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Prudential looks set to buy one of Asia's biggest insurance firms in a £15bn deal, the BBC understands.

The UK insurance giant is believed to be in advanced talks to takeover AIA, the Asian arm of US company AIG.

Prudential has refused to confirm the the huge deal, but the company is expected to issue a statement to the market next week.

BBC correspondent Joe Lynam said the move looks like an attempt to tap into the Indian and Chinese markets.

"This is a play for the middle classes of India and China as they grow in wealth and numbers in the coming years. The sums involved range up to $25bn, which could make it the biggest overseas purchase by a UK firm," he added.

AIA is regarded as a crucial part of AIG with about 20 million customers, or close to a third of AIG's total customer base.

AIG was bailed out by the US government in 2008 and is now 80% owned by it. In total, the firm has received $182.5bn of government funding.

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There is "significant interest" in Reader's Digest from potential buyers, the magazine's administrators said.

They also confirmed the magazine would be published until at least April. The 72-year-old British edition went into administration earlier this month.

Administrator Philip Sykes said he was "reasonably optimistic" and that negotiations with investors had begun.

The magazine's US parent company became unable to support it following a crisis in its pension fund.

The administrators said the Reader's Digest Association's (RDA) sales team was marketing advertising space to media agencies for the May issue.

They also said future campaigns were being reviewed and that prize draws were continuing.

Reader's Digest employs 117 staff in the UK and has a circulation of 465,028, with offices in Canary Wharf in London, and Swindon in Wiltshire.

Reader's Digest UK called in administrators after it failed to secure regulatory backing for a funding deal for its pension scheme, which has a £125m shortfall.

The US parent group, Reader's Digest Association (RDA), filed for bankruptcy protection last year after struggling with interest payments on a $2.2bn (£1.4bn) debt.

Reader's Digest publishes more than 50 editions worldwide and has offices in 44 countries.

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Norfolk based firm Kettle Foods, which makes Kettle Chips crisps, has been sold for £400m.

UK production of the food was set up in Bowthorpe, Norwich, in 1992. The site now employs 407 people.

A number of companies bid for the firm, previously owned by a private equity company, but San Francisco-based Diamond Foods won.

Diamond Foods president Michael Mendes said he welcomed their talented team of employees to his organisation.

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An investigation has been launched into one of the biggest claims management companies in the UK.

BBC Radio 4's Money Box has learned that Cartel Client Review is being investigated by the Ministry of Justice, following complaints.

For an upfront fee of up to £495, the company offers to help customers bring claims against lenders for mistakes in their credit agreements.

The company denies it is being investigated by the regulator.

Customers in limbo

The BBC has been contacted by customers of Cartel Client Review who say they have paid hundreds - in some cases thousands of pounds - to get credit cards and loans written off, or to get the interest repaid on their mortgages.

But despite being told their claims would be resolved in six-to-12 months, two years later it seems that thousands of customers are still waiting in limbo.

Tricia Page paid almost £500 to submit a mortgage claim in 2007.

She says the promise of several thousand pounds in compensation would have paid for her family to visit her father, who was terminally ill in Australia.

"We were told the risk with this £495 was minimal. If there was no money to come back to us we would get all but ten pounds back.

"And the paperwork I have says this should go through within a period of about three-to-nine months and, I thought, that's ideal - if something came through in three months, we'd be able to go and see my dad.

"Now we're two years on, my father has since died, and we don't have the money or anything."

Cartel's terms and conditions say the £495 you pay upfront for a mortgage claim is refundable if the claim is not successful.

In November 2008, Trisha demanded a refund but Cartel Client Review refused to pay her.

In frustration, she contacted the Jonathan Vernon-Smith consumer programme on BBC Three Countries Radio in January.

Once the BBC became involved, Cartel Client Review told Trisha that her claim would not be successful and has offered a refund.

The company says the reason for the delays customers are reporting is that it has been waiting for judgements in court and it says there has never been an issue with refunding cases.

Solicitors investigated

After an initial assessment by Cartel Client Review, eligible claims are passed to a firm of solicitors.

Legal experts at Consumer Credit Litigation Solicitors (CCLS) review the paper work for each case to decide if customers have a valid claim.

