Greece: Man Held As Coin Protest Targets IMF

Greece's bailout inspectors have been jeered and heckled by protesters as they check the country's progress in implementing austerity-driven reforms.

A Greek man was held by police after allegedly throwing a fistful of coins at International Monetary Fund (IMF) representative Poul Thomsen outside the finance ministry, according to the state-run Athens News Agency.

The coins hit Thomsen's car as he arrived to evaluate the pace of Greek reforms.

A suspect is led away after coins struck the IMF representative's car

The three-person team for the so-called troika of international lenders - made up of the European Commission, the IMF and European Central Bank - are due to produce a report which is crucial to determining whether the country qualifies for a vital £840m tranche of aid.

The EU and IMF foresee new unpopular austerity measures may be needed for Greece but the country's government insists its reforms are on track.

Poul Thomsen escaped injury

The austerity demanded in return for two bailouts to date has taken its toll on the Greek people, with unemployment now running at just under 28% and youth unemployment topping over 50% after six years of recession.

"Take your bailout and get out of here," a group of about 100 government workers yelled as the inspectors left after their first round of talks with Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras.

Riot police held the protesters back.

The lenders fear that without new budget cuts or new taxes, Greece will miss a targeted primary budget surplus.

The fragile, conservative-led coalition government of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras rejects across-the-board wage and pension cuts or tax increases, arguing it deserves some leeway after delivering the biggest budget deficit reduction recorded in the euro zone.

Greek labour unions have called a general strike for Wednesday to protest against austerity policies.

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Prince Charles' Duchy Estate Defends Tax Breaks

By Paul Harrison, Royal Correspondent

The Duchy of Cornwall does not possess a "competitive advantage" over other businesses despite being exempt from hefty taxes, a spokesperson for Prince Charles' estate has told Sky News.

The comments come as the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) publishes its report on the accounts of the 700-year-old Duchy of Cornwall estate.

Under the Duchy, established in 1337 by King Edward III, the heir to the throne is exempt from paying corporation and capital gains taxes on land and property transactions.

But while the current Duke of Cornwall, Prince Charles, is technically exempt from paying income tax, he has volunteered to do so since 1993.

The Duchy of Cornwall estate was established by King Edward III in 1337

The Duchy spokesperson told Sky News: "We do not believe we have a competitive advantage.

"The Duke of Cornwall's income is taxed at income tax rates. The Duchy is not subject to corporation tax and the Duchy is not a corporation ... any capital gains have to be reinvested in the business and cannot be distributed."

But the PAC's Margaret Hodge MP wonders whether the Duchy's unique tax arrangements allow for a level playing field when the estate stands alongside other businesses.

She said: "If you're letting property to a Holiday Inn in Reading or to Waitrose to run a big depot on an industrial estate, are the terms of that enabling other competitors in that market to compete on an equal and level playing field?

"What started off 700 years ago as a medieval estate, today demonstrates all the features of a modern big corporation, yet it hangs on to old habits such as exemption from corporation tax."

The Duchy's main activity is the management of land and properties which make up its estate, providing an income for the present and future Dukes of Cornwall.

Its portfolio is made up of 131,000 acres of land, properties spread across 24 counties and more than 3,500 individual lettings.

All together over the last financial year it generated £28.8m and the Prince received an income of £19m, up 4% on the previous year.

The estate owns property including the Kia Oval in south London

The money is partly used to fund his and his family's public, charitable and official duties and the Prince voluntarily pays income tax on the cash left after costs, around £9.2m last year, according to the PAC.

Margaret Hodge believes the Treasury falls short of proper scrutiny when it comes to the Duchy's finances.

She said: "It [The Treasury] relies on the Duchy to provide it with accurate information without carrying out its own independent checks.

"Details of the Treasury's approvals for the Duchy's proposed land transactions over £500,000, of which there are around 15 a year, are not published.

"Greater transparency is needed."

In answer to the PAC findings, the Treasury said: "HM Treasury's role is to ensure that the Duchy of Cornwall is managed in a sustainable way and that the strategic choices made by the estate's managers are in its long-term interests and those of current and future dukes.

"The Treasury has a constructive working relationship with the Duchy, and challenges decisions where appropriate."

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Johnson & Johnson Fined $2bn Over Drug Claims

Johnson & Johnson has agreed to pay more than $2.2bn (£1.37bn) to resolve allegations that it promoted powerful psychiatric drugs for unapproved uses in children, seniors and disabled patients.

The allegations include paying kickbacks to physicians and pharmacies to recommend and prescribe Risperdal and Invega, both anti-psychotic drugs, and Natrecor, which is used to treat heart failure.

