After years of over-charging, City lawyers could face tough justice
Opportunistic City lawyers who over-charge their clients face tough new rules aimed at tackling the excesses and mismanagement of corporate law firms, under proposals to be published this week. The crackdown on the City's legal profession comes after growing concerns that regulators have failed to deal with abuses at multi-million pound law firms. Clients have told a review led by former Tory cabinet member Lord Hunt of Wirral that lawyers are guilty of over-charging, failing to provide objective advice and breaching commercial confidentialities. New figures show City law firms are emerging from the recession with big rises in profits since the start of the year. Research by PriceWaterhousecoopers found that profits per partner at the UK's largest law firms was up by as much as 41 per cent. The average partner's earnings in the top 10 biggest law firms rose by almost £30,000 to £181,000.

BP fails to comply with safety standards
It has been four years since BP's biggest refinery exploded in Texas, killing 15 people and injuring hundreds in the worst US industrial accident in more than a decade. Yet US authorities have not yet succeeded in getting the UK oil major to bring the facility into compliance with safety standards required by its settlement agreement. The lapses have caused even the unit in charge of enforcing compliance - the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety & Health Administration (Osha) - to be criticised for not increasing its supervision of the facility.The Financial Times has seen copies of documents showing that, as late as August, safety authorities in the Department of Labor notified BP it was late in checking thickness on 143 pipes at the Texas City refinery, which could uncover corrosion, as well as visual inspections and maintenance on three internal tanks and seven internal vessels.

Revenue’s cash rewards and confiscation targets ‘skewing justice’
Senior prosecution officials have received personal bonuses for seizing defendants’ assets under an incentive scheme which, it is feared, could create miscarriages of justice. The Times has learnt that £44,000 in bonuses for the “most senior staff” at the Revenue & Customs Prosecution Office (RCPO), which pursues tax fraud cases, were linked in part to hitting confiscation targets. The prosecuting authority also receives 18.5 per cent of the money seized from people convicted of fraud and subjected to confiscation orders. But leading lawyers are increasingly concerned that the setting of targets and provision of financial incentives will, in the words of one, “skew justice”. The Home Office has set the criminal justice system a target for the annual seizure of £250 million of criminal assets by 2010 and wants the figure to rise to £1 billion per year.

Berlusconi ‘responsible’ in corruption case
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was jointly responsible for corruption by his Fininvest company in a 1990s battle to buy publisher Mondadori, a judge said in arguments for imposing damages on the company. “Silvio Berlusconi is co-responsible in the corruption issue ... as a logical consequence [of] the principle of civil responsibility” as head of the company, said the court document explaining the decision which Reuters obtained on Monday. There was no immediate comment from the prime minister’s office. A Milan administrative court has now ruled Fininvest should pay €750m ($1.10bn) in damages to CIR, the holding company of Berlusconi’s rival Carlo De Benedetti, whose daily newspaper La Repubblica has led recent press coverage of the prime minister’s private life.

Celebrities face endorsement crackdown
Advertisers, celebrity endorsers and even some internet bloggers will be held liable for false statements they make about products as part of a crackdown by US regulators on deceptive advertising practices. The new rules on the use of testimonials in advertising, released by the Federal Trade Commission yesterday, also say that anyone who endorses a product, including celebrities and bloggers, must make explicit the compensation received from companies.

Diageo ends link with US TV host but Tesco stays
The drinks giant Diageo last night became the latest major UK company to pull its adverts from the controversial Fox News commentator Glenn Beck's show. The decision by the maker of Guinness and Johnnie Walker follows a similar move by grocer Waitrose which stopped advertising on the outspoken television presenter's talk show that is broadcast on the Sky TV platform in Britain. The exit of both companies piles pressure on Tesco. It last night refused to cancel its involvement with his show. Kellogg's, the cereal maker, is also still promoting its brands on the show in the UK, but said a decision on its future involvement was imminent. A Diageo spokesman said: "We have ceased advertising on the show." As The Independent reported two weeks ago, some of America's biggest companies have pulled their advertising as anger over some of the statements made by Mr Beck has mounted. His comments incensed the pressure group Color of Change, which called for advertisers to "exercise corporate responsibility" and boycott his show in Britain as well as in the US. Since his attack on Mr Obama, more than 60 major US companies, including Wal-Mart, Campbell's soups, Bank of America and Capital One have stopped advertising during Mr Beck's programme in response to the call.

