The supermarket group Asda has been forced to pay compensation to a group of workers who

The supermarket group Asda has been forced to pay compensation to a group of workers who accused the company of racial discrimination. An Asda manager called out their “foreign-sounding names” over a public address system in an attempt to ensure that the company was not employing illegal immigrants.
The 37 Asian workers at Asda’s Lutterworth branch, Leicestershire, were ordered to produce documents to prove they had the right to work in Britain. Some of them had been with the company for 18 years.The company has agreed to pay each of them £750, but the GMB general union accuses the management of failing to offer the employees the public apology they had been promised.Companies are legally bound to ensure that workers are not employed illegally, but government guidelines expressly forbid the tactics used by Asda.A spokeswoman for Asda said that apologies to the Asian workers at Lutterworth were written and handed out. However she said a GMB shop steward had argued against the apologies being placed on noticeboards because it was signed by a new manager and not the person responsible for the alleged discrimination.Today GMB leaders are expected to authorise a ballot on industrial action at Asda depots in a dispute over union recognition..

Dubai Ports is set to open talks with the US government this week to try to allay security concerns over its £3.9bn acquisition of P&O, which will see it take control of five major US sea terminals as soon as next month. The company said yesterday that it would be willing to delay its takeover of P&O to give time for a US security review, which could last for up to 45 days. It stressed that it was keen to show the US that its deal does not represent a security threat to the country.
In spite of the group’s comments, the row over the deal escalated at the weekend, as Jon Corzine, the governor of New Jersey, where one of the five ports is situated, said that allowing the takeover would “fail the basic test of common sense” when it came to domestic security.”It’s a sad day for our nation when we have to go to court and pass legislation to secure the right of the American people to have questions answered and their security protected,” he said.The Dubai Ports deal has faced increasing political opposition over the past week, due to the fact that two of the 11 September hijackers came from the company’s home territory, the United Arab Emirates. Eleven of the hijackers entered the US on flights from Dubai, while al-Qa’ida has also reputedly received funding via UAE banks.On Friday, the New Mexico governor, Bill Richardson, sent an e-mail to media organisations headed: “How can we be sure the UAE company isn’t connected to those who want to harm us?”As well as political opposition, Dubai Ports is also facing several legal challenges to its takeover. Eller & Co, the US joint venture partner with P&O in Miami, filed a petition against the deal in the High Court in London on Friday, arguing that there was no point in rubber-stamping the deal in London when there is still a chance that the US authorities would revoke their approval.

Dubai Ports is set to seek approval for its deal in the High Court in London today – usually a formality. It is unclear whether Eller’s petition will succeed in holding up the process.The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the third busiest container port in the US, also filed a lawsuit last week, claiming that P&O’s 30-year lease on the port should be withdrawn because the company failed to seek the authority’s approval of its takeover.. An influx of cash from the oil-rich Middle East and the emerging tiger economies of China and India has sparked a price surge in London. Knight Frank, an estate agency, said its transactions showed a noticeable increase in purchases by buyers from Asia and the Middle East. Purchases of prime London properties by buyers based in Asia Pacific have risen from zero two years ago to almost 10 per cent in the final quarter of last year. Middle Easterners, who were inactive in the London market at the start of 2004, took 7 per cent of the market at the end of 2005.
It contrasts with a decline in American investors, who made up just 3 per cent of sales at the end of last year, compared with 12 per cent two years ago.”The increasing pace of globalisation has implications for the London residential market,” said Liam Bailey, Knight Frank’s head of residential research. “Trends show a consistently steady stream of residential purchases from the Middle East, which has been more apparent this year due to the recent surge in oil prices.”He said that they formed the latest wave of foreign buyers, after an influx of Russian money in the early years of the decade.”Over the coming years, the balance of economic power will shift towards the east as Asian countries emerge as economic superpowers,” he said.

“Knight Frank data from 2005 suggest there has already been a noticeable increase in purchases from Asia, and with rapid economic growth in the area, it will not be surprising to see a continuation of this trend.”Values of prime property in central London rose 8.2 per cent last year, almost quadruple the growth seen in 2004 and the highest annual growth since 2001, Knight Frank said.A separate report from Hometrack showed that the average price of a home across the UK has risen 0.4 per cent this month, marking the third consecutive month of house price growth and the highest monthly rise since June 2004.. Dozens of commercial radio stations will face bankruptcy within the next 10 to 15 years if the Government does not put a stop to the rapid expansion of the BBC’s radio business, according to a report published today. The study, by the economic consultancy Indepen, commissioned by the Commercial Radio Companies Association (CRCA), warns that the BBC’s recent wave of radio station launches have unnecessarily distorted the commercial market, threatening the many private stations which are already struggling financially.
Indepen says the vast majority of commercial radio stations are already running at a loss, while even the biggest are only managing to break even.As a result, the CRCA is calling on the Government to put a cap on the BBC’s radio expenditure when it renews the corporation’s Royal Charter this year.The White Paper, which will set out the BBC’s governance structure and regulations for the next 10 years, is expected to be published early next month.Indepen’s report says that if more care is not taken to protect the commercial radio sector, thousands of jobs will be lost, as well as more than £1bn of economic value. It adds that any further deterioration of the sector will lower the quality of presenters, depriving future talent of a training ground which has nurtured many of today’s broadcasting stars, including the likes of Chris Moyles, Steve Wright and Huw Edwards.David Elstein, chairman of the CRCA, said: “Uncapped BBC spending on radio will ultimately cost not just the commercial radio industry but also, through a reduction in choice of valuable public services, listeners and the communities in which they live.”Moreover, the BBC’s plans for radio could lead to the loss of thousands of jobs and stymie the training and development of the next Chris Moyles or Huw Edwards.”The commercial radio sector generated revenues of £633m last year, and employed more than 9,000 people. However, growth has been stagnant for the past six years, during which the sector has lost a significant amount of audience share to the BBC, on the back of new station launches such as 6 Music, BBC7 and BBC1Xtra.The BBC’s audience share reached 55.1 per cent last year, up from around 50 per cent at the end of the 1990s.The report adds that if the BBC was a commercial entity, audience levels of this magnitude would mean it was considered a dominant player, and could face competition restraints.The CRCA also criticises anticipated increases in the licence fee, which are due to be announced in the summer. The BBC is asking for its budget to be increased by 2.3 per cent above inflation each year.

However, the CRCA argues that such increases are unnecessary and will “undermine the legitimacy of the licence fee” as consumers are offered increasing diversity and choice through pay-to-view and listen models, mobile TV and radio services, and the internet.Indepen says that if the current proposals are put into practice, the licence fee will hit more than £200 a year within a decade.. Philippe Jabre, the GLG Partners star trader under investigation for alleged insider dealing, is unlikely to return to the hedge fund manager whether or not he is cleared of any wrongdoing. The founders of GLG – the Israeli-American Noam Gottesman and the Belgian Pierre Lagrange – are telling investors not to count on Mr Jabre’s return no matter what the outcome of the Financial Services Authority inquiry.
The City watchdog is examining whether Mr Jabre traded in the Japanese company Sumitomo on inside information gleaned from the Goldman Sachs banker John Rustum.Separately, French financial regulators are looking into Mr Jabre’s trading in the French company Alcatel.The FSA’s decision on Mr Jabre is expected soon, while the French are unlikely to arrive at findings for some time. Theirs is the more complex case.Should the FSA find against him, Mr Jabre faces suspension or even an outright ban from trading He and GLG will have 28 days to appeal.