In Thursday's Europe papers

25 June 2009 05:30  [Source: ICIS news]

FINANCIAL TIMES

Front page

Governor in dark on banking regulation
Mervyn King blew into the open the lack of trust and rancour between the bank of England and the Treasury on Wednesday as he complained he had not been adequately consulted on Alistair Darling’s plans for reform of banking regulations.

ECB pumps €442bn into banking system
The European Central Bank on Wednesday pumped hundreds of billions of euros in one-year loans into the eurozone’s weakened banking system, making record amounts of emergency finance available in a bid to unlock credit markets and revive the region’s economies.

Companies and markets

Xstrata steps up pressure on Anglo
Xstrata stepped up the pressure on Anglo American to join merger talks on Wednesday, publishing the letter it sent to the rival miner outlining $1bn of possible cost savings and other synergies.

Overview: Fed signals rates to remain low for some time
Wall Street stocks were mixed and Treasury bond prices fell yesterday even as the Federal Reserve offered no nasty shocks with its latest policy comments.

INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE

Front page

Iran stepping up effort to quell election protest
Iranian officials stepped up efforts to crush the remaining resistance to a disputed presidential election on Wednesday, as security forces overwhelmed a small group of protesters with brutal beatings, tear gas and gunshots in the air.

Do-It-Yourself Garden, With Moat
In 1982, when Marlies and Jo Eyck purchased Wijlre Castle, a 17th-century castle near Maastricht in the Netherlands, they weren’t in love with the garden.

Business

GOP expected to paint Bernanke as ally of big government
In a peculiar role reversal, Republican lawmakers are mounting a ferocious attack on the Republican chairman of the Federal Reserve, while Democrats are coming to his defence.

Fed board maintains the status quo
Facing an economy that is perking up slightly but still deep in recession, the Federal Reserve left its rescue policies unchanged on Wednesday and said that it would keep interest rates low for "an extended period."

THE MOSCOW TIMES

Front page

Total, Novatek seal $900m gas deal
French energy major Total and Novatek, Russia’s largest independent gas producer, ended a two-year quest to join forces on Wednesday, sealing a $900m project to develop a Siberian gas field, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said after meeting the companies’ chiefs.

Dovgy found guilty after police stop juror
Former senior investigator Dmitry Dovgy might have left the court a free man on Wednesday if juror No 10 hadn’t been stopped by the traffic police on her way to the courthouse.

Business

Gazprom sees no reason for ‘panic’
Gazprom deputy chief Alexander Medvedev defended the company’s sales policy on Wednesday, responding to reports that the gas producer has lost part of the lucrative European market.

Customs tightens grip on phones
The Federal Customs Service has stiffened the rules for importing cell phones, requiring that each handset be inspected individually and leaving stranded hundreds of thousands of units in Moscow warehouses.

DER SPIEGEL

Front page

Dirk Nowitzki’s NBA dream turns into a nightmare
Dirk Nowitzki has found the kind of NBA success that is reserved for the elite. Still, it is a pressure-packed life full of potential pitfalls.

Daimler fights for its future
For years, Daimler allowed itself to be guided by illusions and neglected its core business. As a result, the current economic crisis struck one of Germany’s model companies with full force.

HURRIYET DAILY NEWS

Front page

A role for Turkey France can accept
On the European stage, Turkey is often on the sharp end of the wit. This is perhaps no more true anywhere than in France, where President Sarkozy’s opposition to Turkey’s EU aspirations is unmistakable.

No verdict, only tribulations in 30-year trial
Abba topped the music charts, the two superpowers’ leaders were named Carter and Brezhnev and the mobile phone had yet to be invented when 24-year-old leftist Cahit Akçam was arrested in 1980 for membership in an alleged terrorist organisation.

Business and finance

Global wealth also melts with turmoil
The global financial meltdown has significantly reduced individual wealth as well as company values, a recent report shows.

Genel Enerji deal spurs new merger
Heritage Oil’s acquisition of Turkey’s Genel Enerji spurs another similar deal as was expected. China Petrochemical Corp, known as Sinopec, offers $7.3bn to buy Addax, another oil company active in northern Iraq.

WARSAW BUSINESS JOURNAL

Front page

Budget blues
No-one can deny that Poland has fallen victim to the economic slowdown after the Finance Ministry decided to raise Poland's budget deficit.

Pharma Roche opens its second IT centre in Poland
Pharma, a subsidiary of Roche Polska opened an IT centre in Poznań on Tuesday that will employ over 100 experts by the end of 2010.

ICIS Copyright © Reed Business Information 2009

Author: Staff Reporter
+44 20 8652 3214

For the latest chemical news, data and analysis that directly impacts your business sign up for a free trial to ICIS news - the breaking online news service for the global chemical industry.

Get the facts and analysis behind the headlines from our market leading weekly magazine: sign up to a free trial to ICIS Chemical Business.