But a paralegal who was formerly employed at CCLS, has told the BBC that the vast majority of customers he dealt with had no claim.

Colin Power said he reviewed potential mortgage claims, which were colour-coded according to their likely success:

"With a green case, there would be no success whatsoever - that's it, there is no claim that can be made against the lender. I would say that around about 99.9% of the files I dealt with were what were classed as green files."

Cartel Client Review disputes Mr Power's account and said he is not independent as he now works for a competitor.

The firm also said it is the only company across the UK that actively can do this work with a legal firm and that it has got very positive results.

Cartel Client Review and CCLS deny they are being investigated by regulators, claiming they have "always maintained a strong relationship with the Solicitors Regulation Authority and the Ministry of Justice."

But sources confirmed they are being investigated.

HAVE YOUR SAY

Have you tried to get your debts declared unenforceable

Has your lender agreed not to enforce a debt

Did you use a claims management firm

Tell us your experiences.

Send us your views

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Energy drink firm Gatorade has ended its sponsorship of Tiger Woods.

Gatorade is the latest major company to cut ties with the sportsman following Woods's admission that he was unfaithful to his wife.

The drinks company, owned by PepsiCo, had already discontinued a Tiger Woods-themed drink, Tiger Focus. It follows AT&T and Accenture in ending deals.

However, Gatorade said it would continue its partnership with the charitable Tiger Woods Foundation.

Dropped

A spokeswoman for Gatorade said: "We no longer see a role for Tiger in our marketing efforts and have ended our relationship... We wish him all the best."

Its move comes just one week after the star made a frank public address to a select gathering at PGA Tour headquarters in Florida.

In his statement Woods apologised to his wife, friends and family, as well as to his fans.

"I was unfaithful, I had affairs and I cheated. What I did was unacceptable," he said.

Woods, 34, told the hand-picked attendees he had spent 45 days in therapy and claimed he still had "a long way to go" to overcome his problems.

Distance

Gatorade is the third company to end its relationship with Mr Woods.

Communications company AT&T and corporate services business Accenture previously cut their sponsorship deals.

Male grooming business Gillette and luxury watchmaker Tag Heuer have also distanced themselves from him.

Carmaking giant General Motors (GM) said recently an arrangement that allowed Woods free access to its vehicles was over.

Wealthiest athlete

The world's number one golfer did have an endorsement contract with GM's Buick brand, but that ended in 2008.

Such arrangements made Tiger Woods the world's wealthiest athlete, estimated to have earned £66m ($100) a year in endorsement deals before allegations of infidelity emerged in December of last year.

A recent University of California study suggested the total economic damage of the Tiger Woods affair to all involved parties could amount to as much as $12bn.

But sports equipment giant Nike, which pays Woods a reported $40m a year, has given its support.

And video game maker Electronic Arts is to go ahead with plans to roll out an online game featuring the golfer.

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More companies could go bust if they fail to plug the gap in their pension funds.

That is the warning from a firm of leading pensions experts, which comes just over a week after the UK arm of magazine Reader's Digest went into administration under a large pension burden.

Readers Digest UK, which was founded in 1938, was for decades a successful magazine with readers all over the world.

But the group's pension deficit hit £125m and a deal could not be reached to pay it off.

Around 1,000 members on the firm's pension plan are still waiting to hear how they will fund their retirement.

Not alone

The Reader's Digest story has reignited fears about the safety of pensions for millions of employees relying on schemes with big deficits.

And pensions consultants Lane, Clarke and Peacock say it is a real possibility that the same thing could happen to other firms.

"No way am I going to pay into a pension again"

"They're struggling in the aftermath of the credit crunch and the financial crisis with their ongoing business and at the same time the pension trustees are saying we need more money," warns senior partner Bob Scott.

"This is going to have an impact on company balance sheets, on their profits and their cash flow.

"I'm sure there'll be some companies who as a result will go the same way as Reader's Digest, with members getting lower pensions."

Unclear future

Mark Walsh, from Cardiff, told the BBC about how he lost his job and his pension last year when the company he worked for went bust, which he believes was partly due to its huge pension deficit.

He had been paying into his final salary pension for 15 years but is now unsure about how he'll fund his retirement.