Boris Johnson former deputy admits misusing expenses
Ian Clement, a former deputy mayor of London, admitted misusing expenses today in a hearing at City of Westminster magistrates court.  Clement, 44, admitted three offences under the Fraud Act during the hearing. The resignation of Clement from his £127,000-a-year City Hall post as Boris Johnson's deputy for government and external relations in June was particularly embarrassing for the mayor because he had made cleaning up City Hall one of his priorities. Clement was one of just seven members of staff to hold a Greater London authority corporate credit card, said to be for use only in exceptional circumstances, "when no other means of purchasing is available". Clement admitted three counts relating to a total of £156.70 he spent fraudulently on meals. The two other charges were withdrawn. The money was spent on his corporate credit card at three London restaurants between 20 and 28 November last year.

The great energy rip-off
Fuel bills have become a "scandal" as the biggest suppliers in the £25bn-a-year industry make vast profits supplying gas and electricity to Britain's 20 million families, independent experts say. Today The Independent launches a campaign demanding that the "Big Six" power companies lower their prices, amid accusations that they failed to pass on cuts in fuel bills after the price of oil fell from last summer's record highs. Utility companies put up power prices by about 42 per cent last year, or about £382 per household. Since then, the wholesale cost of gas and electricity has halved but bills have fallen by only 4 per cent. Critics say there is too little competition between British Gas, E.ON, EDF Energy, Npower, Scottish & Southern and ScottishPower. The average domestic fuel bill paid by direct debit is £1,141 – but it varies by less than £20 between the six companies.

Coca-Cola's vitamin drink ad 'misleading'
A vitamin-enriched water made by Coca-Cola was the subject of a "misleading" advertising campaign which claimed that its nutritional benefits were the same as those gained from eating vegetables. Posters and a leaflet for Vitaminwater claimed that the drink had "more muscles than brussels" and would cause those who imbibed it to "keep perky when you're feeling murky". An advert for the product said: "Popeye had it easy. A can of spinach and he bulked up... the nutrients in this bottle won't enable you to walk on mud, or become a strapping sailor man, but they will help you beat your granny in an arm wrestle." Complaints were made to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) about the implications that the drinks were the same as vegetables, and had health benefits such as raised energy levels and resistance to illness. Coca-Cola insisted "brussels" referred to the nickname for the film star Jean-Claude Van Damme – "the Muscles from Brussels" – not sprouts, and that staying "perky" referred to mood rather than fighting illness.

British Airways to cut long-haul cabin crew without union approval
British Airways intensified its dispute with unions over cabin crew working practices yesterday by announcing plans to push through changes on long-haul flights without union agreement. The embattled airline, which has been in talks with unions since the start of the year over changes to the pay and conditions of cabin crew, said that, from the end of next month, the number of crew on its Boeing 747 flights out of Heathrow would be cut from 15 to 14. To ensure that service levels do not suffer, each flight’s customer services director (CSD), the most senior member of the cabin crew, will start to serve passengers. At present, CSDs have a managerial role and do not serve passengers. One senior BA crew member said last night: “This represents a backward move for CSDs. It’s effectively a demotion.” About 1,000 BA cabin crew have opted to take voluntary redundancy as the airline seeks to cut costs, and a further 3,000 have expressed an interest in switching to part-time working, equating to a further 700 positions — bringing the total to 1,700 jobs.

Hilton faces criminal corporate spying charges
Hilton Worldwide, the American hotel behemoth, could face criminal charges of corporate spying, on top of a civil case brought by its rival Starwood Hotels & Resorts. It emerged that a federal grand jury is investigating the company and several of its former executives over claims that they engaged in the “wholesale looting” of confidential documents in order to help it to launch a rival brand to Starwood’s W Hotels. The investigation is being conducted as part of a Department of Justice inquiry into the allegations made by Starwood in a civil case in April. The grand jury will review the evidence from the investigation, which is being handled by the US attorney’s office in Manhattan, and will determine whether there is a criminal case to answer. According to The Wall Street Journal, prosecutors are considering “an aggressive approach” to the case, which could involve bringing criminal charges against both the hotel chain and the executives involved.

Dishonest employee costs Seymour Pierce £154,000 regulatory fine
Seymour Pierce, the stockbroker run by Keith Harris, the former HSBC investment banking chief executive and Football League chairman, has been fined by regulators for failing to prevent an employee from embezzling client funds. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) said yesterday that it had fined Seymour Pierce £154,000. An unnamed manager in the City broker and investment bank’s settlements departments, described as Mr A, had syphoned money out of client accounts for several years without being detected.

Red Industries told to stop as cyanide linked to Trent pollution
Cyanide found in drainage pipes at a hazardous waste company is being investigated as the cause of death for thousands of fish in the River Trent this week. The Environment Agency has banned all further industrial discharges into the sewerage system from Red Industries of Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, after tests showed presence of the toxin in the sewer used by the company. A permit allowing the firm to flush controlled discharges into the system has been immediately suspended. The firm specialises in collection and disposal of waste including unwanted chemicals from laboratories. Agency lawyers must decide if there is sufficient evidence to mount a criminal prosecution against the firm.