The fraud settlement - one of the largest in US history - covers the marketing of the drugs over several years.

J&J and its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals promoted Risperdal for unapproved uses, including controlling aggression and anxiety in elderly dementia patients and treating behavioural disturbances in children and in individuals with disabilities, according to the complaint.

Attorney General Eric Holder said the US healthcare giant's conduct "recklessly put at risk" the health of children, dementia patients and others to whom the drug was prescribed at a time it was only approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat schizophrenia.

Under FDA regulations, doctors may prescribe drugs for unapproved, or off-label, use. But pharmaceutical companies are allowed to market their drugs in the US only for FDA-approved uses.

The off-label marketing cost US government insurance programmes hundreds of millions of dollars in uncovered claims, the complaint said.

Mr Holder said: "These companies lined their pockets at the expense of American taxpayers, patients and the private insurance industry.

Johnson & Johnson makes a broad range of consumer products

"They drove up costs for everyone in the health care system and negatively impacted the long term solvency of the central health care programmes like Medicare."

Mr Holder said Janssen's sales representatives "aggressively" promoted Risperdal to doctors and other prescribers who treated elderly dementia patients.

He also said Janssen targeted nursing home operators through a special "sales force".

J&J is to pay $485m in criminal fines and forfeiture and a total of $1.72bn in civil settlements with the federal government and the states.

Janssen pleaded guilty to the criminal charge of interstate promotion of Risperdal and will pay a total of $400m.

In separately filed civil complaints, the US government alleged that J&J and Janssen promoted Risperdal and Invega, a newer anti-psychotic drug, to doctors -and to nursing homes as a way to control behavioural disturbances in elderly dementia patients, children and people with mental disabilities.

Janssen knew Risperdal posed serious health risks for the elderly, including an increased risk of strokes, and for children, including the risk of elevated levels of prolactin, a hormone that can stimulate breast development and milk production, according to the complaints.

Anti-psychotic drugs are known for their sedative effects and are occasionally used to treat post-traumatic stress disorder, though its use is not approved by the FDA.

The civil settlement also resolves allegations that J&J and Janssen paid kickbacks to Omnicare, the nation's largest pharmacy specialising in dispensing drugs to nursing home patients.

Janssen is a part of Johnson & Johnson

In addition, the civil settlement resolved allegations that J&J and another subsidiary, Scios, caused false claims to be submitted to federal health care programs for the heart failure drug Natrecor.

Scios allegedly marketed the drug for off-label uses. Intended for patients with severe heart failure, it was given to patients with less severe heart issues over weeks and months.

As part of the global settlement, J&J must undertake a major overhaul of its pharmaceutical business over five years supervised by the Health and Human Services inspector general.

The New Jersey-based company, which makes a broad range of consumer products, including Band-Aid bandages, Neutrogena soaps and Johnson's Baby Powder, said in a statement that it had cooperated with the government since the separate investigations began nearly a decade ago.

"Today's agreements resolve all related federal criminal and federal civil liabilities on these matters," the company said.

"The settlement of the civil allegations is not an admission of any liability or wrongdoing, and the company expressly denies the government's civil allegations."

Shares in Dow member J&J were down 0.6% at $92.80 in afternoon trading. Omnicare shares rose 1.1% to $55.80.

The agreement is the third-largest US settlement involving a drug company, and the latest in a string of legal actions against drug companies allegedly putting profits ahead of patients.

Most large pharmaceutical companies have had to pay major fines to the US government and various states over the past decade for alleged improper marketing of their medicines.

In 2010 Pfizer agreed to pay $2.3bn to settle allegations it improperly marketed 13 drugs, including kickbacks to healthcare providers.

Last year, Britain's GlaxoSmithKline agreed to pay $3bn to resolve criminal charges that it improperly targeted its Paxil depression treatment to children, sold its Wellbutrin antidepressant for unapproved uses and failed to inform US regulators of safety risks seen with its Avandia diabetes drug.

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Apple To Open Manufacturing Plant In Arizona

Apple will open a new plant in Arizona as part of its push to boost manufacturing in the US.

The facility will provide 700 manufacturing jobs in the first year and 1,300 construction and associated positions in the city of Mesa, according to a statement by the state's governor, Jan Brewer.

The plant will be opened in partnership with mineral crystal specialist GT Advanced Technologies to make sapphire materials for Apple's popular electronics devices.

The Cupertino-based company did not say what products the components would appear in, but sapphire material in the past has been used in watches, optical instruments and integrated circuits. 

