Vladimir Putin's ruling United Russia party appears to have lost the trust of millions of Russians after early results showed it had won less than 50% of the vote in a parliamentary election on Sunday. Russia's central election commission last night said United Russia was leading the elections with 49.99% of the vote with 75 per cent of precincts reporting. Such a result, it would mean Mr Putin's party has haemorrhaged support since it won almost 64% in the last parliamentary election in 2007 and backs up anecdotal evidence that millions of Russians are beginning to tire of the regime's dominance of political life. Mr Putin said the initial results would ensure the country's "stable development". Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, said the results reflect "the real set of moods in our country" and was an example of "democracy in action", says The Telegraph.Britain's manufacturing industry is heading for a sharp slowdown as confidence, orders and output tumble, further undermining hopes that the sector can help lead the country's economic recovery. Industry body the EEF and business advisers BDO today slash their forecasts for 2012 manufacturing growth from 2.2% to 0.9% after reviewing reports from 453 members that reflect the gloomy predictions in the Chancellor's autumn statement last week. After producing a better than expected performance for much of the year the outlook for manufacturing has rapidly deteriorated with the eurozone crisis adding to nervousness, The Telegraph reports. Anglo-Swedish drug maker AstraZeneca has struck a landmark deal to share potential drugs with academics for free, to aid the search for new medicines. The announcement comes on the same day that David Cameron unveils a new strategy designed to increase collaboration between industry, scientists and the NHS in a bid to aid Britain's £50bn life sciences industry. The Prime Minister will also announce plans to share the NHS patient database with private companies for medical research purposes. Drug makers are coming under pressure to seek innovative research and development models as they struggle to curb costs. Astra's pact with the Medical Research Council (MRC), the first of its kind, will offer 22 clinical compounds to academics for free, according to The Telegraph. The number of British companies in the traditional areas of manufacturing, services and retail quoted on the London stock market has more than halved over the past decade, according to research seen by The Times. There has been a boom in flotations by natural resources companies, such as oil and gas explorers, and large groups that are not based in Britain but choose to list here. This has masked the decline of British-based companies, particularly small and medium-sized, that either have been taken off the market or have chosen not to float, according to Tim Ward, chief executive of the Quoted Companies Alliance. "These are the engines of growth. We need a culture of equities of the sort that we used to have," he said.Excessive pay packets of bankers and bosses are set for a crackdown as Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and the Bank of England seek ways to curb out-of-control remuneration and bonuses at the top of corporate culture in Britain. Nevertheless, Barclays is reportedly planning to pay its investment bankers an estimated £5bn this year despite calls for restraint from Bank Governor Sir Mervyn King. Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show yesterday, Clegg yesterday pledged to balance austerity in the public sector with a crackdown on "abhorrent" top corporate pay. Clegg said action would be taken in the new year to ensure that state employees do not feel like they are doing "all the heavy lifting", but he stressed that the UK government would not be "going round setting pay rates in the private sector", writes The Scotsman.The Financial Services Authority will begin printing copies of its report into the collapse of Royal Bank of Scotland early this week ahead of its planned release on December 12. The report is expected to contain a damning indictment of the way RBS was run in the lead-up to its collapse, particularly on the takeover of Dutch bank ABN Amro in 2007 that left the group with disastrously low capital reserves. Those mentioned in the report have been given a chance to see it before publication and sources said 'legal discussions' were still taking place late last week over its contents, The Daily Mail reports.
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