Utility companies 'broke licence by cutting off the disabled'
Energy firms cut off heat and power from the mentally ill and poor families last winter, the regulator Ofgem revealed yesterday. In a joint review with the watchdog Consumer Focus, Ofgem found suppliers were disconnecting vulnerable customers who had not paid their bills last winter, despite this being against their licence conditions. Consumer Focus had dealt with "dozens" of distressed customers who found their supply had been cut off, which it described as a "devastating" blow during the winter. Vulnerable customers are those on low incomes with young children, and people dependent on medical equipment run by electricity, such as electric wheelchairs and kidney dialysis machines. Under their licence conditions, suppliers should not disconnect them during the winter months when temperatures plunge.

Kaupthing chief ‘crime suspect’
THE former boss of Kaupthing, the failed Icelandic bank, has become the first executive of a European financial institution to be declared a criminal suspect since the credit crisis began. Sigurdur Einarsson, the bank’s former chairman, who lives in London, has been made an official suspect by fraud prosecutors. The investigators are examining alleged market manipulation in connection with an investment in Kaupthing by a member of the Qatari royal family just weeks before it collapsed. Icelandic investigators are scrutinising the purchase of a 5% stake in Kaupthing by Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa al-Thani in mid-2008 as confidence in the bank nose-dived. The investment meant the sheikh became the bank’s third-largest shareholder. However, investigators have established that Kaupthing’s executives failed to mention that the sheikh’s investment had been financed through loans from the bank itself. Three weeks after the investment, the bank exploded.

Haemophiliacs with HIV to sue firm that sold tainted drug in Asia
Haemophiliacs in Taiwan and Hong Kong have been given permission to sue a multi-national drugs firm in the US over allegations that they contracted HIV from contaminated blood products that the company knowingly dumped in Asia.  The decision comes as US pharmaceutical firms meet UK victims of the scandal, which affected nearly 6,000 people with haemophilia in Britain during the 1970s and 1980s. Haemophiliacs in the UK were refused permission to sue in the US courts by a judge who said the British courts were better placed to hear the evidence.  Nearly 2,000 of the UK victims have now died in what Lord (Robert) Winston has called "the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS".

Charities hit out at Lloyds                                                                     
Lloyds has been accused of betraying hundreds of vulnerable charities after telling its four charitable foundations they must accept a 50% cut in long-term funding and more control from the bank. The proposal has led to a bitter dispute with its Scottish charitable foundation, which has refused the offer, and provoked anger among Scottish opposition parties and voluntary sector executives. The Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland, which has been given £82m by the bank over the last 14 years, claimed Lloyds is trying to weaken its independence and effectively turn the charity into an arm of its sponsorship operation.

Vedanta versus the villagers: the fight for the sacred mountain                         
The FTSE 100-listed company, which is run by the abrasive billionaire Anil Agarwal, is pressing ahead despite a desperate local rearguard action and an international outcry. Yesterday the British government turned on the company, issuing an unexpectedly damning assessment of its behaviour. Vedanta hopes the refinery will produce at least one million tonnes of alumina a year. But the Kondh people – the Dongria, Kutia and Jharania – need the bauxite too. It holds water remarkably well and helps feed the perennial streams on which they and the animals that live on the mountain rely. Once the bauxite is gone, they fear, the streams will run dry. And that will be the end of the Kondh.

Banks pushing chip-and-PIN place elderly at high risk of fraud
Thousands of elderly people are being left vulnerable to fraud because of the banking industry’s failure to explain to customers that there is an alternative to chip-and-PIN technology. Under the Banking Code, all banks must offer a “chip-and-signature” account for those who may find it difficult to remember their PIN, or cannot use a chip-and-PIN terminal. However, Times Money has discovered that some banks are reluctant to tell customers of this alternative method. Vulnerable people who are forced to use chip-and-PIN are likely to write down the number or tell it to someone else, which means that it is highly unlikely that they will be reimbursed if they become a victim of fraud.

JJB former executives investigated by Soca
The Serious Organised Crime Agency is looking at the actions of former executives at JJB Sports, it emerged on Tuesday. The sports retailer has already said it is under investigation by the Office of Fair Trading for price fixing, while the Serious Fraud Office is looking at possible deception by former employees. But the involvement of Soca was not revealed until Tuesday, when the troubled retailer stated in the prospectus for its £100m placing and open offer: “The company is assisting a number of regulatory authorities . . . [including] the Serious Organised Crime Agency regarding a number of enquiries regarding actions of certain members of the former executive management team.”

