Energy supplier bows to pressure to improve bills
Millions of households stand a better chance of understanding their energy costs after nPower, the UK's fourth largest supplier, announced a major overhaul of customer bills. The changes by nPower, which has 6.6 million customers, are in response to a long-running campaign by Times Money and consumer groups. It is hoped that other suppliers will follow suit. The new format bills will clearly explain the controversial structure of pricing for primary and secondary units which has led to claims by Consumer Focus, the watchdog, that nPower has knowingly overcharged millions of customers.

Cadbury workers to lobby Government for support
Cadbury workers will lobby the Government tomorrow for support to win jobs and investment guarantees from their new employer on the eve of the expected takeover of the chocolate-maker by US giant Kraft. Cadbury shareholders will vote tomorrow on a revised offer from Kraft, but union officials said the US firm had remained "silent" on the workforce's future. Hundreds of members of Unite will urge the Government to ensure that pledges to the workforce from the new owners were more than "warm words".

Mandelson's 'disappointment' after Kraft meeting
Business Secretary Lord Mandelson has said he is "disappointed" that food giant Kraft would not commit to managing Cadbury's brands in the UK. Lord Mandelson spoke after a meeting with Kraft boss Irene Rosenfeld. He said he was glad of the personal meeting, but would now be looking for "much harder, more specific commitments in the next three to six months". Their talks took place less than two hours after Kraft secured shareholder backing for its takeover of Cadbury.

Small businesses hit at late Whitehall payments
Central government and its agencies are persistently paying private contractors and suppliers late, reflecting a growing squeeze on public spending and putting pressure on small companies, according to the Federation of Small Businesses. "If government does not pay debts on time, it scuppers all its other efforts to help small businesses," said Stephen Alambritis of the federation. "Our concern is that a period of stress in central government has led to departments delaying payments. This affects small businesses more than large ones because they are more fearful that chasing payments could lose them contracts."

Brazil to build controversial Belo Monte hydroelectric dam in Amazon rainforest
The Brazilian government has given the green light to the construction of a controversial hydroelectric dam in the Amazon rainforest that environmentalists and indigenous activists claim will displace indigenous tribes and further damage the Amazon basin. Brazil's environment ministry granted the Belo Monte dam project an environmental licence late on Monday paving the way for tenders from companies interested in constructing the world's third largest hydroelectric plant, on the Amazon's Xingu river.

Damages win for consultant who criticised cost-cutting
A senior consultant at a London hospital who was suspended after repeatedly raising concerns about the health and safety of patients has a won a landmark claim. Ramon Niekrash, 50, a consultant urologist at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, south-east London, was branded a "troublemaker" and excluded from the hospital in 2008 after writing a series of letters to management warning about the impact of chronic cost-cutting.

FSA bans and fines former BlueBay fund manager for deceiving investors
The FSA has banned Simon Treacher, a former fund manager at BlueBay Asset Management, and fined him £140,000 for deceiving investors by mis-marking funds he managed and misleading the regulator. The City regulator said Mr Treacher, as a senior fund manager in the firm's emerging markets team, deliberately altered quotes which boosted the independent valuation of £27m of funds and resulted in investors being financially disadvantaged by around $650,000 (£407,000). Between August and October of 2008, he carefully cut out and pasted different figures onto seven original broker quotes used in the valuation process of assets in the funds he managed.

Diageo rebuffs Swiss offer to exempt top 200 executives from income tax
Diageo, the world's biggest drinks company, has been offered a sweetheart deal to relocate its headquarters to Switzerland in a proposal that would see its top executives exempt from paying income tax. The FTSE company, which owns Smirnoff vodka and Guinness, has rejected the offer which is understood to be just one of a series of proposals that it has received in recent months. However, the terms of the offer from the Swiss canton of Zug highlight how aggressive foreign authorities have become in their attempts to lure UK companies offshore. Zug offered a deal that would see up to 200 of Diageo's top executives exempted from paying income tax and the company itself offered corporate tax rates on more attractive terms that those in Britain.

Supermarkets face tougher suppliers' code of practice
A new code of practice has come into force which is intended to help farmers and food companies when they do business with the main supermarkets. Practices such as big chains altering supply terms retrospectively or asking suppliers to fund promotions such as two-for-one deals will be outlawed. Supermarkets will have to keep written records of negotiations with suppliers.

Shell to axe 1,000 jobs as profits plunge 69%
Shell, Britain’s second-biggest oil company, will cut a further 1,000 jobs this year as it reported a bigger than expected 69 per cent fall in full-year profits and cautioned over an “uncertain” outlook for 2010. The Anglo-Dutch company reported 2009 earnings of $9.8 billion on a current cost of supplies basis, against $31.4 billion for 2008.