"You plan for your future, you plan for your retirement and luckily I've got a few more years to try and save for that but I'm going to lose a lot of money in the 15 years I paid into it," says Mr Walsh.

"I know the pension we had was a very good pension."

There are a number of big-name firms who have been in the news because their pension fund deficits are too high.

British Airways, Nortel, BT and BAE Systems are all known to have large pension shortfalls and though none of these firms are about to fail, experts believe the coming years will be difficult.

"Companies are having problems with their final salary pension schemes because profits have got squeezed as the economy's turned down and we've moved into recession," says Tom McPhail from Hargreaves Landsdown.

"They're also finding that because of accounting standards, improved life expectancy, falling investment returns, all of these factors have created holes in the pension schemes and these companies don't have the money to fill those holes."

'Once bitten'

Mr Walsh has now found another job but is unsure about investing in a pension again.

"No way am I going to pay into a pension again. I've been bitten once and I wouldn't want that to happen again," he says.

"In these difficult times I'm going to have to look at alternatives for my future.

"I don't know what I'm going to get out of this pension when I retire, I know I'm probably going to have to work longer."

With around 90% of final salary pension schemes now in deficit, the worry is that the era of generous retirement plans for employees is over.

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As the banks reporting season continues apace, the scale of bankers' bonuses is again under the spotlight.

The banks continue to show the scars of the credit crunch - but to many observers it seems those responsible for the financial crisis are still riding the gravy train.

BBC News asked Chris Roebuck of London's Cass Business School to set out the arguments.

DO BANKERS NEED BONUSES

Every job needs to offer an incentive - hence the idea of performance-related pay.

That also minimises risk for organisations, paying for performance after it has been delivered, rather than before in the hope it will be.

In any job, the question is how to balance salary and bonus.

In theory a large bonus and a small salary is the best combination, but people need money to live on, so in many organisations it might be 75% salary, 25% bonus.

In sales that ratio can be as far opposite as 10% salary, 90% bonus.

In banking, the base pay is more than most people get anyway so bankers can live on that without much problem.

So there are no issues in paying bonuses that could be 80% of total remuneration.

DO BONUSES NEED TO BE SO BIG

"The only reason one bank needs to pay such big bonuses is that other banks do the same"

Yes and no!

The main issue is that bank transactions themselves are just so big in financial terms even a very small percentage bonus on a deal done is a big amount.

From the individual banker's perspective, they want to be paid what the market rate is for what they do - as does anyone.

But the only reason one bank needs to pay such big bonuses is that other banks do the same.

If all the banks paid a much lower rate then that would be the level bankers would accept - the market rate.

A key question is what other industries pay. When you get bankers leaving banking because they get paid more outside banking, then that suggests the pay has dropped to the minimum level.

That is too low, and if you want the sector to do well and bring in money to London, the optimum is about 20% higher than that point.

Here, bankers would stay in banking, bring in profits for London and earn a fair wage.

The problem is that this has to be applied globally or the bankers, and banks, will just move to where the pay or profits are higher.

So the answer lies with the politicians to unite to make that happen.

HAVE BANKS BEEN PUSHED INTO AN UPWARD SPIRAL FOR BONUSES

Yes. Since the 1990s, every time the economy has slowed banks have laid off staff.

When the market went up again they all rushed to get staff in. In that rush they couldn't get enough staff quickly enough so they started to offer higher than market rates to poach people from competitors, maybe 20% above market rate to double market rate.

Those who were offered these sums to get them to leave would then tell their employer to match it, or they really would leave.

Thus their bank has to match it or loose good people.

So in one short period market level pay could have gone up by 30-100%.

This doesn't happen every year but if it happens every 4-5 years from 1990 to 2010 - compared to most other people's wage rises of maybe 5% per annum - the gap just gets wider and wider.

That is how we have got to where we are now, and this has literally happened again in the past month with Bank of America and UBS offering certain groups double the market rate from 2009.

This is just the free market at work, limited supply but high demand for the best people.

IS THERE ANY PROOF THESE BIG PAY DEALS ARE NEEDED

"These massive bankers' pay deals are needed - no single bank or country can refuse them without facing financial disaster"

The numbers of people and the numbers of banks may be shrinking but the size of the financial market is actually getting bigger.