Hedge funds misrepresent facts, says research
One in five hedge fund managers misrepresents their fund or its performance to investors during formal due diligence investigations, research from New York University’s Stern School of Business suggests. The research is likely to be a further blow to the reputation of a battered industry, which has faced increasing demands for transparency from investors in the wake of the credit crisis. Using confidential data taken from 444 due diligence reports commissioned by investors between 2003 and 2008, academics at Stern analysed the extent to which hedge fund managers’ representations about their funds differed from reality.

City bankers 'regularly offer prostitutes to clients'
City bankers entertain clients and try to generate business by offering trips to brothels, MPs heard today. Kat Banyard of gender-equality pressure group the Fawcett Society told a Treasury select committee hearing into women's role in the City of London that there was a growing trend in the City to use prostitution to entertain clients. "We took extensive evidence from individual women who said it was becoming frequent for meetings to be held in lap dance clubs, and I also had women speak to me and say that prostitution was being used in client deals or in ways to generate business – and that all of this culture created a very hostile environment, as you would expect, for female employees of those firms," she said.

OFT to probe 'misleading' high street pricing
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is to investigate pricing practices employed by companies, both online and in the high street, and how they “could potentially mislead consumers”. At the same time, the watchdog is to carry out an in-depth study into how the habits and personal information of web users are used to target online advertising. The study into online advertising and pricing will focus on prices that are “individually tailored using information collected about a consumer’s internet use”. It will be completed by spring. The other study, into advertising of prices, will examine practices such as “baiting sales”, where only some products are available at the discount price and consumers may end up buying a full-priced product.

Call centres put millions at risk
Millions of credit card customers are having their details put at risk by UK call centres, 97 per cent of which are consistently flouting rules on data security, according to research published today. A national poll of UK call centre managers by Veritape, the audio recording specialists, found that recordings of calls where customers reveal sensitive financial details, including their 3-digit security code, are routinely stored on call centre computer servers, leaving them vulnerable to hackers.  This is in direct breach of global industry standards drawn up by the Payment Card Industry Data Security Council.  The findings are published in a paper, The Great Credit Card Gamble, released to coincide with National Fraud Prevention Week. The report states that nineteen out of twenty call centres that store recordings of transactional conversations with customers do not delete or mask the credit card details in the recordings.

Pepsi sorry for 'sexist' iPhone app
PepsiCo has apologised after it was accused of stereotyping women with an iPhone application for its Amp Energy drink helping users "score" on a date.  The app featured 24 types of women, including "nerd", "foreign exchange student" and "treehugger", and offered possible pickup lines including "Wasn't I in Space Academy with you?" and "You know the Mona Lisa has no eyebrows. I wonder what else she shaves?"  Pepsi's "Amp Up Before You Score" app prompted a storm of protest on Twitter, with commenters suggesting people drink Coke instead.  The US drinks giant responded with a tweet apologising for any offence caused. "Our app tried 2 show the humorous lengths guys go 2 pick up women," Pepsi said. "We apologise if it's in bad taste & appreciate your feedback."

British Airways unions say strike looks inevitable                             
Unions representing British Airways cabin crew warned last night that strike action is “inevitable” unless a compromise can be reached at a meeting on Monday.  Willie Walsh, the chief executive of BA, will meet Derek Simpson and Tony Woodley, the joint heads of the Unite union, to try to break the deadlock on Monday.  Bassa, the division of Unite that represents BA cabin crew, said in a letter to members yesterday: “If no progress is made at that meeting, a ballot for industrial action is inevitable.” BA wants to save £140 million a year from its cabin crew budget, but it also wishes to make radical changes to working practices.

Pricing tricks put online retailers under the spotlight
The competition watchdog set its sights on the internet yesterday, announcing an investigation into the murky practice of targeted pricing and advertising and embarking on a separate inquiry into price comparison websites and buy-one-get-one-free offers.  The Office of Fair Trading is examining whether internet retailers are charging customers different prices for the same goods, by gleaning information on search and purchasing histories that allow them to estimate what a shopper will be willing to pay.  Internet experts say that the practice of “price discrimination” is unseen but commonplace. Amazon, the world’s biggest internet retailer, end-ured a storm of customer criticism in 2000 when it was revealed that if shoppers deleted their cookies — the computer files that store information on a user’s internet use — they could obtain a different price.

Banks urged to cut bureaucracy for bereaved
Banks were urged today to improve the way they treat bereaved customers. Chairman of the Commons' Treasury Select Committee, John McFall MP said relatives often faced "inadequate and chaotic" procedures when they tried to access their loved ones' funds. He wants the City watchdog to create a code of conduct for banks and other financial institutions governing how they administer estates. Mr McFall told the BBC: "The main issues are treating people fairly at the most stressful time of their lives. We have had evidence that people have had to jump through unnecessary hurdles as a result of their business with banks and financial institutions.”

