INDIA CONFIDENT OF REACHING 10 PER CENT GROWTH TARGET
India can reach its goal of 10 per cent annual economic growth even if its Congress party-led government fails to implement pressing structural reform, the country’s finance minister has said. Pranab Mukherjee told the Financial Times that the lack of a parliamentary majority for the Congress party was an obstacle to moves such as raising the cap on foreign investment in the pension and insurance sectors and steps to improve governance.
GHOSN PREDICTS ELECTRIC CAR SCRAMBLE
Carlos Ghosn predicts that the car industry will be scrambling to build capacity to meet demand for both electric cars and the lithium ion batteries that power them in less than two years. The Renault and Nissan chief executive said that the two companies stood to profit because they would be “the only one on the market” with an electric car by 2011. If I had to make a bet today, I would say we’re going to be very quickly in short capacity for electric cars,” Ghosn said at the Geneva motor show. “From everything I’m seeing, in 2011 or 2012 we’re going to have to rush to build capacity for both batteries and cars.”
THE TIMES
FOUR SEASONS RESIDENTIAL HOMES FACE RENEWED BATTLE WITH INVESTORS
Britain’s biggest care homes operator may be forced into a fresh battle with its lenders only three months after it emerged from a year-long financial restructuring. The Times has learnt that the cabal of investors has hired Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, an American law firm, to block attempts by Four Seasons to extend a £600m bond that expires on 3 September.
UNITE BENEFITS AS JOBLESS GO BACK TO COLLEGE
Higher unemployment is forcing more young people into further education, increasing demand for short-term flats and providing a boost for Unite, the student accommodation developer. Unite yesterday told investors it would continue to buy properties in student hotspots.
The Daily Telegraph
WALL STREET WATCHDOG SHEILA BAIR BLASTS “SHAMEFUL” BONUSES
The head of one of the US’s main financial regulators has issued a damning riposte at Wall Street’s 2009 bonus round, blaming major banks for their apparent continued inability to rein in pay and bonuses. Sheila Bair, head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), said that she wished America’s largest financial institutions had a better “proprietary compass”.
DELIA SMITH AND HESTON BLUMENTHAL TO STAR IN WAITROSE ADS
Delia Smith and Heston Blumenthal, two of Britain’s best known cooks, are to star in a multi-million pound advertising campaign for Waitrose. The supermarket chain, which has never before used celebrities, has signed a three-year deal with them.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
BANK PAY ROSE ALMOST 10 PER CENT IN 2009
The biggest banks in the U.S. and Europe set aside almost 10 per cent more money for compensation and benefits in 2009 than a year earlier, according to an analysis of their full-year results. Global banking giants, including Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs Group paid out $275.54bn in compensation and benefits in 2009.
RUSSIAN IPOS SHOW REASON FOR WARINESS
Some of Russia’s biggest companies are lining up to ask for $20bn in initial public offerings and secondary stock sales, but the dismal performance of past IPOs is making investors think twice. Nearly two-thirds of Russian share sales have trailed the country’s equity indexes by 10 per cent or more over the last decade.