WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING
FINANCIAL TIMES
OSBORNE DROPS TARGETS FOR CREDIT EASING DEAL
George Osborne has decided not to repeat the fixed lending targets agreed with five banks a year ago under the Project Merlin deal. Treasury officials are seeking to offer government guarantees on up to £20bn of bank funding, as long as the cost savings are passed on to small businesses and hope the median cost of loans to small companies down from its current level of about 4.5 per cent.
IASB PUSHES FOR UNIFORM RULES ON ACCOUNTING
Accounting inconsistencies are to be targeted more aggressively by a rule-making body that helped bring order to shambolic Greek debt writedowns last year. A new strategy for the International Accounting Standards Board envisages that it will become more active in trying to ensure that companies apply its rules in a uniform fashion around the world.
LATEST PACT ON INTERNET PIRACY SET TO BE DERAILED
A controversial international trade agreement, which campaigners fear would restrict internet freedom, looks likely to be delayed or scrapped, the latest in a string of measures planned to combat online piracy to falter in the face of co-ordinated protests. The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement is set to become the latest anti-piracy agreement to fail.
JUDGE GUILTY OF WIRETAPPING
A Spanish judge famed for his investigations into international human rights abuses has been found guilty of ordering illegal wiretaps during a case involving corruption within the country’s ruling Popular party. Baltasar Garzón was unanimously convicted of overstepping his jurisdiction and barred from the bench.
THE TIMES
GOLDMAN BETS ON MONGOLIA
Goldman Sachs has placed a bet on surging economic growth in Mongolia, taking a 4.8 per cent stake in the country’s oldest bank. With Mongolia’s economy forecast to grow by as much as 25 per cent this year and 30 per cent in 2013, Goldman has snapped up a stake in Trade and Development Bank of Mongolia.
RETIREMENT AGE COULD BE RAISED TO 73 AS WORKERS LIVE LONGER
David Cameron has raised the prospect of further increases to the state pension age for millions of workers by suggesting that the retirement age should be automatically adjusted in line with rising life expectancy. If the change is implemented, children born today are likely to have to work until they are 73.
The Daily Telegraph
CONSTRUCTION FIRMS PAID MORE QUICKLY
Hundreds of small construction and engineering firms will be paid more quickly on public works after the Highways Agency pledged to pay them directly on 20 schemes over the next three years. The Cabinet Office said it expected the use of these project bank accounts to be rolled out “rapidly” across public construction projects so that they are used in almost 20per cent of cases by 2015.
TAX BREAKS FOR HIRING A CLEANER COULD SAVE THOUSANDS
Families could be given tax breaks for hiring cleaners and cooks to help with household chores, under a scheme to be considered by ministers. The plan could save thousands of pounds a year in fees for domestic help and encourage more women to return to work after having children.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
KODAK TO SHUTTER CAMERA OPERATION
More than a century ago, Eastman Kodak got into the camera-making business with the slogan, “You press the button, we do the rest.” Yesterday, Kodak said that it will stop making digital cameras, pocket video cameras and digital picture frames, a move that will separate the struggling company from the camera business it was founded to pursue.
HASBRO AND ZYNGA ENTER VENTURE FOR TOYS AND BOARD GAMES
Rivals in the world of online videogames, Hasbro and Zynga are becoming partners in the physical realm of toys and board games. Under a pact announced yesterday, Hasbro, the maker of Scrabble and Monopoly, will create games and toys from Zynga’s popular online games, which include FarmVille and Mafia Wars.