For the banks, it is not about how many people they have, it is about how much market share they can get and how much profit they can make on it.

More money is going to be moving about the world in the future and that's how the banks make their money, taking a small cut on those vast amounts of money being used for various purposes to oil the wheels of world business.

And we all need that to happen to put money in our pockets as well, we need the world economy to flourish to make sure we also get paid.

But the only reason these massive bankers' pay deals are needed is that no single bank or country can refuse them without facing financial disaster.

They are in a free market driven across the world.

Unless the politicians globally get together and find a solution that gives bankers fair and reasonable pay for the work put in, makes the global financial system more stable and reduces the risk of another crash - then its all going to happen again one day.

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Portsmouth administrator Andrew Andronikou has vowed to save the debt-ridden club and said all its finances will be "reviewed and scrutinised".

Pompey became the first Premier League club in history to enter administration after racking up debts of about £60m.

Andronikou says he faces some difficult decisions over the next few weeks but has told fans not to give up hope.

"I promise we will save your club and take you forward," he said. "I will be cutting to the bone, I can assure you."

Portsmouth went into administration on Friday, and Andronikou, an insolvency practitioner from UHY Hacker Young, now has the job of assessing the extent of the damage, along with colleague Peter Kubik.

In a statement, Andronikou said: "We are looking to immediately address the significant monthly tax burden of the club by implementing a swift cost rationalisation programme.

"Every aspect of the club's overheads will be reviewed and scrutinised. Our aim is to maximise all revenues and to eradicate all unnecessary costs.

MATT SLATER BLOG

"What does "going into administration" mean Is this the end of Pompey's pain And how has this happened to a recently successful team in the world's richest football league"

"Restructuring starts today. There will be significant cost cuts at all levels. We have a huge job to deal with."

Andronikou believes it will be necessary to sell "one or two" players, although the club would need special dispensation from Fifa and the Premier League to do this outside of a transfer window period.

The Premier League has already rejected one attempt by Pompey to sell players now that the window has shut.

"We are asking the Premier League for their assistance, this is very new for them," said Andronikou.

"There will be a meeting with the Premier League next Thursday where I will make a presentation.

"I need to generate working capital in the next two months. We will have to sell one or two players but I am not looking to sell players on a fire-sale basis."

Andronikou revealed Pompey could receive their television parachute payments early.

"Advance parachute payments There is a possibility yes," he added.

Andronikou also said that manager Avram Grant had promised him he would stay until the end of the season.

"I've spoken to him briefly," said the administrator. "He has given his full support to stay till the end of the season.

"It would be very naive of me to start looking for a new manager."

Asked about the decision of chief executive Peter Storrie to tender his resignation, Andronikou added: "His position has become untenable. I understand he is in a very difficult position but my main priority is the football club.

"From what I've seen, I have every confidence Pompey will fulfil its fixture list and will be playing football next year."

He also said he will continue discussions with parties interested in investing in or taking over the club.

However, he will demand "proof of funds up front" from any would-be buyers and insists they must satisfy the Premier League's 'fit and proper person' requirement.

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At the end of each month, BBC World News business presenter Jamie Robertson takes a look at the world's major stock markets. This month he weighs up the positive - and negative - impact on India's booming market.

For a while now the global markets have been living in fear of having their government support pulled away from their respective economies, a little like a junkie who knows sooner or later he has to go cold turkey.

Suggestions that the easy money is about to dry up (such as Beijing blocking loans from Chinese banks) send the markets into a tizzy.

So it comes as some surprise that the Indian budget, which started to phase out a range of subsidies - particularly for fuel - caused the market to leap up by 2.5%.

Sidelong glance

To be fair, the market was actually more interested in the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's predictions for growth. "We hope to breach the 10% growth mark in the not-too-distant future," he said.

That comment may have been accompanied by a sidelong glance at China, currently enjoying 10.7% growth rates, but it is the crux of Mr Mukherjee's project and investors rejoiced.

But, without that sort of growth, there is little hope his deficit will fall, as he hopes, from 6.7% down to 5.5% of GDP.

