Europe Intelligence Wire articles from January 2004

Europe Intelligence Wire archives from January 2004

Insight - The Year Ahead.
January 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST ISSUES YOU FACE IN 2004? Dighton: Finding the right acquisitions for us to continue our expansion programme. Lever: Preparing for compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley (as we are US-listed)....

Editor's letter - Auditors' state of independence.
January 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Our seventh audit fees survey reveals a quite striking collapse in FTSE-100 non-audit fee income paid to the Big Four audit firms. Partly that reflects the structural changes that have taken place in the...

Insight - Face the Facts.
January 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Byline: Peter Bartram. Merger negotiations were going well. The acquiring company was carrying out its due diligence on the accounts. Everything was shaping up for final signature, except that due diligence on...

The Financial Director interview - Anglo Saxon.
January 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Byline: Tom Berry. David Davies is a finance director with an extensive international pedigree. After qualifying in Liverpool, his first accountancy job was with Price Waterhouse in Italy. He then spent some...

Management - Future Tense.
January 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Point 11. Are there other clues as to how outstanding the company may be in relation to its competition? By definition, this is somewhat of a catch-all point of inquiry. This is because matters of this sort...

Extraordinary Items - Standing tall for charity.
January 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) ICAP's annual charity day last month gave City types the chance to cast off their pinstripes and don some more fun gear while doing the swaps deals and handing over every penny of the day's profit to charity -...

Extraordinary Items - Don't Count on Davies.
January 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Elsewhere in this issue you'll read our second interview with David Davies, now FD with the Austrian petrochemical group OMV. We talked about some of the cultural differences between Austrians and us Brits....

Extraordinary Items - The people's FDs.
January 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Twenty years after launching this magazine, we are delighted to say that the message has finally got through to Whitehall. In early December came the news that government departments are going to appoint finance...

Extraordinary Items - Pop group accounts.
January 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Last month, we told you about a competition to find the best company rock 'n' roll band and suggested a few names for your pop group, such as ZZ Top Shop, The Securicorrs and Harry Connex Jr. Kathleen Scott...

Extraordinary Items - Future imperfect.
January 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) A year ago we asked some FDs for their year-end FTSE-100 predictions. At the time, the index was around 4,000, since when it has risen by 9% to 4,347. So how good were our FDs' predictions? Nearest the mark...

EASTERN EUROPE'S CHANGING CONSUMER EXPECTATIONS.
January 1, 2004... (From Market - Europe) Faced with the prospect of European Union (EU) accession and the ever increasing presence of competing foreign products, Eastern European producers of consumer goods are rushing to upgrade their brand image The...

GERMAN CONSUMERS LACK MOTIVATION.
January 1, 2004... (From Market - Europe) Unemployment dipped slightly during the third quarter of 2003, but that was not enough to drive a sustainable improvement in consumer confidence. Job-related concerns and lack of confidence in the government's...

FRENCH PRIVATE SPENDING NUDGES UPWARD.
January 1, 2004... (From Market - Europe) During the third quarter of 2003, French private sector demand gained modest upward momentum, raising hopes that the economy had bottomed out and that internal demand will rebound in 2004. Realistically, the...

TIME PRESSURES SHAPE UK PREFERENCES.
January 1, 2004... (From Market - Europe) Consumers in the UK have enjoyed a generalized increase in prosperity in recent years and their more active lifestyles are driving up sales at restaurants and health food stores. The number of upper income households...

SWITZERLAND'S CONSUMPTION QUAGMIRE.
January 1, 2004... (From Market - Europe) Swiss private sector consumption stagnated as EU commercial activity took a downturn in recent years. With domestic sales stalled and unemployment on the rise, it looks as though 2004 will bring anemic gains in...

IMPEDIMENTS TO CROATIAN CONSUMPTION.
January 1, 2004... (From Market - Europe) Croatia is experiencing a moderate amount of economic expansion, but there are a number of factors that are preventing the private sector from living up to its consumption potential. Before household consumption can...

