Catch up with all the big stories from the week with our newsround digest
Financial Times
Eurozone nations have been put on notice to expect further interest rate rises after the European Central Bank (ECB) warned of inflationary dangers as its main interest rate a quarter percentage point to 2.5%. Interest rates could rise another quarter percentage point in June or even in May, according to Jean-Claude Trichet, the ECB president.
Business will be challenged by a government commissioned review to produce concrete examples of unnecessary red tape created by the UK ‘goldplating’ European laws to impose unduly onerous regulation. Neil Davidson QC, who was appointed by Gordon Brown to assess the ‘additional and unnecessary’ burden placed by gold plating, urged business and other sections to submit evidence to his review.
The Times
Mexico and Indonesia will both have bigger economies than the UK by 2050, according to a report by PriceWaterhouseCoopers. The report examines long-tern economic trends and predicts that China will become the world’s biggest economy by that time.
Microsoft’s wrangling with the European Commission has taken a new twist after the software company accused the authority of having set ‘inappropriate contacts’ between its key rivals and an independent observer. Microsoft said the Commission, its rivals and Neil Barrett, an independent trustee actively collaborated last autumn in a manner inconsistent with the Commission’s role as a neutral regulator.
Daily TelegraphLuke Johnson, the chairman of Pizza Express, has made a 38p-a-share cash bid for Urban Dining, the restaurant group that owns the Tootsies chain, valuing the business at £21m. The offer will pitches Mr Johnson into what will prove to be a bitter battle with David Page, another former Pizza Express Executive.
Marks and Spencer suppliers have reacted angrily to the retailing giant turning the screw on them, just one year after demanding better food terms from all it suppliers. M&S has sent a letter to all its suppliers saying that it will unilaterally knock 10% from their invoices and dock a further 0.5% for ‘marketing expenses’ from April 1.
The Guardian
Britvic shares have plummeted as after the chief executive of the company admitted that fizzy drink sales have fallen flat since the company floated on the stock market last December. The company, which makes Tango, 7UP, Pepsi and Robinsons, has suffered its severest ever decline in the past two months.
The terrorist bombings in London have caused a 40% drop in the use of the capital’s open-topped tour buses, the operator has said. The company believes that the direct involvement of a bus in the July bombings has meant that the tour buses were worst hit than other tourist attractions.