As Jim Rogers, of Rogers Holdings in Singapore has pointed out, with overall debt at 80% of GDP the country is on the edge of what is containable.

Indeed, the bond market was less than enthusiastic to hear that borrowing was still going to increase by some 1.3% this year and bond prices slipped downwards.

One-offs

The chief contributors to the deficit reduction programme are a couple of once-in-a-lifetime opportunities - the selling off of 3G mobile phone licences and the privatisation of a number of state assets, all of which should, with luck, fetch some $15bn.

The removal of some fuel subsidies will help too, but they won't be popular and will contribute to what is possibly the country's biggest economic threat - inflation.

Food inflation in particular is running at 18%, a figure which, as an average, masks some truly horrific price rises of nearly 50% for rice and sugar.

There seems to be precious little in the budget to put a hold on this inflation, and to underline the point the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party walked out of parliament during the budget speech in protest against the effect it would have on the nation's poorest.

On the rise

The natural consequence of all this seems to be that interest rates will have to go up, possibly sooner rather than later, which may cheat Mr Mukherjee of his 10% growth target.

"60% of GDP comes from domestic demand, which makes the raising of tax allowances very significant"

His job is to get growth motoring before he has to put the real brakes on, in the form of hard cuts to spending and higher rates.

So what was there in all this to charm the equity markets As says: "It was still a broadly stimulative budget."

Tax allowances were raised, putting more cash in people's pockets and there are ambitious spending plans for agriculture, social programs and infrastructure.

Double Sensex

Lalwani is an unabashed bull on the Mumbai market and has in the past month predicted that the Sensex can double over the next five years.

In the last year, since it hit bottom in early 2009, the Sensex has done just that: gone from 8,000 to 16,429. "Remember", he says, "that 60% of GDP comes from domestic demand, which makes the raising of tax allowances very significant to consumer demand."

But he also points to the growing ambitions of India's corporate sector.

"Five years ago we couldn't have imagined that companies like Tata or even Mittal could gain such an international presence. But the urge to increase their global footprint is there. They want to diversify their risks and their operations." says Mr Lalwani.

Global prizes

Indian companies are increasingly gaining international reputations: Tata motors on Friday announced that it had turned from loss into profit this last quarter, thanks to a sharp recovery at its UK subsidiaries, Jaguar and Landrover.

Bharti Airtel is spending some $9bn on most of the African assets of Dubai based Zain.

The drugs group Ranbaxy, 64% owned by Japan's Daiichi Sankyo, last week forecast a rise of 48% in net profit in 2010.

The list is long and getting longer, and providing comfort for investors growing nervous over an economy whose recovery is by no means guaranteed.

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The UK economy grew by 0.3% in the final three months of last year, faster than previously estimated.

The revision was due to stronger growth in services and production.

The initial estimate released last month said the UK economy had grown by 0.1% in the last quarter of 2009, meaning it had emerged from recession.

The economy had previously contracted for six consecutive quarters - the longest period since quarterly figures were first recorded in 1955.

The UK had been the last major economy to start growing again.

Europe's two biggest economies - Germany and France - came out of recession last summer, and Japan and the US also emerged from recession last year.

The UK recession began in the April-to-June quarter of 2008, and was the longest UK downturn on record.

During 18 months of recession, public borrowing increased to an estimated £178bn, while output slumped by 6%.

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Chester City have been expelled from the Football Conference with immediate effect following a meeting with the member clubs.

The Conference received over 75% of the votes required to take action against City after the club had admitted to breaching five Conference rules.

The club will now not be able to fulfil any remaining fixtures, beginning with Saturday's clash against Oxford.

City, who did not attend the meeting, face a winding-up order on 10 March.

A statement on the Conference website read: "Member clubs of the Football Conference voted in support of the board of directors' recommendation to erase Chester City (2004) FC Ltd from membership in accordance with Article 5.2."

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Jaguar Land Rover turned in a profit of £55m in the last three months of 2009 after a loss of £60m in the previous quarter.

The company's owner, India's Tata Motors, said the bounce back was thanks to stronger market conditions.

It added that its range of new models had helped its performance.

The company, like most of the rest of the world's major carmakers, also benefited from the many car scrappage schemes around the world.