Treasury taken to court for RBS loans to Vedanta Resources
Ministers face embarrassment in the high court tomorrow when the Treasury is forced to explain why the state-owned Royal Bank of Scotland has been lending money to the mining firm Vedanta Resources, whose activities have been criticised by another government department. Three campaign groups: World Development Movement, Platform and People & Planet have brought the case. The Treasury argued at a preliminary hearing that it would not be right to consider climate change and human rights when it evaluated the "commercial" interests of RBS.

British mining company faces damages claim after allegations of torture in Peru
Monterrico Metals, a British mining corporation is facing a multimillion-pound claim for damages after protesters were detained and allegedly tortured at an opencast copper plant that the firm is seeking to develop in the mountains of northern Peru. The high court in London is to hear harrowing accounts of people held for three days at the remote mine near the border with Ecuador.

Network Rail faces claim staff paid off over discrimination
The government's equality watchdog has begun an inquiry into Network Rail after claims the train infrastructure operator spent millions of pounds of public money paying off senior staff forced out by discrimination and management bullying. The Equality and Human Rights Commission has written to Network Rail following accusations made by a trade union and an MP.

Widespread racial discrimination in recruitment procedures revealed by government research
New sanctions on employers could be on the cards after the government published research that revealed widespread racial discrimination in recruitment procedures.  Employment minister Jim Knight hinted that tough new measures could be introduced following the findings of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) study, which uncovered that workers with African and Asian names were victimised when it came to applying for jobs.

Harman vows to end men-only boards
Harriet Harman pledged yesterday to act to end the "nightmare" of male-only City boards, to force employers to undertake gender pay audits and to use the award of government contracts as a "major lever" to tackle sex discrimination in the Square Mile. However, experts said the government was engaged in a "race against time" to impose legal requirements on employers before the spring general election.

RBS moves to put more women into executive posts
The Royal Bank of Scotland has shaken up its diversity strategy in a bid to attract more women into top posts.  In evidence presented to the Treasury Select Committee's 'Women in the City' inquiry, the bank revealed that women account for 57% of its employees and make up 71% of the clerical population.  However, they are still under-represented at senior management and executive levels, with only 13% of the 240 executive positions at the bank being filled by women.

Mervyn King: 'Never has so much money been owed by so few to so many'
The Governor of the Bank of England launched a stinging attack on the behaviour of the banking industry last night. Mervyn King described the £1 trillion of support given to banks by the taxpayer as "breathtaking" and "unsustainable". He said: "To paraphrase a great wartime leader, never in the field of financial endeavour has so much money been owed by so few to so many. And, one might add, so far with little real reform."

Bankers' bonuses 'will soar to £6 billion' after government bailouts and rising profits
Bankers will receive an estimated £6 billion in bonuses for 2009, compared with £4 billion for 2008, according to the Centre for Economics and Business Research. Lenders with investment banking units, including Barclays, HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland had an exceptionally strong first half of the year because of favourable market conditions, such as high levels of volatility and huge amounts of debt issuance by governments around the world.

Watchdogs tell hedge funds: we are on to your game
When the FBI arrested Raj Rajaratnam last week, a chill went down the spines of more than a few of his rival hedge fund managers. There but for the grace of the gods...Insiders at the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Wall Street watchdog, and at the Justice Department say that there are more civil charges and more criminal prosecutions in the offing. Hedge fund managers need to learn to spot the difference between scouring every possible source for trading ideas, and out-and-out insider dealing, and they had better learn fast.  The question now is whether the hedge fund industry is hooked on insider trading, whether the Galleon case is a singular one starring some really rotten apples – or whether, as Mr Rajaratnam was insisting to his staff and investors yesterday, he has been unfairly accused.

Aspen releases alternative business school ranking
The Aspen Institute’s Center for Business Education has released the results of its 2009-2010 edition of Beyond Grey Pinstripes, a biennial survey and popular alternative ranking of full-time MBA programs.  This year, 149 business schools from 24 countries participated in an 18 month effort to map the landscape of teaching and research on issues pertaining to business and society.  British universities listed in the ranking include Nottingham University Business School (23rd), University of Glasgow (71st), Cranfield School of Management (81st) University of Bath School of Management (83rd), Ashridge (88th) and London Business School (95th).

Tata rules out Nano recall despite three reports of cars catching fire               
Tata Motors, maker of the Nano, the world’s cheapest car, ruled out a recall of the tiny runabout yesterday in spite of three incidents in which fires started spontaneously in the steering column. Tata, which sells the basic version of the Nano in India for 100,000 rupees (£1,300) plus taxes, said that a short circuit in the combination switch that controls the headlights, windscreen wipers and indicators was probably responsible for the incidents. Tata denied that the cars had caught fire. The company said that there had been “minor smoking ... and a localised melting of some of the fire-retardant plastic parts”. Analysts believe that the problem is probably due to a batch of faulty parts supplied to Tata.