Sapphire material has also been used recently in smartphones' camera lenses, and there have been reports that device makers are looking at sapphire crystal for use in screens.

Apple's push to create jobs at home comes after scrutiny of its massive overseas cash reserves and conditions for workers at contract manufacturer facilities it uses in China.

The move also signals a tentative revival in US manufacturing.

Earlier this year, both Apple and Google's Motorola unit announced plans to have some production and assembly in Texas.

Under the terms of its supply deal, Apple will give GT a prepayment of about $578m (£362m), which GT will pay back to Apple over five years, starting in 2015, GT said.

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Water Bills: Minister Urges Curb To Hikes

The Environment Secretary has urged water companies to "look closely" at whether price increases are necessary and urged them to introduce special tariffs for hard-pressed households.

In a letter to suppliers, Owen Paterson said they should recognise the financial strain that people were under.

The intervention came with Ofwat expected later this week to reject an application from Thames Water to increase bills by £29 in 2014-2015.

The regulator has questioned the profits being made by firms, and suggested its next Price Review could ease the upward pressure on bills by up to £750m after 2015.

Owen Paterson has urged water companies to reconsider price hikes

Mr Paterson said: "We know that household budgets are under pressure, and keeping water bills affordable is a crucial way we can help hardworking people.

"That is why we are pressing hard to make sure customers get a fair deal, by encouraging water companies to look closely at any price increases, introduce social tariffs for vulnerable customers and crack down on bad debt."

Water bills have risen by more than 60% in the last decade and the average household bill is now £388.

Since 2009, average increases in water and sewerage bills have been in line with inflation, but this has still outstripped increases in household income.

Water companies have blamed the price increases on the costs of environmental improvements including replacing ageing Victorian water pipes.

It comes after the cost of living has become increasingly important on the political agenda after Labour leader Ed Miliband pledged to freeze energy prices if his party wins the 2015 General Election.

Mr Miliband will accuse the coalition Government of "shrugging their shoulders" about low wages and rising prices this week and will challenge Conservative and Lib Dem MPs to back his policy of freezing energy bills in a Commons vote on Wednesday.

During a speech at Battersea Power Station, he will say: "The cost of living crisis isn't just an issue for the lowest paid, it affects the squeezed middle just as much.

"This is not just an issue facing Britain. It is the issue facing Britain. It is about who our country is run for."

Prime Minister David Cameron last week said he wanted to "roll back" environmental taxes that bump up energy bills, and promised more details in Chancellor George Osborne's Autumn Statement on December 4.

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Google: Rumours Over San Francisco Bay Barge

The mystery surrounding a four-storey structure being built by Google in the heart of the San Francisco Bay is generating rumours and worries.

The company has not said what the structure is, San Francisco's mayor says he does not know what it is, and government inspectors are sworn to secrecy.

At least one Coast Guard employee has had to sign a non-disclosure agreement with the internet giant, US Coast Guard spokesman Barry Bena told Reuters.

Moored in the shadow of the Bay Bridge off Treasure Island, a former military base, the nondescript barge is built with four levels of white shipping containers, and sprouts what appear to be antennas on top.

The hulking structure, half shrouded in scaffolding, has stirred intense speculation in the Bay Area since reports of its existence surfaced late last month.

Some speculate it is a store to sell Google's internet-connected glasses, while others believe it is a data storage centre.

Some reports have suggested it is meant to be a giant showroom for wealthy clients and VIPs, equipped with amenities such as a bar.

The structure is raising some environmental concerns

Deb Self, executive director of the environmental group Baykeeper, said: "At some point they're going to have to unveil what it is they're doing, and it will be sad if they have put a lot of money into something that is simply not allowable in the bay.

"We don't really want to see the bay used as a shopping mall. Unacceptable," she told the AP news agency.

Environmentalists warn that water-cooled data centres might warm the sea and harm marine life.

Google has been tight-lipped about its project, but the internet giant appears to be acting legally.

By constructing a vessel, not a building, it can conceal its purpose because it does not need permits from San Francisco, a city with copious inspection and paperwork requirements for builders.

Adding to the mystery, a second similar barge was recently spotted in Portland, Maine.

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Ed Miliband Takes On The 'Wonga Economy'

The Labour leader has launched an attack on our "Wonga economy" saying payday lenders are "running riot through our communities".

Ed Miliband accused the firms of preying upon vulnerable people then intimidating them with bullying tactics when they failed to repay the loans.

He said they had created a "quiet crisis" for thousands of households saddled with debts they were unable to pay off.

In a speech at Battersea Power Station, Mr Miliband said that he had visited the Citizens' Advice Bureau in his Doncaster constituency and heard the stories of a number of people who had become victims of pay day loan firms.