EASTERN EUROPEAN BEVERAGE SALES RISE.
January 1, 2004... (From Market - Europe) Although beverage sales in Western Europe have stagnated in recent years, Eastern Europe is poised to become the fastest growing beverage market in the world According to a report recently published by the...

IRELAND'S CONSUMPTION CLIMATE IMPROVES.
January 1, 2004... (From Market - Europe) Several factors portend an improvement in Ireland's consumption climate during 2004, but a rebound in export sales will be needed to generate sustainable growth in commercial activity The purchasing power of the...

PORTUGAL FACES SLACK INTERNAL DEMAND.
January 1, 2004... (From Market - Europe) Hobbled by high unemployment and the government's inability to fund a spending stimulus package, Portugal is headed for slow growth in private sector spending through at least the first half of 2004 During the...

British spy chiefs feared US invasion of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait in 1973.
January 1, 2004... (From Agence France Presse) British spy chiefs secretly warned that the United States would be prepared to invade Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to seize their oilfields following the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, it was disclosed. Files released to...

Ireland's turn at EU presidency begins.
January 1, 2004... (From Agence France Presse) Ireland took over the rotating presidency of the European Union, and with it the thorny issue of the first constitutional treaty for the bloc that will grow to 25 nations this spring. To mark the handover,...

Japan's prime minister makes surprise visit to war shrine.
January 1, 2004... (From Agence France Presse) Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi made a surprise New Year visit to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo commemorating the country's war dead. The visit was met with an angry reaction from...

London parties but gales wipe out Edinburgh's New Year carnival.
January 1, 2004... (From Agence France Presse) Wrapped up against the bitter cold, around 100,000 revellers descended on central London to welcome in the New Year, overseen by a large police presence amid an ongoing nationwide alert against a potential...

Sri Lanka in talks with Norway over freeze in foreign aid.
January 1, 2004... (From Agence France Presse) Sri Lanka has opened talks with peace broker Norway to help resume the flow of millions of dollars in foreign aid suspended due to the power struggle within the government in Colombo, a government spokesman...

Israeli scientists decipher how brain makes limbs move.
January 1, 2004... (From Agence France Presse) Researchers from Jerusalem's Hebrew University have managed to decipher the nervous system's signals which command some limbs, in a breakthrough which could allow paraplegic people to recover...

Japan's Koizumi makes surprise visit to controversial war shrine.
January 1, 2004... (From Agence France Presse) Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi made a surprise New Year visit to a controversial shrine honouring the nation's war dead, sparking howls of protest from Asian neighbours who suffered under Japan's...

Violent start to new year in Kashmir as blast kills one, injures six.
January 1, 2004... (From Agence France Presse) A suspected Islamic rebel was killed by his own bomb and six civilians were injured in a violent start to 2004 in disputed Indian-administered Kashmir, police said. The militant was carrying explosives on...

Pakistan President Musharraf sails through confidence vote.
January 1, 2004... (From Agence France Presse) Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf won another major victory, securing a parliamentary vote of confidence that legitimises until 2007 the unelected rule of the general who stormed to power in a bloodless 1999...

Eight British tourists killed in South Africa road accident.
January 1, 2004... (From Agence France Presse) Eight British tourists were killed along with a pedestrian near the South African town of Bergville in a road accident, a spokesman for the local Kwa Zulu Natal government told AFP. Logan Maistry, a...

US search of British Airways plane was "routine": company source.
January 1, 2004... (From Agence France Presse) The search by US FBI agents who boarded a British Airways plane just outside the US capital delaying its take-off for several hours was a routine check, an airline official said. "As I understand, this is...

In New Year peace message, pope upholds role of United Nations.
January 1, 2004... (From Agence France Presse) Pope John Paul II urged the creation of a "new international order" based on the experience and know-how of the United Nations. Without directly mentioning the diplomatic storm caused by the US-led invasion...

WHO says major SARS outbreak in China can probably be prevented.
January 1, 2004... (From Agence France Presse) The World Health Organization (WHO) said it is likely that a major SARS outbreak in China could be prevented because the country is well prepared to tackle a re-emergence of the disease. The announcement...