MPs braced for criminal charges over expenses
The first criminal charges to result from the expenses scandal are expected to be announced today by the Director of Public Prosecutions. Scotland Yard detectives have referred six files to the Crown Prosecution Service so far. They believe that the evidence in some of these cases is overwhelming and are confident that a number of parliamentarians will be charged with criminal offences. The most serious allegations relate to expenses claims for mortgages that had already been fully paid and allegations of wrongful payment for overnight accommodation. Some 364 MPs were forced to repay a total of £1.12 million as Sir Thomas criticised a “deeply flawed” system overseen by clerks in the Commons Fees Office and the “culture of deference” exploited by MPs that allowed it to flourish.

Camra gets OFT to reopen pub investigation
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has reopened its investigation into so-called "beer ties" between pub companies and their tenant landlords. The OFT said it was putting the case to consultation after the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) applied for a review. It comes four months after the OFT said it had found no evidence competition was being harmed by landlords having to buy beer from pub owners.

Vedanta shares fall as Church of England sells entire stake
Vedanta fell 96p to £23.29 after the Church of England said it had decided to sell its entire stake, worth around £3.8m, in the company. The Church of England sold the shareholding over concerns that human rights were being violated at some of Vedanta's mines in India. The Church was particularly concerned about allegations surrounding Vedanta's alumina refinery in Lanjigarh, Orissa, and its planned bauxite mine in the Niyamgiri hills. John Reynolds, chairman of the Church's Ethical Investment Advisory Group, said: "After six months of engagement, we are not satisfied that Vedanta has shown, or is likely in future to show, the level of respect for human rights and local communities that we expect of companies in whom the Church investing bodies hold shares."

BAE fined $400m over Saudi payments
BAE Systems has agreed to pay a $400m (£257m) fine after admitting to "defrauding the US" over the sale of fighter planes to Saudi Arabia and Eastern Europe. The sanction came as the UK ended its six-year investigation of the company over allegations of bribery, and dropped charges of conspiracy to corrupt brought last week against an Austrian count accused of being a BAE agent. BAE is charged with conspiracy to "knowingly and wilfully impede" the authorities by making certain false, inaccurate and incomplete statements in relation to compliance with anti-corruption standards, thereby "defrauding the US".

Toyota under fire for its handling of safety recall
Toyota's response to the potentially lethal accelerator fault which has caused cars to career out of control came under renewed attack tonight following an investigation which cast fresh doubt on the way this week's crisis was handled. Toyota knew about the problem from the winter of 2008/09, but only provided detailed information to the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (Vosa), which registers recalls on faulty cars, on 22 January this year, according to the government. Toyota executives have also admitted that they treated 26 cases across Europe in the winter of 2008/09 as "a quality issue". Only when the problem recurred this winter did they treat it as a safety issue.

Bank of America accused of 'enormous fraud'
The New York Attorney General is suing Bank of America (BoA) and two of its top executives for an “enormous fraud” on taxpayers and shareholders over the bank's 2008 acquisition of Merrill Lynch. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s civil suit alleges that Kenneth Lewis, BoA’s former chief executive, and Joe Price, currently head of the bank’s consumer arm, hid a $16.2 billion pre-tax loss at Merrill from shareholders, then lied to the Federal Reserve and the Treasury to get a $20 billion bailout. “The conduct of Bank of America, through its top management, was motivated by self-interest, greed, hubris and a palpable sense that the normal rules of fair play did not apply to them,” Mr Cuomo said.

Big contractors squeeze out the little man
Large construction contractors are squeezing smaller companies out of the race for lucrative public sector work because they can offer cheaper rates and mount better bids, according to a leading industry group. Figures from the National Federation of Builders (NFB) showed that a quarter of small and medium-sized (SME) building companies have been forced to shed staff after missing out on government-funded contracts. The NFB said the survey showed that smaller contractors were becoming increasingly marginalised despite Government pledges to support small business and to improve access to work.

Office of Fair Trading revives inquiry into tied pubs as campaigners refuse to call time
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has agreed to reopen its inquiry into the tenanted pub market to head off a protracted and costly legal challenge from the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra). The consumer group is challenging a decision by the OFT to give the big tenanted pub companies (pubcos) a clean bill of health, but has agreed to put an appeal on hold until August pending a fresh public consultation. n October, the OFT dismissed the complaint, insisting it had found no evidence that supply ties were causing competition problems or having an adverse effect on customers — a decision Camra immediately vowed to take to the Competition Appeal Tribunal.

State banks cost the borrower
Britain’s state-controlled banks have been blamed for keeping mortgage rates artificially high. Lloyds Banking Group, 43% owned by the taxpayer, has the largest margin over the cost of funding on its two-year fixed-rate deals at 3.47%. Meanwhile Lloyds, RBS (84% owned by the taxpayer) and Halifax (part of the Lloyds Banking Group) charge the widest margins on five-year deals at 3.31%, 3.25% and 2.89%. By contrast, HSBC, which received no taxpayer bailout, has the lowest margin at 2.71% for two-year deals and 2.56% for five-year deals.

