Price of litre of petrol tops 1 for first time in UK as oil surges on a North Sea storm. By Graeme Wearden.

The pound climbed to $2.10 for the first time since 1981 today, boosted by speculation that China was preparing to shift its foreign reserves out of dollars. By Graeme Wearden.

Market report: London shares resumed their downward trek today, knocked by volatile oil prices, a tumbling dollar, jitters around banks and more anxieties on Wall Street. By Katie Allen.

Virgin Media signals that era of upheaval marked by public rows with BSkyB is behind it as the cable TV company posts strongest customer growth in more than a year. By Katie Allen and Chris Tryhorn.

Henkel, the maker of Schwarzkopf hair products, plans to cut thousands of jobs when it completes its 2.7bn acquisition of ICI’s National Starch adhesives business early next year. By David Gow.

British bus and rail operator says soaring oil price forcing motorists out of their cars and on to public transport. By Dan Milmo.

Outlook at fashion chain Next ‘uncertain’ in run-up to Christmas, company warns. By Julia Finch.

Cable group Virgin Media added 13,000 new customers in the third quarter of the year. By Chris Tryhorn.

King: ‘No disagreement with chancellor’ Authorities knew savers had insufficient protection

Record label Universal Music Classics & Jazz is making its entire catalogue available online without copy protection as part of an experiment to gauge fans’ demand for MP3 tracks. By Katie Allen.

ITV’s share price fell to an all-time low after it emerged the company wants BSkyB to sell its 17.9% stake. By Chris Tryhorn and Katie Allen.

News Corporation has overridden the wishes of Dow Jones shareholders the Bancroft family by appointing a 27-year-old opera singer with little experience of the media to represent the family on its board, according to reports.

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Tanker Fixtures
CLEAN

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TILBURY has publicly renewed its call for planning permission to be granted on 65 acres of development land, freeing up space for a major push towards domination of the growing southeast England ro-ro market.

THE newly elected chairman of the International Association of Classification Societies has pledged to ?rebalance? the lack of influence from the Far East in dealings with the International Maritime Organization.

ORIENT Overseas Container Line and Cheng Lie Navigation Co (CNC Line) have suspended their plans to impose an emergency bunker surcharge on the Hong Kong/South China-Taiwan trade, which was due to start on July 1, following shippers? complaints over eight other lines announcing similar EBS plans on the same route.

VICTIMS of the Norway explosion have demanded tens of millions of dollars towards full restitution, and accused operator Norwegian Cruise Line of ?placing corporate profits ahead of safety?.

GENOA port president Luigi Merlo has expressed grave concern over an announced freeze on hiring public employees, writes John McLaughlin.

HONG Kong-listed port operator, container manufacturing and leasing company Cosco Pacific has signed a container sale and leaseback deal with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, writes Sandra Tsui in Hong Kong.

THE United Nations has lifted a seven-year travel ban on US-based Liberian registry consultant Gerald Cooper, who has been linked to disgraced ex-Liberian president Charles Taylor.

CMA CGM chairman Jacques Saad has proposed restricting oil futures trading as a means of curbing speculation, which he says is behind the current surge in oil prices, writes Andrew Spurrier in Paris.

GO raises $130m loan

CSBC Corp, Taiwan?s largest shipyard, may seek revised terms on its shipbuilding contracts, according to its chairman Cheng Wen-lon, writes Mike Grinter in Hong Kong.

ON the 20th anniversary of the Piper Alpha oil platform disaster in the UK North Sea, a Norwegian company has been ordered to improve drilling conditions on a key production platform, writes Martyn Wingrove.

FRIDAY, JULY 4

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Giorgi warns prosecution will worsen crew crisis
V.SHIPS president Roberto Giorgi has warned that the industry?s recruitment crisis will worsen unless its members unite to protect seafarers from unreasonable legal attacks.

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French bank Societe Generale is fined 4m euros for allowing one of its staff members to operate as a rogue trader.

The EU opens an in-depth probe into BHP Billiton’s $170bn unsolicited bid for rival miner Rio Tinto.

The price of oil falls slightly
on hopes Iran will react well to plans to resolve a dispute over its nuclear development.

Hamleys owner - Icelandic investment group Baugur - says it is examining ways to relocate to the UK.

Air France confirms it is in talks with French group Veolia about launching a high-speed rail service.

Indian inflation reaches its latest record high as food, fuel, cement and steel prices continue to rise.

Australia’s Origin urges shareholders to reject a 13.8bn Australian dollar takeover bid from UK rival BG Group.

The former head of one of Austria’s biggest banks, Bawag, is convicted of fraud charges by a court in Vienna.

Pringles, the popular snack food in a tube, are not potato crisps, a High Court judge rules, and should be free of VAT.

Has the row over TNK-BP spooked investors?

Recalling the world’s worst offshore oil disaster

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A brighter side of the Hebei Spirit debacle
THE ripple effect of the Hebei Spirit disaster continues, writes Mike Grinter. But as marine farmers commit suicide in the face of lost livelihoods, shipbuilding analysts are getting excited about the resurgence in double-hulled tanker demand.

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THE jack-up rig fleet is expected to surge, with shipyards to deliver another 24 units for drilling contractors in the next six months.

TENSION among the rival political groups vying for control of Somalia has severely hampered security efforts, including initiatives to enlist foreign and private forces to patrol the coast.

US OKs Rio Tinto buy

ATLANTIC handysize and supramax shipowners are accepting delivery options outside of their usual region as owners cannot afford to ballast amid record high bunker prices, writes Jamie Dale.

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price: $16.47 (new), $13.69 (used)

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MICHAEL Peraticos, one of modern Greek shipping?s foremost personalities, has died in Athens, aged 90. His funeral took place in Athens on Monday.

PROSPECTIVE Hapag-Lloyd purchasers have another two weeks in which to submit an initial bid and name their price.

BERMUDIAN insurer Ironshore has entered the Lloyd?s market with its 17m ($34m) purchase of specialist insurer Chaucer?s managed syndicate Pembroke.

OVERSEAS Shipholding Group has suffered a significant setback in its oily water separator case in the US, as an appellate court overturned a lower court?s dismissal of criminal charges against the tanker firm and one of its chief engineers.

AS SPRING turns to summer, and with the 2008 US presidential campaign now a two-person race, important developments on both the legal and the political fronts are taking place.

From Geoffry Lucas,

Wenchong Shipyard for sale

FRENCH insurers have postponed the launch of their promised new international marine hull policy, writes Andrew Spurrier in Paris.

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