Zurich insurance loses personal data of thousands of British customers            
Zurich Insurance, the UK arm of the Swiss insurer, admitted yesterday that it had lost a tape containing the confidential personal details of 51,000 of its British customers.  Zurich, which apologised for the mishap, revealed that the tape had been lost more than a year ago while it was in transit in South Africa and is still missing. The company said that a recent routine check had revealed that the tape was not in a storage centre where it should be kept and its whereabouts remain unknown. The lapse at Zurich is the latest to involve confidential customer data stored electronically. In February 2007, Nationwide, the building society, was fined £1 million by the FSA after a laptop containing confidential customer details was stolen from an employee’s house.

France approves broadside to digital pirates                                        
France will send out the first warnings to digital pirates early next year after passing tough legislation allowing for Internet access to be cut for those who illegally download movies and music, a minister said. The Constitutional Court passed the law on Thursday to the joy of President Nicolas Sarkozy and anger of Internet libertarians in France and other countries which are considering copying the French example. Britain is considering a similar law to France and the European Commission said on Thursday that it was now looking at Europe-wide regulation for trans-national Internet trade. In a study released Thursday, it raised the possibility of copyright legislation to work alongside national laws and also talks of "alternative forms of remuneration" for authors such as a tax on Internet access.                              

Fund to focus on role of women                                                               
One of the world’s first funds to focus on investing in companies with a high number of women in senior roles is to launch in the coming weeks, backed by Cherie Blair and the former prime ministers of Canada and New Zealand. The Women’s Leadership Fund, started by Zurich-based Naissance Capital, hopes to invest up to $2bn (£1.2bn) and take activist positions in companies with few or no women in executive or board roles. There have been other attempts, but the fund, which itself is made up of four men and three women, has a higher-profile backing with the likes of Ms Blair, wife of Tony Blair, the former UK prime minister. However, the experience of a similar fund, Amazone Euro, is cautionary: its assets have fallen to €3m ($4.5m) from a peak of €18m in 2007. The new fund should launch by the start of next month with seed capital of €1m.

New probe on Iceland ‘money laundering'
Investigators looking into the collapse of Iceland’s financial system are re-examining allegations that its banks may have been involved in money laundering. A wide-ranging inquiry into the collapse of Iceland’s banks has started to unravel a complicated network of unconventional loan agreements between the banks and high-flying entrepreneurs. Kaupthing, Iceland’s biggest bank, which attracted British savers’ money through the Kaupthing Edge savings account, has fiercely denied allegations it was involved in money laundering in the past. It is understood that the money laundering claims are not central to the core investigations into Iceland’s collapse but are being reviewed as part of the broader inquiry.

Mobile call charges double                                                                                     
Mobile phone companies are quietly raising charges for basic services to offset the cost of providing third-generation handsets, The Sunday Times has found. News that Orange and Vodafone will soon be able to stock the coveted Apple iPhone had raised hopes of better deals, but consumers are increasingly being stung by their networks’ standard tariff. In August, Orange reversed its decision to increase call charges but now charges £1.47 a month if users want an itemised paper bill. Customers can view bills online free but must opt out of the itemised billing system. T-Mobile and Vodafone charge £1.50 for a paper bill, while O2’s fee is 99p a month.

Bankers and morality: churches turn on the modern moneylenders
The idea of high-octane, bonus-driven City bankers shooting the breeze about moral values has always been about as likely as turkeys sitting down for a wattle-wag about how much they are all looking forward to the festive season.  But in recent weeks, despite the return of the vast annual payouts that were widely blamed for sparking the financial crisis, several leading City figures have pointed to bankers' lack of a moral dimension as the key issue in the crisis – one that has yet to be addressed.

Auditors face being called to account for their role in the global financial crisis
For decades, auditors have enjoyed self-regulation. This has led to senior accountants, mainly from PricewaterhouseCoopers and KPMG, assuming rule-making status. Many argue that this apparent conflict of interest has led to auditors skillfully deflecting blame for failing to spot glaring black holes or fraud at a range of institutions from Enron to Madoff and the failed banks.  The G20 and, in particular, the European Commission are beginning to ask questions about apparent conflicts of interest and the seeming cosy self-regulatory structures that govern what is a pivotal financial function: an investor's first line of defence in assessing the viability of the world's biggest and most important companies. 