Thousands march in Hong Kong for democratic reforms.
January 1, 2004... (From Agence France Presse) Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Hong Kong here in a New Year's Day rally calling for a swift transition to full democracy in the former British colony, organisers said. With calls of...

Indian FM leaves for Pakistan, calls for 'permanent' Kashmir truce.
January 1, 2004... (From Agence France Presse) Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha has left for Pakistan to attend a regional summit, calling on their rival to make their ceasefire "permanent" in divided Kashmir. "India is interested in making this a...

New Year's Eve car bomb kills five, injures 24 in Baghdad.
January 1, 2004... (From Agence France Presse) A powerful car bomb tore apart a popular Baghdad restaurant packed with New Year's Eve revelers, killing at least five people, all Iraqis, and wounding more than two dozen, including three Westerners. The...

Sri Lanka in talks with Norway over freeze in foreign aid.
January 1, 2004... (From Agence France Presse) Sri Lanka has opened talks with peace broker Norway to help resume the flow of millions of dollars in foreign aid suspended due to the power struggle here, a government spokesman said. G. L. Peiris Thursday...

Eight British tourists, pedestrian killed in S. Africa road accident.
January 1, 2004... (From Agence France Presse) Eight British tourists were killed along with a pedestrian in a road accident near the eastern South African town of Bergville, officials told AFP. Logan Maistry, a spokesman for the transport minister of...

WE WON'T LET THUGS BEAT US Gang threat to burn pair in robbery.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) A COUPLE who feared they were going to die during a brutal armed robbery vowed last night to remain at their isolated home. Vincent and Jane Maguire were beaten, abused, threatened with death and shot at after two men...

Three rescued from house fire.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) Byline: KATE COONEY FIREFIGHTERS who rescued three men from a burning house in the early hours of New Year's Eve say the victims were lucky to escape with their lives because the property was not fitted with a smoke...

What's on tomorrow.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) l Blood donation sessions: NIBTS Headquarters, BCH Complex, Lisburn Road, Belfast: 10am-4.45pm; Ballymore Church Hall, Tandragee, 2.30m-41.5pm & 5.30pm-8pm; Clooney Hall Centre, Clooney Terrace, Waterside,Londonderry,...

Attack linked to loyalist protests at Maghaberry.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) Byline: STEPHEN DEMPSTER LOYALISTS have been blamed for an attack on the house of a former prison officer, hours after UDA boss Andre Shoukri was placed in solitary confinement at Maghaberry Prison. A car was...

Ulster cookin' book is finger lickin' good.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) Byline: GEMMA MURRAY ULSTER women 'with attitude' have once again knocked the stuffing out of TV chefs. Fresh from last year's success, a group of eight women from Portstewart, Coleraine, Portrush and Limavady,...

Children in home high on solvent.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) A JUDGE hit out yesterday after being told that children in a home in Belfast got high on solvent left by a builder. In the High Court Mr Justice Coghlin said it was extraordinary that a receptacle of solvent was...

Heath was warned on Widgery.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) Byline: GAVIN CORDON MINISTERS in Edward Heath's Tory government were privately warned that the official inquiry into the Bloody Sunday shootings would not satisfy critics of the Army, it was disclosed yesterday. ...

The man who 'sold the moon' to Ireland.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) SECRET plans to build and launch a spaceship in Ireland were put to the Government by American astronauts, according to classified documents released yesterday. A team of experienced scientists, including ''at least...

Police report on murder sent to DPP.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) A REPORT into the murder of housebound pensioner Martha Young is to be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions, police said last night. The decision follows interviews with a man and a woman in connection with the...

Man charged with OAP rape attempt.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) A MAN was charged yesterday with attempting to rape an 80-year- old woman in her home in east Belfast last weekend. Steven Paul Walsh, 19, of no fixed address, was also charged with entering the woman's home as a...

New lead on missing woman.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) POLICE investigating the disappearance of missing Tyrone woman Attracta Harron have received new information that could prove vital. There are reports of a man in a grey car stopping women and offering them lifts in...