BP faces protest over oil sands development
BP has become the latest oil company to face a shareholder revolt over its investments in Canada’s controversial oil sands. A coalition of shareholders has tabled a resolution for the oil giant’s annual meeting on April 15 highlighting what they describe as the environmental and social risks of tar sands development. The resolution, which follows a similar action taken by investors in Royal Dutch Shell, follows BP’s announcement last week that it is set to press ahead with a $10 billion investment in the industry.

HSBC denies US Senate accusations of corruption
HSBC has strongly defended itself against a US Senate report into foreign corruption and US interests which is critical of the bank's lax anti-money laundering measures. A bank spokesman said: "Some of the claims in the report are more than 10 years old," adding: "most of the situations complied with both the spirit and the letter of the law". The report criticises oversights at other big institutions including Bank of America, UBS's London subsidiary and Citibank London.

Employers set to keep squeezing pay
Employers who did not offer their staff pay increases during 2009 are likely to continue to freeze salaries for the rest of this year, analysis published today reveals. The Labour Research Department (LRD), an independent consultancy that conducts research on behalf of trades unions, said that many workers would face a pay freeze for the second year running over the next 12 months, despite Britain's economy moving into recovery. and signs that inflation is now beginning to return. Pay freezes were actually now more common than at any time during the recession, the LRD said, with January having seen a marked toughening in the attitude of employers.

Toyota recalls thousands of Prius cars worldwide
Toyota has announced the recall of about 436,000 hybrid vehicles worldwide, including its latest Prius model, to fix brake problems. The total includes more than 200,000 Prius cars sold in Japan and 8,500 cars in the UK. "We have decided to recall as we regard safety for our customers as our foremost priority," the firm said. The company has already recalled eight million vehicles because of accelerator and floormat problems.

Japanese company faked safety reports on seats
A Japanese company admitted last night that it had falsified data after its seats, used by dozens of international airlines, failed safety tests. It is understood that about 150,000 suspect seats made by Koito Industries have been installed in 1,000 Boeing and Airbus aircraft owned by 32 carriers in 24 countries. Singapore Airlines, Continental and All Nippon Airways are thought to have delayed the introduction of new aircraft because of problems with Koito seats. The company has also been issued with an official business improvement order — a humiliating punishment that has been known to break smaller companies.

400 Cadbury workers to lose jobs despite promise
Hundreds of Cadbury workers at a factory that the new owner Kraft promised to keep open face losing their jobs. The Somerdale plant at Keynsham, near Bristol, will in effect shut down with the loss of 400 jobs, although it may remain open with a skeleton staff, The Times has learnt. Cadbury had planned to close it this year as it moved more of its confectionery manufacturing to Poland. Yet Kraft said, in its first approach to Cadbury shareholders in September, it “would be in a position to continue to operate” the factory. Most of the 400 remaining staff are scheduled to leave between March and June.

Mandelson attacks Kraft on jobs
Lord Mandelson has launched an extraordinary attack on Kraft’s lack of “straight dealing” and honesty over its £11.7bn takeover of Cadbury, warning the US company it risked “considerable damage” to its reputation in Britain. The business secretary hit out on Thursday after Kraft announced it would go ahead with Cadbury’s plans to close a factory in Somerdale, near Bristol, at the cost of 400 jobs, despite having signalled that it would keep the plant open in its original bid.

Investors oppose Grainger chief's £3m payoff
Big shareholders put company bosses on notice today that they could expect stiff opposition to excessive executive pay when they voted against a big payoff for the former boss of residential property group Grainger. Last year was a record year for shareholder activism on boardroom pay. Five big companies suffered the humiliation of having their remuneration reports kicked out by investors, including Provident Financial, Bellway, Shell, Punch and Royal Bank of Scotland. Others, including BP, faced big protest votes.

BAE ‘gave Saudi official perks worth $5m’
BAE Systems, Europe’s largest defence company, gave a Saudi Arabian official perks, including travel, property and cars, worth more than $5 million in nine months, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) has claimed in a legal document filed in court. The document alleges that BAE had paid this “influential” official through a Swiss bank account controlled by one of the company’s middlemen. According to the document, there was a payment of £10 million and a further $9 million into the account over a period of about nine months between May 2001 and early 2002.

Chinese court charges 'Rio four' with bribery and espionage
The Chinese authorities have formally charged the "Rio Tinto four" with accusations of bribery and commercial espionage. The four employees of the mining giant's Shanghai business – including an Australian national, Stern Hu – have been held since July. Although the original, more serious, charges of stealing state secrets have been downgraded, they still face more than 20 years in prison if convicted. China's state-run Xinhua news agency yesterday reported that the four are accused of requesting and accepting "huge" bribes from Chinese steel companies, as well as using "improper" means to obtain commercially sensitive information.

