BP has given its strongest hint yet that it intends to reinstate the dividend that was halted to save cash after the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Bob Dudley, who becomes chief executive of the oil company today, said that the board would meet soon to discuss restoring payouts next year. The resumption would be a huge boon to British pension funds because BP was responsible for about 15 per cent of British payouts last year, writes the Times.Hedge funds are holding the Irish government to ransom over its €30bn (£26bn) bail-out of one of the country's biggest lenders, Anglo Irish Bank, according to the Telegraph. The investors are attempting to force the Irish authorities to pay them more for the debt they hold in Anglo Irish Bank and say if their demands are not met they could trigger a default crisis.Stock markets in the US enjoyed their biggest September rally since 1939 on Thursday despite falling on the day. Sentiment has been underpinned by solid company earnings, a spate of big corporate deals, poor returns from bonds as interest rates hovering around record lows, and hopes that the US Federal Reserve will step in if growth in the world's largest economy stalls, explains the Telegraph.The car industry will receive a special exemption from the Government's proposed immigration cap if a business minister's recommendation is accepted, the Times reports. Such a cap, if it extended to intracompany transfers, could prevent the likes of Toyota, Nissan and Honda bringing in Japanese experts to introduce new technology or manufacturing techniques to their factories. China has warned US lawmakers they are playing with fire by promoting a new law to impose trade sanctions on the country over their currency dispute. The Chinese authorities yesterday lashed out at Congressional moves they said amounted to protectionism, raising the temperature ahead of several important international summits, says the Independent. Hewlett-Packard (HP) has named former SAP boss Leo Apotheker as its new chief executive, making him the most powerful non-American in Silicon Valley. Born in Aachen, Germany, Mr Apotheker is a surprise choice from a board that has been seeking a new chief since Mark Hurd left the company in early August. HP also named Ray Lane, a partner at a venture capital firm and former executive at Oracle, as non-executive chairman, says the Telegraph.Goldman Sachs has launched its first ever advertising campaign in a bid to improve its image. The company, described in the aftermath of the financial crisis as "a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity", ran its first adverts yesterday, that seem designed to show that an investment bank renowned for its multi-billion dollar deals also loves the small business community, reports the Independent.Richard Desmond, the new owner of Channel 5, suffered a slump in earnings last year, partly resulting from his decision to spend tens of millions of pounds on a newspaper price war. The Independent understands that the media mogul's ultimate holding company, RCD1 Ltd, made earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of £14.5m in 2009, a fall of 67 per cent from the £43.3m it made the previous year. Tottenham Hotspur and AEG, the US operator of the O2 Arena, have teamed up to mount a surprise joint bid to lease the London Olympic stadium after 2012, the FT reports.
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