MPs demand inquiry into great energy 'swindle'
An investigation into claims the "big six" energy suppliers are swindling millions of customers through manipulation of household fuel bills will be demanded by politicians today.  Amid growing anger over energy prices, 51 MPs have signed a Commons motion calling for a competition inquiry into whether British Gas, EDF and other suppliers are unfairly failing to pass on steep falls in wholesale costs. The "Great Energy Rip-Off" campaign, launched by The Independent two weeks ago, is calling for price reductions of 10 per cent, the extent of overcharging estimated by Britain's biggest energy analyst, McKinnon & Clarke.

Antitrust threat to Atlantic air tie-up
European regulators have told British Airways, American Airlines and Spain's Iberia that they could be forced to give up valuable take-off and landing slots if they want their long-planned transatlantic tieup to go ahead.  According to documents seen by the Financial Times, the European Commission says that the agreement the three airlines signed last year is "likely to result in appreciable competitive harm" on seven Europe/US routes.  Brussels says it "envisages issuing a decision finding that the series of agreements signed have been in breach" of competition laws and would order the "infringements" ended. "Remedies may include . . . the transfer of airport slots" to other carriers, it says.

FTSE chiefs receive inflation-busting pay rises
Incomes Data Services, the pay research group, said company chiefs’ salaries were growing twice as fast as the pay of shop-floor workers.  The findings come at a sensitive time after Richard Lambert, CBI director-general, warned last week that high levels of executive pay were an important factor in the “severe knock” business had taken to its reputation. Demands are growing for reform, including tougher guidelines for compensation committees, following investor unrest at companies such as Royal Dutch Shell and Royal Bank of Scotland.

Twittering workers 'waste' £1.4 billion a year
More than half of office staff spend 40 minutes a week on social networks such as Twitter and Facebook costing businesses an estimated £1.4 billion a year in lost productivity according to a survey by Morse. Morse said there had been several incidents involving companies such as Curry's and British Airways, where employees had abused customers on social networks thereby damaging those companies' brands.

Staff work harder to beat recession
Employees are working harder for their organisations to try to survive the recession but are increasingly unhappy at doing so, a survey has shown. The research carried out by management consultancy Hay Group suggests 36% of workers have increased the overtime they put in over the last year, but the same proportion are unhappy in their current role.

Corruption case against BAE Systems may be delayed
The Serious Fraud Office will miss its own deadline for bringing corruption charges against BAE Systems, Europe’s largest defence company, this week as it struggles with the complexity of the case. Legal sources said that charges could be delayed until next year as the SFO’s leading counsel and the Attorney-General are yet to assess the case. The SFO is understood to be streamlining its investigations to make a possible prosecution easier and will drop many lines of inquiries into four foreign arms deals won by BAE. The SFO has assigned more than 30 staff to the case and it had hoped to get its paperwork to Baroness Scotland of Asthal, the Attorney-General, by the end of this week. However, it is understood that the process will be delayed as the SFO’s leading counsel must also submit his analysis of the evidence.

UK slips down world equality league for third year in a row
Britain has slipped again in the international league table for gender equality. The authors of an acutely embarrassing report from a leading think-tank have described the position of professional women in the UK as "stagnant", showing little or no progress for the best part of a decade, and with significant setbacks in some areas. As the Minister for Equality Harriet Harman pushes the Government's latest Equality Bill though Parliament, the World Economic Forum (WEF), a body best known for its annual economic conference in Davos, claims that Britain has fallen dramatically down the international rankings for closing the gap between men and women in the following key respects: wage equality; the number of women in senior positions in business and politics; and even women's relative life expectancy. Overall, the UK has dropped from ninth position in the world in 2006, and 13th place last year, to 15th now.

The palm oil scandal: Boots and Waitrose named and shamed
Most British manufacturers and retailers including Boots, Morrisons and Waitrose have done little to limit the environmental damage done by the production of the world's cheapest vegetable oil, according to research published today. In a survey of leading European food and household firms, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said that only Sainsbury's, Marks and Spencer and a handful of other companies had made substantial progress towards sourcing sustainable palm oil.

K1 founder faces fraud inquiry
German prosecutors revealed on Wednesday they are investigating possible fraud and breach of duty by the founder of a hedge fund group known as K1.  Prosecutors in the southern city of Würzburg confirmed they were looking into the affairs of Helmut Kiener, founder of the K1 Group, but refused to comment further.  The move came after Bloomberg had earlier reported that authorities in Europe and the US were investigating whether a group of banks had been deceived in dealings with K1.

EDF cleared over green power ad campaign
The Advertising Standards Agency has cleared power company EDF over a TV, press and poster campaign promoting green electricity. The campaign involved three different television adverts as well as a press and poster campaign promoting Green Britain Day. The ASA ruled on complaints claiming the adverts were misleadingly by stating that EDF was a 'green' energy company and British. Defending the campaign EDF said, as an energy company, it had sought to take the 'lead in tackling environmental and social issues' facing the industry.