Goldman Sachs, Goldman Sachs, clicking in the votes?
Campaigners for a "Robin Hood tax" watched with alarm as thousands of votes poured into their website, rejecting their proposal for a levy on City wheeler-dealing, to raise money to fight poverty and climate change. After a bit more investigation, though, the unlikely backlash against the rob-the-rich plan – almost 5,000 no votes against the Robin Hood tax within 20 minutes – turned out to emanate from just two computer servers, one of which was registered to the investment bank Goldman Sachs.

Shell staff details leaked to campaign groups
Royal Dutch Shell has suffered a serious breach of security after contact details for more than 170,000 employees and contractors were e-mailed to environmental and human rights campaign groups. The database, from Shell’s internal directory, gives names and telephone numbers for all the company’s workforce worldwide, including some home numbers used for business. The e-mail was ostensibly sent by disaffected staff calling for a “peaceful corporate revolution” at the company.

Lloyds accused of distorting job market with 'inflated' pay and bonuses
Lloyds Banking Group, the part-nationalised lender, is driving up market rates for bond and equity salesmen and traders with "silly packages" and "guaranteed bonuses" – as it attempts to build a controversial capital markets business. Rivals claim that the bank is distorting the market with "inflationary" offers. Royal Bank of Scotland faced accusations last year that it was forcing corporate customers to use the bank as an adviser on refinancings.

Chip and pin should be overhauled to protect millions of bank customers
Chip and pin technology must be overhauled it was claimed yesterday after it emerged that one in seven people could have already been a victim of a "fatal flaw" in the system. Experts at Cambridge University believe the system is "broken" after they tricked it into accepting transactions without using a valid personal identification number. They say the flaw is so fundamental it threatens to undermine the entire security of the system. Now the consumer association Which? has joined them in calling for an investigation and any subsequent overhaul to protect millions of people from fraud.

New MPs' expenses watchdog cost £6.6m to set up
The independent body that oversees MPs’ expenses cost the taxpayer £6.6 million before it had even begun processing claims, it emerged yesterday. In a statement issued yesterday, Ipsa said that the estimated cost of setting up in 2009-10 is £6.6 million. This is to pay the “one-off costs of establishing a new, independent public body of this sort, such as the acquisition of accommodation and IT systems”. This means that in its first year the authority will cost about six times the amount MPs have been ordered to repay.

Barclays cuts back bankers' pay in bid to quell bonus fury
Barclays is to slash the percentage of revenues it pays to its investment bankers to 38 per cent in a bid to calm tensions over bonuses. But even at that level – down from 44 per cent last year – employees at its investment banking arm, Barclays Capital, will still share in a huge pay pool of £6.8bn, while Bob Diamond, who heads what is the company's most successful division, is set to take home some £20m. As the first bank to report, Barclays – which took no cash from the taxpayer during the financial crisis – has often found itself in the middle of a storm of controversy over profits and bonuses when it issues its results.

BA suspends cabin staff in Facebook row over list of strike-breaking pilots
British Airways has suspended 15 flight attendants who wrote Facebook comments and sent private emails about a "name and shame" list of pilots who volunteered to help break any strike, the Guardian has learned. The airline has also demanded that unions reveal the identities of a further 32 members of the cabin crew union, Bassa, who posted messages about the list on a thread on its discussion forum. Unite, the union representing 12,000 BA cabin crew, condemned the airline for bullyboy tactics, claiming some members had been suspended merely because they were Facebook friends of others under investigation.

Google seeks to quell Buzz privacy outcry
Google sought on Thursday night to quell an outcry over the privacy settings in its new Buzz social networking service, which critics have claimed exposes personal information about users without their approval. The internet company acknowledged the concerns raised by the service, launched just two days before, and announced changes designed to stem the fears, though these did not directly address all the complaints from some critics. The row over privacy on Buzz echoes the reaction two months ago to a decision by Facebook to make more of the personal data about its own users public by default.

Nine British companies in US bribery inquiry
Nine British companies are being investigated by American authorities for allegedly paying bribes to win business in overseas markets, according to new research. The study by Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, the UK law firm, will further stoke fears about the growing reach of international regulators. This month, in one of the biggest corruption cases to date, BAE Systems, the defence contractor, agreed to pay £285 million in fines and to plead guilty to minor accounting violations after it was accused of paying bribes to win defence contracts

BP pushing ahead with Canada oil sands project despite investor and environmentalist anger
The oil giant is already under fire over its involvement in a $10bn (£6.4bn) project in Alberta but discussions now under way could provide the basis for a more ambitious programme to increase investment in the world's biggest oil sands territory. BP is understood to be negotiating a $1.2bn deal to buy a majority stake in Value Creation, an over-stretched Canadian company struggling to reach an agreement with creditors before a deadline set for Monday. Oil sands developments have attracted considerable controversy because surface mining makes them environmentally sensitive and costly.