I feared we were going to be killed.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) Byline: ANNE PALMER A COUPLE subjected to a brutal and vicious attack during an armed robbery at their farm vowed last night to stay in their home despite their ordeal. Vincent and Jane Maguire are being...

Cabinet's wedding gift 'overshadowed' by US.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) THE Cabinet's wedding present to Princess Anne, now the Princess Royal, was put to shame when US President Richard Nixon's more expensive gift was revealed, files from The National Records Office show today. In 1973,...

Scouts link across the border.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) TODAY marks the beginning of a new chapter in scouting history in Northern Ireland and the Republic as a combined organisation comes into being. Following a proposal in Londonderry in 1995, Scouting Ireland has been...

MI5 ordered to brief bosses on subversives.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) TORY Prime Minister Edward Heath ordered MI5 secretly to brief senior industrialists about ''subversive'' organisations trying to infiltrate their workplaces, it was disclosed today. Files released to the National...

FO didn't want to offend Pinochet.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) THE Foreign Office secretly blocked an application for asylum from the former Chilean ambassador because they did not want to offend the new military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet, it was disclosed today. ...

Churchill statue 'like Mussolini'.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) OFFICIALS were worried that the famous statue of Winston Churchill, which now stands in Parliament Square in London, bore a little too much resemblance to Mussolini, government papers released today show. On April...

Miners' strike sparks Cabinet tensions.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) TENSIONS within Edward Heath's Tory government over how to deal with the miners' industrial action which finally brought his downfall are exposed today. 1973 saw the announcement of the three-day week and plans drawn...

Spies warned of US Arab invasion plan.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) BRITISH spy chiefs secretly warned that the US would be prepared to invade Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to seize their oilfields following the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, it was disclosed today. Files released to the show the...

Heath's fury with Nixon over nuclear stand-off.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) Byline: GAVIN CORDON THE full fury of Tory Prime Minister Edward Heath when the Americans staged a nuclear face-off with Russia without informing Britain or other Nato allies is disclosed in secret files made public...

Pc murder suspect on US wanted list.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) Byline: PA NEWS REPORTERS NATHAN Coleman, the man being questioned in connection with the fatal shooting of a policeman on Boxing Day, is also wanted in the United States on suspicion of murder and conspiracy to...

Woman killed as invalid carriage falls down steps.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) AN elderly woman died yesterday after her motorised invalid carriage plunged 20ft down a flight of concrete steps on to a beach. The pensioner was riding the carriage along a promenade at Clacton, Essex, at around...

Teenager killing: man charged.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) A MAN was last night charged with the murder of a teenager who fell down a stairwell at a nightclub. Darren Christopher Allen, 29, of Croydon, south London, will appear before magistrates today, Scotland Yard said....

Dog owners post a claim against store.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) THE owners of a dachshund are preparing to face supermarket giant Safeway in court over an injury to their pet. Gordon and Susan Musselwhite claim Muffin was partially paralysed when jumping for Safeway leaflets...

Police help train troops in Basra.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) A TEAM of volunteer British police officers is going to the southern Iraqi city of Basra to help train security forces, the Foreign Office announced yesterday. The 24 officers from forces in England and Wales, who are...

Morning View: Stability is the best resolution for New Year.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) NEVER mind the miserable weather: today is a day for lifting up the eyes and looking forward to a new year with all its fresh possibilities and challenges. The Old Year had more than its fair share of sour, baleful...

Governments have failed us - Provos.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) THE IRA last night expressed deep concern after claiming the British Government had failed to deliver on commitments to the Northern Ireland peace process. As London and Dublin prepared for a new round of talks in a...

It's time for parties to grab the opportunity.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) REPUBLICANS must make it clear in the New Year that they have put away their guns for good, Secretary of State Paul Murphy said yesterday. In his New Year's message, Mr Murphy said unionists need to have confidence...

Row over MBE for ex-UVF man.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) THE award of an MBE to a former UVF leader, has brought a protest from Sinn Fein. Self-confessed ex-paramilitary Bobby McKee was awarded the New Year's honour for his services to local government. But Sinn Fein...

