London, Nearly one million pounds ($1.6 million) of share bonus given to Stephen Hester, boss of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), was strongly criticized by politicians in Britain. RBS is now 82 percent owned by British taxpayers after being saved by the biggest bailout move in British history, reported Xinhua. The 963,000-pound bonus is given on top of Hester's 1.2 million-pound basic salary. The share bonus was valued on the bank's closing share price Wednesday and will be deferred for three years. Leader of Opposition Labour Party Ed Miliband called the payout a "disgraceful failure of leadership by the prime minister". Prime Minister David Cameron said he would regard a bonus of more than one million pounds as "unacceptable". "He (Cameron) must now explain, not least to the British people, why he has allowed this to happen," Miliband said. Even members of Cameron's Conservative Party and his Liberal Democrat allies in the coalition government also voiced their disapproval. Boris Johnson, the Conservative mayor of London, said he was "bewildered" and was "at a loss to justify" the scale of the bonus. "It's a state owned bank. So the idea that this ...
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London, British Prime Minister David Cameron has ruled out offering any apology to India or chide BBC for an automobile show on the channel which showed India in "poor light". BBC show 'Top Gear' shot in India showed a car (Jaguar) with a toilet in the boot and host Jeremy Clarkson said the portable toilet was "perfect for India because everyone who comes here gets the trots", meaning an upset stomach. After the Indian High Commission in UK protested the remarks in the show, British Prime Minister David Cameron said it is a show of the BBC and he would rather not interfere or rebuke Jeremy Clarkson. "The Government is not responsible for editorial decisions made by the BBC or any media organisation. This is a matter for the BBC - I don't speak for the BBC," Cameron said. India was particularly upset because the show's makers had got visa to India to shoot without disclosing the nature of the content. A BBC spokesperson was meanwhile quoted in media saying "we have received a letter from the Indian High Commission and will respond to them in due ...
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London, The unemployment numbers in Britain was forecast to rise to 2.85 million by the end of 2012. Britain's total employment is 29.11 million people, of whom 2.64 million were unemployed in November, the highest level for 14 years, the Chartered Institute for Personnel Development (CIPD) said Wednesday. The repeated cuts in the public sector workforce, introduced by Prime Minister David Cameron's coalition government would continue to outstrip the private sector's ability to create jobs, Xinhua reported citing CIPD. The government's austerity measures, announced in autumn 2010 and taking large-scale effect from April this year, are the main part of its bid to reduce the near-record level of public sector borrowing, forecast to be 127 billion pounds (about USD 199 billion). John Philpott, the chief economic adviser at the CIPD said: "As long as there is a relatively benign outcome to the eurozone crisis we expect the 2012 jobs recession to be milder than that suffered in 2008-9." "But unemployment in the coming year will be rising from a much higher starting point, so the British jobs market in 2012 will be weaker than at any time since the recession of the early ...
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Islamabad, US Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter has extended his condolences over the death of 28 Pakistani soldiers on Saturday’s NATO air strike, saying in Urdu “Hamey bohat afsos hay”. His condolence came after the White House said that US President Barack Obama would not apologise for the incident right now. “I would like to extend my most sincere condolences to the people and government of Pakistan and especially to Pakistan’s men and women in uniform, for the tragic incident that occurred on November 26,” The Express Tribune quoted Munter, as saying. “My thoughts and prayers are with the families of the men who died,” he added. Realising that his message may not permeate to the Urdu speaking majority of Pakistan, he repeated the sentence, in Urdu “Hamey bohat afsos hay”. Yesterday, the White House had said that Obama would not formally apologise to Pakistan over the tragic incident. On Monday, American Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter had insisted that President Obama should release a formal video statement to diffuse the rising outrage and disappointment among Pakistanis over the issue. However, the US has maintained that ...
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