Its sales jumped 68% from a year earlier, reaching more than 165,000 models, with most of the growth coming Russia, Europe, North America and China.

Coming closures

Tata, which bought the business from Ford in 2008, said cost-cutting also boosted results and it plans to make further changes to the business.

On Thursday, Tata said it had received a £340m loan from the European Investment Bank to finance research into more energy-efficient car bodies.

Jaguar Land Rover employs 14,500 staff in the UK but Tata is deciding whether to shut its factory at Castle Bromwich in the West Midlands, which makes Jaguars, or the site at Solihull, which makes Range Rovers.

Wage cuts

It does, though, plan to create up to 800 new jobs at Halewood on Merseyside, where a new Range Rover will be built.

The company wants to trim the wages of new employees by 20%, and close its final salary pension scheme to new members.

Talks with unions over pay and pensions recently broke down.

Earlier this month the company's chief executive, David Smith, stood down.

The firm said his departure was not linked to the recent talks breakdown.

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Volkswagen (VW), Europe's biggest car maker, has reported an 80% fall in profits for 2009 partly due to a fall in profit margins.

The company made a net profit of 960m euros ($1.31bn; £864m) last year, but said it expected operating profit and sales to recover this year.

Sales slipped by 7.6% in 2009, but the company retains its ambition to become the world's biggest car maker.

Despite the sales drop, VW benefitted from car scrappage schemes.

It is also doing well in economically-strong China, which is now its biggest market.

Growth

The business is expanding in both Europe and the Far East.

Earlier this month, VW said it would buy a 20% stake in Japan's Suzuki Motor for 222.5bn yen ($2.5bn; £1.5bn).

Suzuki said it would take a stake in VW in return, spending "up to one half" of the funds it receives on VW shares.

Volkswagen is also in the process of buying Porsche.

It plans to issue up to 135 million new preferred shares to fund the purchase of that marque, along with the Porsche Holding dealership group.

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The value of maturing with-profits mortgage endowment policies have fallen again at the Prudential, one of the UK's biggest insurance companies.

A £50-a-month policy maturing this May after 25 years will pay out £35,834, down from £37,738 for a similar policy maturing a year ago.

The company's Scottish Amicable policies have seen similar falls, down from £38,707 to £37,635.

The reduced payouts echo those at insurers Aviva and Legal & General.

'Strong fund'

The underlying with-profits fund which supports the endowment policies at the Prudential and Scottish Amicable rose in value by nearly 16% in the past year.

"Prudential's with-profits has yet again delivered... good annualised returns "

"The Pru is a strong fund and is the exception rather than the rule," said Laith Khalif, a pensions analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.

"Most other funds don't return anything like this."

However, the continued fall in maturity payouts reflects the fact that much higher investment returns were earned in years gone by, which no longer influence the value of policies maturing now.

For instance, equivalent 25-year polices which matured four years ago, in 2006, were worth £46,892 for Prudential investors and £47,872 for Scottish Amicable savers.

David Belsham, the chief actuary at the Prudential, said his firm was still giving its customers a strong investment return.

"Prudential's with-profits has yet again delivered what we said it would - good annualised returns for our customers over the medium to long-term," he said.

"Our consistent approach to smoothing and bonus setting has served our policyholders well, protecting them from the full impact of volatile investment condition."

Missed targets

The Prudential has 143,000 customers who are paying into its with-profits mortgage endowment policies and 318,000 who are paying into its identical Scottish Amicable policies.

Two years ago all the Prudential and 98% of the Scottish Amicable policies were still on target to pay off the mortgages with which they were associated.

A growing number now seem likely to miss their aim.

Of the 14,871 Prudential policies which matured in the past year, 3,823 (26%) did not meet their repayment target.

The average shortfall, compared to the size of mortgage they were supposed to pay off, was £1,100.

With the Scottish Amicable, just over half of the 37,663 policies that matured last year missed their target amount, though with an average shortfall of only £850.

Bigger falls

With-profits investors with other big insurers, such as Aviva and Legal & General (L&G), have seen worse downturns in their expected payouts.

Two weeks ago the L&G revealed that only 5% of its endowment policies were still on target to hit their mortgage targets.

