Wednesday, February 12

Day: April 11, 2016

Tata Steel Starts Sales Process For UK Plants
ENGLISH, United Kingdom

Tata Steel Starts Sales Process For UK Plants

    Tata is beginning the formal process of selling its loss-making UK steel empire today, inviting potential buyers to submit offers. The only company that has so far expressed a public interest in buying the assets, including the country's biggest steel plant at Port Talbot in south Wales, is Liberty owned by Sanjeev Gupta. Mr Gupta has spoken of a desire to save jobs with the potential to remodel Port Talbot as a producer of steel through the use of electric arc furnaces - to take advantage of recycling opportunities. But top of his list of concerns are high energy costs in the UK, which he told Sky News last week would have to be "rectified" by the Government. He also warned there would be no quick-fix, overnight solution. Mr Gupta said: "There are issues to resolve which ...
Call for safety review of all Edinburgh schools after closures
ENGLISH, United Kingdom

Call for safety review of all Edinburgh schools after closures

    Scotland’s largest teaching union has called for a review of all public-private partnership contracts in Scotland following the emergency closure of 17 schools in Edinburgh because of safety concerns, leaving 7,000 pupils unable to start the new term. The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) questioned how construction of the schools, which are about 10 years old and were all built under the same PPP1 contract, was approved, resulting in the serious structural problems. Larry Flanagan, the EIS general secretary, told Good Morning Scotland: “We’ve been long-term critics of these initiatives, largely because the main contracts have been a huge drain on school budgets. “We are concerned to find there are major structural difficulties. There is a question mark around buildi...
David Cameron to face public grilling over £72,000 secret shares stash claims
ENGLISH, United Kingdom

David Cameron to face public grilling over £72,000 secret shares stash claims

    Shamefaced David Cameron faces a public grilling over his personal tax affairs amid questions about a second secret stash of shares worth £72,000. The under-fire Prime Minister will make a humiliating statement to Parliament after his tax returns showed he secretly sold off another huge tranche of shares in 2010 alongside the £31,000 stake in his dad’s offshore fund. Downing Street is refusing to say which other investment funds or private firms the PM held a stake in - and if any more of them were based in dodgy tax havens. “There are big questions that have to be put to him by Parliament,” Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said. After a week of pressure Mr Cameron finally published details of his last six annual tax returns on Saturday night, revealing a huge second income as ...
Bangladesh Bank heist: WB for including casinos in Philippines dirty money law
Asia, ENGLISH

Bangladesh Bank heist: WB for including casinos in Philippines dirty money law

    The Philippines must make sure casinos are covered by anti-money laundering legislation, the World Bank said today, joining calls for the government to better regulate its gambling industry after stolen millions from Bangladesh found their way to Manila. A Philippine panel is trying to fathom how US$81 million hacked in February from the New York Federal Reserve account of Bangladesh's central bank wound up with two casinos and a junket operator in the Philippines in one of the biggest cyber heists in history. The government has since recovered part of the stolen money. "Reforms should be made, for instance, in making sure that casinos are included (in the anti-money laundering law)," World Bank lead economist Rogier van den Brink told reporters in Manila. "...Loopholes mus...
Prince William and Kate join Indian celebrities at charity gala
Asia, ENGLISH

Prince William and Kate join Indian celebrities at charity gala

    The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrive at a Bollywood Charity Gala hosted by the British High Commission and the British Asian Trust at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. The couple arrived in Mumbai, India, on April 10 as they began their seven-day tour of India and Bhutan. The royal couple’s itinerary includes several events in Mumbai and Delhi, followed by a trip to Kaziranga Wildlife Sanctuary in Assam, a two-day trip to Bhutan and finally, a visit to the Taj Mahal in Agra, India. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were joined by some of India’s biggest film stars, sporting heroes and business people for a charity gala at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel in Mumbai, which wrapped up the first day of their tour of India and Bhutan. Bollywood stars Shahrukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai and...