His intervention came as representatives of the three of the biggest payday lenders - including Wonga - were facing a grilling by MPs on the Commons Business, Innovation and Skills Committee.

He had spoken to one young mother who was "down to her last nappy" when she saw an advert for a payday lender on the television. He said she had succumbed to the financial pressures to take one.

Now, he said, the "bullying and harassment" she was being subjected to by those firms was such that she had been forced to give her mobile phone to her mother because she was getting 15 calls a day.

The payday loans firm, Wonga, has 1.25 million customers

Mr Miliband responded angrily to the boss of Wonga, who has commissioned a film which tells the story of 12 people who have been happy with their payday loans, claiming he was speaking for a "silent majority" who were satisfied with the service.

He said: "Payday lenders don't speak for the silent majority. They are responsible for a quiet crisis of thousands of families trapped in unpayable debt.

"The Wonga economy is one of the worst symbols of this cost of living crisis."

He said that seven out of ten customers customers said that they regretted taking out a payday loan, with half saying they were unable to repay it.

He said the woman who ran his local Citizens' Advice Bureau had told him: "Payday lenders are running riot through this community."

However, Henry Raine, head of regulatory and public affairs at Wonga, told the Commons Business, Innovation and Skills Committee: "Wonga's business is aiming to lend to people who can pay us back, that's how we make money.

"The vast majority of people pay us back on time. We freeze interest after 60 days and 25% of people pay us back early."

Mr Raine said around 3% of loans, equating to around 40,000 of Wonga's 1.25 million customers, go to the 60-day period.

He said Wonga's record compared favourably with the rest of the loan industry, including credit card companies and banks.

Wonga has come under attack from the Archbishop of Canterbury

But Martin Lewis, the founder of MoneySavingExpert.com, said payday lenders were essentially "grooming" the next generation of borrowers and advertising should be banned from children's television channels.

He said one in three people with youngsters under the age of 10 reported that their children could repeat payday loan ad slogans.

Mr Lewis told the Commons Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee: "I think we are in danger of grooming a new generation towards this type of borrowing. And if you think we've got problems now you wait until 10 years' time.

"Grooming is the right term. We're talking about a market that didn't exist five years ago, and you've had people in arguing that this is how people like to use it. They've created the demand, they've created the operational structure, and now they're saying it's what people want. It's deliberately contrived and controlled."

In his speech, Mr Miliband also intensified his attack on David Cameron over energy bills and the cost of living.

He challenged coalition MPs to back Labour plans for a temporary freeze on electricity and gas charge in a Commons vote on Wednesday.

Today the Government announced it had urged water companies to look closely at whether price increases were necessary and to introduce special tariffs for hard-pressed household.

The move has been seen as an attempt to seize back the initiative on the cost of living, which is becoming a key battleground ahead of the General Election.

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M&S Upbeat Despite Clothing Sales Falling Again

M&S v Primark: The Clothing War It Can't Win

Updated: 2:03pm UK, Tuesday 05 November 2013

By James Sillars, Sky News Business

It's a battle for your business. A war to win your custom. M&S has been losing ground to rivals and its problems still run deep.

Marks & Spencer was once of the darling of the retail sector - with its clothing offering top of the pile - but it failed to move with the times.

Suddenly there were challengers to its 'something for everyone' dominance and crucially they were cheaper, online and more adaptable to changing fashions.

Family budgets have been feeling the pinch since the financial crisis of 2008 as a result of the overall cost of living rising faster than wage growth.

That squeeze has tightened - forcing many retailers, including M&S, to discount, advertise aggressively and therefore damage their bottom lines.

Not so at Primark, with its soaring revenues, profits and store growth.

Primark has made its name offering fashionable clothes at affordable prices. That is its brand. Its timing could not have been better.

It grew total sales by 22% to £4.3bn in the year to September - expanding its selling space across major cities to bring an "exciting, fashionable and fun shopping experience".

M&S total sales rose by 3.1% in the UK over the six months to September 30 - but the growth did not come from clothes.

In contrast to the struggles of M&S as it tries to kickstart its fashion business, Primark's buying teams are celebrating autumn/winter and spring/summer ranges selling out.

M&S tried a counter-attack against the threat from the cheaper brands but admitted in May it would once again focus on style and quality, shifting its focus to recapturing custom in the crucial area of womenswear.

Andrea Felsted, the FT's senior retail correspondent, told Sky News that womenswear remained its main challenge.

"It really is the cornerstone of M&S. The launch in May ... there were some improvements but it really will have to be seen whether that does play out.