A maturing 25-year policy, based on premiums of £50 a month, is paying out £34,486 this year, 5% down from the £36,414 payout a year ago.

A year ago, L&G thought that 24% of its mortgage endowment policies would still produce enough to pay off their customers' home loans.

At Aviva, maturity payouts have fallen by even more.

A £50-a-month policy, maturing in January after 25 years, was worth just £27,884 if invested in the insurer's old Norwich Union fund - one of the three with-profits funds it runs.

That payout was 16% lower than last year's of £33,287.

In 1998, at the height of endowment payouts, an equivalent Norwich Union 25-year policy would have paid out just over £100,000 on maturity to an investor.

Nearly all Aviva's mortgage endowments are thought unlikely to hit their original targets.

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Plans to replace the ageing fleet of intercity trains have been postponed after running into difficulties, Transport Secretary Lord Adonis said.

Lord Adonis said an assessment of the multi-billion pound, 30-year procurement plan had been ordered.

The "super express" fleet is due to replace 30-year-old trains on the Great Western and East Coast main lines.

Lord Adonis said difficulties with finance and slowing passenger growth had affected the programme.

A "reduction in the capacity of the debt market to support the transaction" had made an impact, he said.

But he added that good progress had been made, with Agility Trains being announced as the preferred bidder in February 2009.

It was "not appropriate" to enter the contract before the election, he said.

The government had also had to identify "appropriate adjustments" after it and Network Rail committed to electrifying the Great Western Main Line from 2016.

"Since designation as preferred bidder in February 2009, we have been working hard to meet the government's requirements for the intercity express programme"

"This has inevitably extended the contractual negotiations, which are not yet complete and would not be so until mid-March at the earliest.

"In all the circumstances, the government does not believe it would be appropriate to enter into this particular contract in the immediate run up to a general election," Lord Adonis said.

He said Sir Andrew Foster, former controller of the Audit Commission, would provide an independent assessment within three months of the "value for money of the programme and the credibility and the value for money of any alternatives which meet the programme's objectives".

'Disappointed'

A spokesman for Agility Trains - which is a consortium made up of John Laing, Hitachi and Barclays - said it was "disappointed" a contract would not be concluded before the general election.

"Since designation as preferred bidder in February 2009, we have been working hard to meet the government's requirements for the intercity express programme.

"We will continue our ambitious planning for production and maintenance facilities in the UK to support the programme, in anticipation of concluding the contract under the next Parliament," he said.

The first of the new trains are scheduled to enter service on the East Coast mainline in 2013, and to be fully operational from 2015.

The fleet will link London with Cambridge, Leeds, Hull, York, Newcastle and Edinburgh and with the Thames Valley, Bristol and South Wales.

Lord Adonis said it was "critical" for rail passengers that the right long-term decision be made because existing stock dated back to the 1970s and needed to be replaced.

"If Sir Andrew reaffirms that the intercity express programme is better than the alternatives, my intention would be to proceed with the project in the next Parliament, subject to satisfactory resolution of all the contractual issues," he said.

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Greece has said its budget revenues in January exceeded its targets - rare positive news for a country in the midst of a debt crisis.

Net revenues rose at an annual rate of 16.6% percent, compared with a target of 10.8%, boosted by a one-off tax on big corporations.

Greece's deficit is more than four times higher than eurozone rules allow and it is trying to reduce it.

Proposed government spending cuts have brought massive street protests.

But the figures refer to the central government deficit, not the overall government shortfall measured under eurozone rules, so they do not show the complete picture of Greece's finances.

The crisis over Greece's huge debts has hurt the euro and raised the prospect of a bail-out by the other 15 countries that share the euro.

German bank demand

In another development, some German banks said they would not take on more Greek government bonds, making it harder for Greece to sell debt to pay off its debts.

Deutsche Postbank, Commerzbank unit Eurohypo and the nationalised Hypo Real Estate will not add to their holdings of Greek debt.

German banks are the third-biggest creditors of Greece after banks in France and Switzerland.

Greece needs to sell bonds in the coming weeks. It has to raise 20bn euros in order to pay off maturing debt in April and May.

The huge sell-off in Greek government debt over the past six months means that it has become much more expensive for the nation to borrow.