Our shameful record over mistreatment of animals.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) Byline: STEPHEN DEMPSTER PEOPLE should be ashamed of Northern Ireland's mistreatment of animals, a dog sanctuary said yesterday, as yet more pets were discarded with the Christmas wrapping paper. The Assisi...

Life on street for my dogs and me.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) Byline: KATE COONEY A GRIM New Year is facing a 26-year-old man who claims he will be forced to sleep on the streets when he is evicted from his flat this week because the authorities cannot find him an alternative....

Ozzy misses his son's wedding.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) LOUIS Osbourne, the oldest son of veteran rocker and reality TV star Ozzy Osbourne, married actress Louise Lennon in the Republic yesterday. But Ozzy, still recovering from his recent near-fatal biking accident at...

Second oldest person, 109, dies.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) IRELAND'S second-oldest person, 109-year-old Brigid Derrane, who was jailed after Dublin's 1916 Easter Rising against British rule, died yesterday in Galway. She was born on the Aran Islands, off Co Galway, and six...

Body in wheel compartment of BA plane.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) THE body of a man was found in the wheel compartment of a British Airways plane that had flown from Heathrow to John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York authorities have said. Police found the body of a man,...

Cardiologists to granny's rescue.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) A GRANDMOTHER told of her relief yesterday after she suffered a heart attack on a plane full of cardiologists. Dorothy Fletcher, 67, was flying to her daughter's wedding in Florida when she collapsed with chest pains....

Jacko may face further charges.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) MICHAEL Jackson may face new charges if his claims that he was manhandled by police prove to be false. Police in California hit back at claims that the pop star was roughed up during his recent arrest over child sex...

Americans batten down the hatches.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) AMERICANS saw in the New Year amid the tightest-ever security, with the nation's terrorism alert on its second-highest level. From New York's Times Square to the Las Vegas Strip and California's Rose Parade, police...

Security tighter after EU attacks.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) EUROPEAN security forces are tightening protection for leading European Union officials following the discovery of four bombs mailed to EU agencies. "Our security services have stepped up their action and...

'Miracle' as four pulled from Iran quake ruins.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) FOUR people have been pulled alive from the rubble of Iran's devastating earthquake, rescuers said yesterday as the relief operation mobilised to prevent outbreaks of disease. Iranian soldiers found the two men and...

Ireland takes EU helm with vow on unity.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) THE Irish Government will take up the EU Presidency for the sixth time today. During the coming six months, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, pictured left, will chair meetings of EU leaders and become the public face of...

Orphans list is growing by the day.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) DOZENS of orphans are being cared for at the centre in Kerman, 120 miles north-west of Bam. One official said at least 1,500 children are in similar care centres. In a colourfully decorated room, about three dozen...

Farms seized from new black owners.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) THE Zimbabwe government has repossessed about 400 farms from black owners who occupied more than one property seized from white farmers under a controversial land redistribution programme. The farms, covering at...

Protestors injured in barrier clashes.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) ISRAELI troops yesterday clashed with dozens of protestors demonstrating against the construction of Israel's West Bank separation barrier, leaving one soldier and several protesters injured, authorities and witnesses...

Star-studded new year bash.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) BRITISH-born astronaut Michael Foale celebrated the new year with tea and roast chicken aboard the International Space Station last night. Foale and his Russian crew mate, Alexander Kaleri, who arrived on the orbiting...

US steps up fight against BSE.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) THE US Agriculture Department has stepped up the country's defences against mad cow disease, banning meat from cows that cannot walk or stand on their own and promising to create a nationwide animal tracking system as...

Five killed in Baghdad restaurant blast.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) A LARGE explosion ripped through a restaurant in central Baghdad yesterday killing five people, police said. Rescuers were seen pulling people from the building. Witnesses said the blast was caused by a car bomb. ...

Red Cross wants to see Saddam.
January 1, 2004... (From Newsletter) THE International Red Cross said yesterday that it has met with coalition authorities in Iraq to discuss possible visits to the captured former leader Saddam Hussein. "The case of Saddam has come up in routine...