Toyota’s UK employees face recall fallout
The furore surrounding Toyota’s product recalls has added to the woes of the Japanese carmaker in the UK, where it employs about 10,000 people directly or through its dealer network. Toyota’s Burnaston plant in Derbyshire was already considering cutting 750 jobs in response to falling demand for cars. It may have to slash the headcount further if concerns over potentially dangerous accelerator pedals translate into significantly lower sales. Orders from UK customers have already fallen 7 per cent, the company said.

Gas and electricity bill loophole 'will close'
The government has vowed to amend a rule that allows energy companies more than two months to inform customers of price rises. Suppliers can wait for 65 working days after prices have been put up to notify their customers of the increase. Energy regulator Ofgem is to consult on proposals that will include a plan for companies to tell people in advance of any bill increases. The government has said it will ensure the delay is no more than 10 days.

Drinks companies could be forced to put health warnings on alcohol
Drinks companies may be forced to put health warnings on alcohol after it was revealed today that the industry is widely shunning a voluntary code on labelling. Just 15% of drinks carry the five messages agreed under a protocol between the industry and the government three years ago, which said most labels would comply by 2008, according a report by the Department of Health. The report said cider makers had made substantial improvements and good progress was also being made on supermarket own-label drinks. Beer producers such as Heineken and Molson Coors were singled out for providing good-quality information on their labels.

Branson attacks US anti-trust move on BA tie-up
Sir Richard Branson yesterday launched a scathing attack on the US Department of Transportation (DOT), labelling its decision to grant anti-trust immunity to the proposed transatlantic tie-up between British Airways and American Airlines (AA) as a "kick in teeth for consumers". "This preliminary decision beggars belief," Sir Richard said. "The DOT last time said that in order to address the competitive harms, hundreds of slot pairs had to be handed over permanently – absolutely nothing has changed since then. Four slot pairs is a complete joke and those responsible for this decision should hang their heads in shame."

HSBC faces investor anger over proposed pay rise for top team
HSBC, the global bank that has been praised for its handling of the financial crisis, has clashed with shareholders over a proposed pay rise for its executive team. Investors are understood to be particularly unhappy with the sum that HSBC wants to pay Michael Geoghegan, its chief executive, who relocated his office to Hong Kong on February 1. Mr Geoghegan was paid £1.7 million in 2008, down from £3.5 million in 2007. Barclays will add to the tensions today when the bank announces a compensation pool of about £4.5 billion, which includes a bonus pot of £2.3 billion, alongside record profits of £11.2 billion.

Tenants left high and dry after Church of England abandons New York towers
When the Church of England walked away from a £40 million investment in a Manhattan apartment complex last month, it simply wrote off the entire amount, promising that “lessons would be learnt”. Yet many of the tenants of the 11,000 apartments are still dealing with the fallout. Left in limbo as a new buyer is sought for the buildings, they have serious concerns about who will maintain the complex.

Energy giants turn up the heat for dirty power
Two of Britain’s biggest energy companies are lobbying the Conservative Party to keep some of the nation’s most polluting power stations operating beyond a deadline set by the European Union, The Times has learnt. RWE npower and E.ON, the two German-owned companies, have held private talks with senior Conservative politicians about the legal position of nine coal and oil-fired power plants due to close by the end of 2015 under new EU pollution rules.

Transatlantic corruption probes to increase
British companies suspected of corruption will face more co-ordinated transatlantic probes such as the landmark investigation that led to the UK arms maker BAE Systems paying a near-record fine, the head of the Serious Fraud Office has warned. Richard Alderman defended the contentious deal and said the SFO expected to strike similar “global settlements” in coming cases in which it was working with the US Department of Justice and other agencies.

Stronger corporate governance will be good for pensions
We are only a couple of months into the new decade and the pace of change in UK corporate governance shows no sign of slowing down. Soon companies will have to “comply or explain” with an updated combined code, institutional investors will be subject to a new stewardship code and the coming voting season will rightly see increasing scrutiny on remuneration. Playing its part in improving standards, the National Association of Pension Funds published guidance last week to help pension fund trustees to fulfil their obligations under the stewardship code.

Banks accused as Greece is told to open its books
Investment banks received a lecture in ethics from Brussels yesterday as the European Union gave Greece three days to disclose how it had used complex financial deals to conceal the true size of its public debt. As the Government in Athens prepared for another wave of strikes, European finance ministers spelt out the extra measures expected of Greece if its debt-reduction plan was found to be off course, including a rise in value-added tax and further spending cuts. But the barely concealed anger felt in Brussels over the way in which Greece had for years issued misleading statistics boiled over into an attack on the bankers who helped it to massage its figures.

