WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING
FINANCIAL TIMES
MINISTERS URGED TO EXTEND WIND SUBSIDIES
One of the biggest investors in UK wind power will warn the government on Tuesday that it must extend subsidies for the industry or risk losing investment as European countries vie to build up wind capacity.
ARAB NATIONS URGED TO MEET AID PROMISES
Arab countries have been urged to use more of their wealth to help the Palestinians after figures showed they contributed just 1.5 per cent of the general budget for the United Nations agency charged with supporting the Palestinian refugee community. The UN Relief and Works Agency provides education, healthcare and financial help for millions of Palestinian refugees and their descendents in Lebanon, Syria, Jordon, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
INDIA’S INFLATION REACHES DOUBLE DIGITS
India’s headline inflation has hit double digits, raising the possibility that the Reserve Bank of India will raise rates before a scheduled monetary policy review meeting next month. Revised figures released yesterday showed that the wholesale price index had risen 11 per cent in March year-on-year, overturning earlier relief that the economy had restrained inflation in single digits. In May the WPI rose 10.2 per cent, double what the government considers its “comfort level”.
CHINA PREPARES TO INVEST IN GREEK PROJECTS
China is eyeing investments valued at several billion euros in Greek shipping, logistics and airport projects to be discussed during the second visit to Athens in four weeks by a high-ranking Beijing official. The news came as Moody’s downgraded Greek debt on Monday night.
THE TIMES
FSA CALLS SIR FRED GOODWIN TO ACCOUNT OVER RBS UNRAVELLING
Sir Fred Goodwin has been summoned by the Financial Services Authority to answer questions about Royal Bank of Scotland’s management in the run up to its near-collapse in October 2008. The bank’s former chief executive is understood to have struck a deal to meet FSA investigators at the office of his lawyers rather than at the regulator’s Canary Wharf office.
VIRGIN READY FOR SHOOT-OUT WITH INTERNET GAMING GIANTS
With titles such as Command and Conquer and Resident Evil, Virgin was regarded as one of the cooler geeks in computer games during the 1990s. Sir Richard Branson sold out in 1999 but was due to relaunch Virgin into the $12bn games industry last night at the E3 games expo.
THE Daily Telegraph
BA LAUNCHES PRIVATE JET SERVICE IN US
British Airways may be barred from operating domestic flights in America but that has not stopped the airline from offering its wealthier passengers a fresh way of zipping around the US. The UK flag-carrier that is reeling from 22 days of strikes is launching an exclusive private jet service for BA passengers flying within North America and the Caribbean.
HEDGE FUNDS HIT BY RISE IN COFFEE PRICE
Hedge fund managers may be off their double espressos after losing thousands of pounds betting on coffee price. The cost of a cup of coffee in London’s Mayfair may be enough to cure most of their caffeine addiction. But it’s a fair bet that some of the area’s hedge fund managers will also be off their double espressos.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
BAYER CANCER DRUG FAILS TO MEET PRIMARY GOAL
Germany’s Bayer AG said that cancer treatment Nexavar failed to reach its primary goal of extending the lives of patients with a certain advanced form of lung cancer in a late-stage clinical trial. Codeveloped with US-based Onyx Pharmaceuticals, the oral drug did reach its secondary goal of so-called progression-free survival—where the disease didn’t get worse.
FARMERS FIGHT WITH RAILROADS OVER RATES
The race to profit from Asia’s growing appetite for corn, soybeans and other crops is resurrecting once-dormant disputes between two mainstays of the nation’s economy: Farmers and railroads. Farmers and their allies contend that railroads are taking advantage of their dominance to boost rates for carrying goods.