European Union rules state that no nation in the euro bloc should have an annual budget deficit which is higher than 3% of its gross domestic product.

Greece has pledged to reduce its deficit from 12.7% to 8.7% during 2010.

Its long-term deficit-cutting plan aims to reduce the budget shortfall drastically, to less than 3% by 2012.

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The US economy grew at an annualised rate of 5.9% in the last three months of 2009, revised official figures have shown.

The rate is higher than the first estimate of 5.7%.

The figures confirm the world's largest economy's rapid emergence from recession.

According to economists, the rise was down to an increase in manufacturing output rather than stronger consumer spending.

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Lloyds Banking Group has reported an operating loss of £6.3bn for 2009, after it continued to struggle with billions of pounds of bad loans.

This was a slightly smaller loss than analysts had expected and less than the £6.7bn operating loss the group made in the previous year.

On a pre-tax profit basis, the group made a profit of £1bn.

The bank is 41%-owned by the state, down from 43% after it raised £22.5bn of capital at the end of last year.

Despite the loss, the bank said total income rose by 12%, to £23.9bn.

It said it had "delivered a resilient trading performance against the backdrop of a marked slowdown in the UK economic environment and continued challenges in the financial markets".

On Thursday, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which is 84% government-owned, reported a loss for 2009 of £3.6bn.

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When a football club administration kicks off things get incredibly hectic, and fast.

To start with, you need to insert a team of people to sort out the financials, appoint legal advisers and a valuer to start the process of identifying potential buyers.

You need to speak with the media so that you can explain to the fans what an administration actually is and what it means for them.

In addition the media is a useful tool to help identify potential buyers.

You need to open lines of communication with both the PFA and FA, and consider whether you need to try and strike a deal with the PFA to get them to contribute to players wages.

Contracts

You need to start getting your head around the player contracts - how long is each player under contract, what bonuses are they entitled to at this point in time and what might they be contractually entitled to in the future.

"Though Portsmouth is the first Premier League club to go into administration, the fundamentals remain the same regardless of the division in which the club plays"

You also need to look at players that have already been sold - were there sell-on clauses giving rise to claims

You need to appoint an agent who can advise on each player - what interest is there from other clubs and what are they worth

If the ground is not owned, you have to get in touch with the landlord to let them know where they stand.

You also need to have a meeting with background staff to address their concerns and let them know what is expected of them in the weeks ahead.

And that is all just in the first hour!

Rescue plan

Coming to terms with all of this information quickly is essential, so that it can be ascertained how a rescue plan or restructuring can be put together. However, this depends ultimately on buyers coming forward.

The appointment of an administrator provides an eight-week lifeline to put together proposals to allow the club the chance to be reborn.

In those eight weeks the administrator will be working 18-hour days so it is not for the faint hearted.

There are inevitably moments when the outcome lies in the balance.

When I was appointed the administrator of AFC Bournemouth in February 2008 I committed to a monthly midday press conference to provide an update on the proceedings.

I recall two occasions when we were five minutes away from the start of those press conferences and when we did not actually have cleared funds in the bank to allow us to continue. Liquidation was literally that close.

Though Portsmouth is the first Premier League club to go into administration, the fundamentals remain the same regardless of the division in which the club plays.

The immediate challenge at Portsmouth will be to ensure the club has sufficient cash flow to enable it to continue to operate in the short term.

At the initial press conference the administrator would not give too much detail. He will still be getting his head around all the facts, and will want to keep all options close to his chest.

Though a points penalty has already happened, the administrator will want to ensure a Company Voluntary Arrangement will be approved by the creditors, thus ensuring further points penalties are not incurred next season.

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A Dungannon couple have been jailed after admitting a tax fraud of more than £4.5m dating back to 1995.

Patrick Gerry Small, 56, and his wife Mary, 50, of Cullenramer Road ran a business under the name of Greystone Builders' Merchants.

Belfast Crown Court heard they stashed millions of pounds in offshore bank accounts.

Patrick Small was jailed for three and a half years and Mary Small for two and a half.

The Public Prosecution Service confirmed this was the largest case of its kind to come before the Crown Court in Northern Ireland.

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