"M&S did suffer some stock shortages in September. It said it was a return to quality but the FT reported that they'd even had some quality problems with the iconic piece in the campaign the pink coat ... some of the poppers were not sewn on properly.

"That's not exactly the quality they would have been hoping for," she said.

M&S launched its Leading Ladies advertising campaign, featuring a dozen high-profile women including actress Dame Helen Mirren and Olympic boxer Nicola Adams, on September 12 and its first Christmas advert hits TV screens on Wednesday.

Such campaigns cost millions of pounds - as does a drive for quality.

No wonder then that M&S is on a different playing field to that of Primark. Their clothing business models could not be more different.

Marks and Spencer's opponents lie elsewhere on the high street.

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St Jude Storm: Insurer Warns Of Profit Damage

Shares in the country's biggest insurer, RSA, have tumbled more than 8% after it warned profits would be dented by the St Jude storm.

The storm, which ripped across northern Europe last week killing more than a dozen people - four of them in the UK - is estimated to have generated total claims against the insurance industry of more than £1bn.

Packing winds of hurricane strength St Jude, as it was named in the UK after the patron saint of lost causes, veered towards Scandinavia where it was known as Christian.

RSA said insured losses caused by the severe weather in Europe and flooding in Canada were "materially above assumptions" and that full-year returns to shareholders were likely to suffer.

Amsterdam was among the major European cities affected by the storm

The world's biggest reinsurer, Munich Re, and Europe's number one insurer, Allianz, have declined to estimate damage claims from Christian.

RSA had said in August it remained on track to meet full-year targets after absorbing the cost of claims from Canada's floods, though it conceded the impact would continue into the second half of 2013.

"We now expect 2013 return on equity to be below 10%," RSA said in its statement.

St Jude brought destruction to large parts of the southern half of Britain.

Hundreds of thousands of homes lost power and travel was disrupted by floodwater and fallen trees as the working week began.

There has been no official estimate placed on the damage to property in the UK.

The four people who died were all killed by falling trees.

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Premier Foods Hunts New Dough For Bread Unit

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

The owner of Hovis has kicked off a secret hunt to find an outside investor to help revive the fortunes of its struggling bread division.

Sky News has learnt that Premier Foods, the biggest manufacturer of branded foods in the country, has approached a string of private equity groups about the sale of a stake in its bread unit, which also produces own-label ranges for some of the UK's biggest supermarket chains.

Gavin Darby, Premier Foods' chief executive, is understood to have asked Ondra Partners, a mergers and acquisitions advisory firm, to lead the search for an outside investor.

A range of options is being considered by Premier Foods' management, according to insiders.

These include spinning out the bread business into an entirely separate company which would be jointly owned by Premier Foods and a new investor. Such a task would be relatively simple following a reorganisation of Premier Foods' structure which means that the bread division now has a dedicated management team and a separate headquarters in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.

Approximately 4000 people work across the company's bread operations - almost half of Premier Foods' total workforce - which have been saddled with stubbornly high operating costs, poor industrial relations and the loss of a number of key contracts.

It is unclear how advanced discussions are with prospective investors or which private equity groups have been approached.

Ondra's involvement comes a year after Premier Foods' previous chief executive appointed the Wall Street bank Goldman Sachs to solicit bids for the entire bread business. An outright sale is not thought to be on the agenda at the moment.

Warburg Pincus, a large buyout firm, has been a major shareholder in Premier Foods since 2009, and still owns about 17% of the company.

Last week, the group, which makes Sharwoods sauces, Angels Delight desserts, Oxo gravies and Mr Kipling cakes, said the UK wheat harvest this year had been more productive than in 2012.

"Sales in the Bread business (excluding Milling and a high cost to serve contract exited in April) were 1.5% behind the same period last year reflecting a slower start to the quarter as a result of the hotter July weather," it said.

"However, performance improved through the quarter, supported by progressively stronger customer partnerships. In particular, we are starting to benefit from substantial increases in space and distribution across both the larger supermarket and convenience formats of major customers."

Premier's bread business is understood to have secured more business from Tesco in recent months, partly offsetting the loss of a contract with the Co-op last year.

Mr Darby, a former Vodafone and Cable & Wireless executive, was parachuted into the company as it grappled with efforts to repair its balance sheet following a debt-fuelled acquisition spree.

It has sold brands including Quorn, Crosse & Blackwell and Branston Pickle to raise funds but analysts continue to believe that a rights issue or another fundraising exercise is inevitable next year.

A Premier Foods spokesman declined to comment on Tuesday.

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