Charity sells its shares in 'immoral' Vedanta
Vedanta resources faced another damning indictment of its ethical record yesterday, when the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust sold its shares in the British mining company, saying its activities in India were "morally indefensible". The trust is the latest in a string of organisations, including the Church of England, Amnesty and the British Government, to have attacked the FTSE 100 company over its environmental, ethical and human rights practices.

BNP claims moral high ground
BNP Paribas said yesterday it was paying less in bonuses than its peers despite a 93 per cent rise in net profit, helped in part by last year's acquisition of Fortis bank. Baudouin Prot, chief executive of France's biggest bank, urged regulators to ensure recent guidance on bankers' bonuses agreed among the Group of 20 countries was applied "rigorously" by all banks to prevent unfair poaching of talent. Last year BNP triggered a storm of criticism for failing to mention it had set aside €1bn ($1.3bn) for bonuses.

Disney film faces Europe boycott
Several large European cinema chains have threatened to boycott Alice in Wonderland, Walt Disney's forthcoming release, after Disney announced it planned to bring forward the DVD release of the film. The aim is to bolster DVD sales, which have been in decline, by allowing the studio to take advantage of marketing to promote the film in cinemas. "Disney is not keeping its part of the bargain," Youry Bredewold, a representative for Pathe and the Dutch National Board of Cinema Owners, told AFP. "There is an agreement between movie distributors and cinema owners that there must be a window of at least four months between the cinema release and the DVD release."

Barclays condemned for overdraft rate rise
The banking giant is increasing the interest it charges people who go into the red by up to 5 percentage points from the end of April. The rate increase will affect around a fifth of the group's current account customers. The move comes just days after Barclays announced a 92pc jump in pre-tax profits to £11.6bn, helped by the sale of its fund management arm and a strong performance by investment banking business Barclays Capital.

Your reward for losing £50m? £683,000
The financier responsible for Oxford University's investment portfolio claimed more than £37,000 in expenses last year and was paid nearly £700,000 even though the value of the endowments she managed fell by nearly £50m. Sandra Robertson, who is employed by the university to manage funds totalling around £1bn, took home a total pay packet last year of £683,000, including pension contributions, according to accounts recently published online. Some dons believe the head of Oxford's primary investment fund should have tried to cut down on her expenses at a time when faculties and staff are facing widespread cuts.

Baby P whistleblower being 'hounded out' of Great Ormond Street Hospital
The senior consultant who warned of "serious failings" at the Great Ormond Street Hospital clinic which sent Baby P home to die is being "hounded out," according to her husband. The move is the latest in a string of cases where the NHS's promises to protect whistle-blowers have proved false. The inquiry into the Stafford hospital scandal has heard how medical staff who tried to warn of fatal failings at the trust were threatened into silence by NHS managers.

Energy giants accused of cashing in on boiler scrappage scheme
Some energy companies are ripping off householders using the Government’s boiler scrappage scheme by quoting inflated prices for a new boiler, according to industry experts. The warning comes as a leading heating engineer says that paying £2,000 to replace a working boiler is “financial madness” and that the scrappage scheme has serious flaws.

Toyota memo shows $100m savings over floor mat recall
Toyota's reputation for safety has come under renewed scrutiny after an internal memo showed that the carmaker's executives boasted of saving $100m (£65m) through a limited recall of floor mats connected to a potentially dangerous acceleration defect. The revelation is certain to increase pressure on Toyota's president, Akio Toyoda, to fully account for his firm's handling of the safety recall of more than 8.5m cars worldwide when he testifies before the congressional committee on Wednesday. Toyota has drawn sharp criticism for its slow response to problems ranging from "sticky" accelerators to defective floor mats that can trap accelerator pedals, and momentary loss of brake power at low speeds.

Every little helps? Supermarkets accused of 'cynical manipulation' over 1p cuts
The majority of price cuts in the supermarket price wars between Asda and Tesco in the run-up to Christmas were just 1p, a Guardian investigation can reveal. In contrast, the majority of price increases imposed by the two retail giants during the same period were more than 10p. This new analysis of supermarket pricing policy shows a "cynical manipulation of the language of value" according to independent expert Professor John Bridgeman, who criticised the use of "price flexing". Tesco is the most prolific user of 1p cuts, and Asda the second most prolific.

Recession affects sales of Fairtrade products
Fairtrade’s explosive growth slowed in the UK last year as shoppers thought twice about buying costlier ethical products in the recession, figures released today show. Overall Fairtrade sales rose by 12 per cent to an estimated £799m, with tea and coffee performing well but cotton fading, the Fairtrade Foundation said. During 2009 several companies announced they would move some lines exclusively to Fairtrade lines: Starbucks switched all its espresso-based coffees to Fairtrade while Cadbury converted its best-selling Dairy Milk range.