Is it possible to teach ethics to business school students?
Last week Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of The Black Swan , said: "I don't believe that ethics can be taught in class." He was speaking after the arrest of Raj Rajaratnam, the head of hedge fund Galleon Group, and two other alumni of his MBA class at Wharton. Have business schools paid enough attention to ethical questions? Or are ethics a personal matter?

Qinetiq chief resigns after firm criticised in Nimrod crash report
The chief executive of defence research technology firm Qinetiq has quit the company just hours after it was criticised by the official report into the Nimrod crash, which claimed 14 lives. Yesterday an official report said that Qinetiq must bear some of the blame for the mistakes that led to the crash of an ageing Nimrod aeroplane in Afghanistan in 2006. Qinetiq insisted today, though, that the two events were not linked. Yesterday's report, written by Charles Haddon-Cave QC said that Qinetiq had failed to properly fulfil its duties as an independent advisor, and had not checked BAE's conclusions.

Cluster bomb trade funded by world's biggest banks                             
The deadly trade in cluster bombs is funded by the world's biggest banks who have loaned or arranged finance worth $20bn (£12.5bn) to firms producing the controversial weapons, despite growing international efforts to ban them. HSBC, led by ordained Anglican priest Stephen Green, has profited more than any other institution from companies that manufacture cluster bombs. The British bank, based at Canary Wharf, has earned a total of £657.3m in fees arranging bonds and share offerings for Textron, which makes cluster munitions described by the US company as "leaving a clean battlefield". HSBC will face protests outside its London headquarters today. Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, JP Morgan and UK-based Barclays Bank are also named among the worst banks in a detailed 126-page report by Dutch and Belgian campaign groups IKV Pax Christi and Netwerk Vlaanderen.              

Lord Mandelson unveils internet pirates suspension plan
Internet pirates who offend repeatedly will face a series of sanctions that could end with being disconnected, Lord Mandelson said yesterday. He would introduce a Bill that legislated for disconnection. Carphone Warehouse, the owner of Talk Talk and Britain's largest internet service provider, reacted by saying that it would mount a legal challenge on the basis that internet access was a human right.

Bankers fear transatlantic pay split
US financial groups with operations in London are increasingly concerned that British regulators’ tough stance on pay could create a two-tier system in which UK bankers’ bonuses are smaller and spread over a longer period than those of American colleagues.  Wall Street executives say the line taken by the UK’s Financial Services Authority contrasts with the more flexible approach of the Federal Reserve and could lead to uneven pay scales for bankers in similar jobs on opposite sides of the Atlantic.  “We have legitimate concerns on how we can pay our people fairly,” said a senior banker at a big US bank. “The FSA appears to be more heavy-handed than the Fed so which guidelines should we be following?”

Fresh bank rules come into force                                                              
New rules come into force on Sunday when the Financial Services Authority (FSA) takes over regulation of the way banks treat their customers. Communications with account holders will have to be fair, clear and not misleading. The FSA believes banks have been generating too many complaints about poor service and that the old system of self-regulation was not good enough. New regulations will put banking customers "in the driving seat" by setting down clear standards that people can expect from their institution, said Dan Waters, the FSA's director of conduct risk.                                  

Complaints about mortgage lenders rise 40% in six months
Complaints about the way banks, building societies and specialist lenders treat struggling mortgage customers have soared by 40% over the past six months, figures from the chief financial watchdog showed yesterday. Amid mounting concern at the way financial services companies deal with people battling to make loan repayments during the recession, the Financial Services Authority warned the industry that enforcement action and heavy fines would result if it failed to clean up its act. The sub-prime mortgage company GMAC yesterday became the first victim of the Financial Services Authority's "get tough" policy on specialist lenders when it was hit with a £2.8 million fine for mistreating customers.

BP fights record $87m fine for safety breaches
The British oil company BP has been fined a record $87.4m (£53m) for failing to resolve safety issues exposed by a fatal explosion at its Texas City oil refinery, where 15 people died and 170 were injured in an explosion in 2005. The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cited 270 violations of an agreement to repair hazards at the refinery, following a six-month inspection. The fine is the largest in OSHA's history.

Battle between BA and cabin crew escalates
The confrontation between British Airways and its 14,000 cabin crew escalated yesterday as Unite, the union, said that it would seek an injunction to prevent the airline imposing contract changes. The move comes as Unite prepares to ballot its members on strike action that could ground the airline in the run-up to the busy Christmas travel period. BA has decided to impose working practice changes on its crew from November 16 after nine months of negotiations with the union have failed to yield an agreement.