Inflation-busting pay rises for non-executive directors
At a time when the vast majority of private-sector workers are seeing their pay frozen, non-executive directors in FTSE-100 companies have awarded themselves inflation-busting rises of 5 per cent or more. Non-executive chairmen were given pay rises of 5.1 per cent during the past year, a survey by the respected analysts Incomes Data Services (IDS) reveals. Chairmen of remuneration committees – the very people supposed to guard against boardroom excess – enjoyed an increase of 14.6 per cent in their fees with their average typical fees running at £12,000, on top of their basic fees.

Marks & Spencer investors call for cut in Sir Stuart Rose's £1.13m pay
Top institutional investors are said to be urging the M&S board to cut Sir Stuart's salary when Marc Bolland, the new chief executive, joins in May, to reflect Sir Stuart's reduced responsibilities. Sir Stuart is currently executive chairman and chief executive, a dual role that has infuriated shareholders. Once Mr Bolland joins the company, on May 1, Sir Stuart will revert to a conventional non-executive chairman role. He has promised to leave in mid-2011. One large investor is reported to have said: "We think it is appropriate that Rose takes a significant pay cut and we plan to give that feedback to the company."

Japan Transport Minister hints at cover-up at Toyota
The Japanese Government turned its guns on Toyota today as its Transport Minister hinted at a cover-up of safety issues at the carmaker that is under criminal investigation by the United States over the recall of millions of cars. Seiji Maehara said that there was a high possibility that Toyota had not adequately shared information over possible defects with the authorities. He added that Toyota’s recognition of its responsibilities had been too “light”.

Pressure grows on energy suppliers to pass on price cuts
Five of Britain’s biggest energy companies were facing mounting pressure to cut prices last night after figures from Ofgem, the industry regulator, showed the average profits they earned per household leapt 40 per cent this winter to the highest level in five years. Ofgem said that net profit margins earned by the so-called Big Six companies — British Gas, ScottishPower, EDF Energy, N-Power, Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) and E.ON — widened from £75 per average dual fuel customer last November to £105 at the start of this month.

Toyota boss Akio Toyoda apologises ahead of US grilling
The boss of the embattled Japanese carmaker Toyota has conceded that his company's runaway growth over the past decade has clouded its focus on safety, in a deeply penitent apology for faults in accelerators and brakes that have led to a vast recall of 8.5m cars. In written evidence ahead of a potentially humbling appearance before US Congress on Wednesday, Toyota's president, Akio Toyoda, pledged to place a high priority on improving "quality over quantity" and accepted personal responsibility for the safety crisis.

NoW phone-hacking: Payoffs buried scandal at heart of the establishment
MPs have condemned the "collective amnesia" and "deliberate obfuscation" by the News of the World in giving evidence to the Commons select committee inquiry into illegal phone hacking. In a highly critical report they claim the true number of phone-hacking victims "will never be known" owing to the ­Sunday tabloid's "unwillingness" to provide information, and "claims of ignorance or lack of recall". But there was "no doubt it was a ­significant number" – and "certainly more than the 'handful' cited by the newspaper and police".

Reckitt could face £80m fine over Gaviscon 'market abuse'
The household goods giant Reckitt Benckiser has been accused by the competition watchdog of deliberately manipulating its "dominant market position" to stop NHS doctors from supplying generic versions of its Gaviscon heartburn and indigestion medicine. The competition watchdog alleges that Reckitt sought to "restrict" competition to the heartburn brand by withdrawing and delisting its packs of Gaviscon Original from the NHS prescription database just before a generic name had been assigned.

Lloyds accused of betraying roots as it pulls out of charity deal
Lloyds Bank is to end the funding of its charitable foundation in Scotland, a move which threatens to deprive charities of £6 million a year. Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland, which has received just under 0.2 per cent of the bank’s annual profits — £85 million since 1985 — will receive no more payments after 2019 and, until the bank returns to profit, just £39,000 a year.

ScottishPower accused of failing to pass on savings
ScottishPower provoked a furious backlash from consumer groups yesterday when it announced an 8 per cent rise in profits to £1.3 billion last year. The energy company’s announcement, which came as bitter winter weather continued to affect much of the UK, was branded “indefensible” by one energy consultancy. Consumer Focus accused the Spanish-owned utility of failing to pass on to consumers the benefits of plummeting wholesale gas and electricity prices last year.

Diageo accuses Bacardi of rum behaviour
Diageo has launched a blistering attack on rival Bacardi, accusing it of leading a "hidden campaign" for commercial gain that would "kill" off a series of lucrative tax excises that the maker of Captain Morgan rum would receive by shifting production from Puerto Rico to the US Virgin Islands. Diageo said that Bacardi officials have been lobbying US congressional leaders to force the London-based drinks giant to move production outside the US. This would not only protect Bacardi's "own huge government rum subsidies", but it would also prevent the maker of Johnnie Walker whisky from raking in huge annual tax incentives from producing and selling rum on American soil.

Consumer groups hit out over British Gas profits
Consumer groups called for immediate cuts in energy bills today following the announcement that British Gas profits had jumped 58%. Philip Cullum, deputy chief executive of Consumer Focus, said there are "no excuses" for not reducing tariffs and claimed the market is in need of "fundamental reform". The GMB union said the Government should intervene to help those struggling to pay. The calls came after Centrica revealed its British Gas residential arm made profits of £595 million last year - up 58% on 2008.

Lloyds Group tops ombudsman complaints table
Lloyds Banking Group attracted more complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service in the second half of 2009 than any other financial firm, according to figures released today. In the last six months of the year the FOS received 20,190 complaints about the group, including 9,952 concerning Lloyds TSB – the highest number for an individual bank – and 7,349 about Bank of Scotland. The FOS said more than two-thirds of insurance complaints related to payment protection insurance, policies sold to cover debt repayments in the event of the policyholder losing their jobs or being unable to work through sickness or injury.

Bank loses £3.6bn – but finds £1.3bn to pay bonuses
More than 100 bankers at Royal Bank of Scotland will take home bonuses of at least £1 million even though RBS, 84 per cent-owned by the taxpayer, made a £3.6 billion loss last year. Sir Philip Hampton, RBS’s chairman, said that setting pay had posed a dilemma, as the “moral direction” of the bank, being deeply loss-making and relying on government handouts, contrasted with the “realities of running the business”. RBS confirmed it would pay £1.3 billion in bonuses to 16,800 investment bankers, on average £77,000 each.

British Gas customers 'fleeced' for record profits
British Gas was accused last night of fleecing millions of poor and vulnerable customers as the company announced record-breaking profits of £595 million last year — more than £1.6 million a day. The announcement from Britain’s biggest utility company, which supplies 15.7 million homes, prompted calls for a competition inquiry amid accusations that it had failed to pass on falls in wholesale gas and electricity prices to consumers last year. But Sam Laidlaw, Centrica’s chief executive, rejected the allegations of profiteering. He said that at 7.6 per cent, profit margins at British Gas were lower than at other well-known British companies, such as 15 per cent at BT and 18 per cent at Vodafone.

Markets need morals
The public outcry that followed the two major crises of the past year was driven by moral outrage. The anger was not primarily provoked by breaches of the law; instead it was in response to the violation of an unwritten ethical code that should guide us in our daily lives. The demand now is that both the global financial system and the domestic political system should be brought into closer alignment with the values held by most people across the country. Only by restoring ethical standards to both the City and parliament can we advance the common good.

Tiger Woods dropped by Gatorade in fresh sponsorship blow
Just a week after his cringing public apology for being unfaithful to his wife , Tiger Woods lost another big sponsor last night when Gatorade, the sports drinks company, announced that it was no longer interested in using the world’s No 1 golfer to promote its product. This was the third big endorsement lost by Woods as a result of the scandal. The first billionaire sportsman, he had been estimated to have earned about $100 million (£65 million) a year in endorsements before his private life unravelled after he crashed his car outside his Florida home on November 27. With AT&T and Accenture dropping Woods almost immediately, and his disappearance from public view, he is no longer seen as the ideal, clean-cut promotional vehicle.

HSBC and Standard Chartered bosses to give bonuses to charity
Their decisions mean that none of the UK's "big five" bank chiefs would have taken a penny in bonuses for last year. Peter Sands, chief executive of Standard Chartered, has chosen to donate his £2m award to charity. Michael Geoghegan, HSBC's chief executive, will qualify for a £4m bonus but will hand it to one of his favoured causes. Both banks are expected to post strong full-year profits this week and neither needed, or came close, to a taxpayer bail-out.

M&S extends eco-plan after £50m savings
Marks and Spencer will on Monday announce plans to extend its ethical and environmental commitments by a further eight years, after a previous scheme launched in 2007 saved the company £50m ($76m) last year. The news could help alleviate fears that the ethical and environmental plans launched by many UK retailers in the middle of the last decade might have been jeopardised by the recession. “It’s not just the right thing to do morally but also makes strong commercial sense,” said Stuart Rose, M&S chairman.

Aviva tells chairmen to justify executive pay
The chairmen of every large listed company in Britain have been warned to justify executive pay packets this year or risk a “no” vote at their annual meetings. Aviva Investors, the fund managers that own about 1.5 per cent of every company quoted on the FTSE All-share index, has written to 800 chairmen amid growing concern that companies are not showing enough restraint over the remuneration of their key people.