BT Share News (BT.A)

The European Central Bank launched its most aggressive intervention in government bond markets for seven months after Jean-Claude Trichet, president, unveiled a determined - but carefully calibrated - response to the eurozone crisis, the FT reports.Traders said the ECB was on Thursday buying Portuguese and Irish bonds in €100m tranches - four times bigger than previously. The moves sharply brought down the cost of borrowing for Lisbon and Dublin and sparked a euro rally.The taxman has stepped up plans to download information straight from pay packets, calling time on the P60 and other documents in an effort to make sure the right amount of tax is deducted under the Pay-As-You-Earn system. HM Revenue and Customs will today launch a second consultation on "real-time information" and intends to test the scheme from 2012, The Times has learnt. The move comes in spite of warnings by leading accountants and payroll experts that further changes to the system could result in chaos.BT has offered to match an £830m government subsidy to offer its superfast broadband to 90% of the population by 2017. It has also kicked off a trial to push speeds to ten times their current level. BT told The Times yesterday that it would ask the government for funds that have been freed up from the television licence fee to bring high-speed broadband to areas where it is economically unviable. It will formally pledge to match this subsidy next Monday when the Government unveils its broadband strategy.Banks flooded the Federal Reserve with billions of dollars in "junk bonds" and other low-grade collateral in exchange for much-needed liquidity during the crisis, as the financial sector struggled under a crippling credit crunch, new data show. More than 36% of the cumulative collateral pledged to the US central bank in return for overnight funding under the Primary Dealer Credit Facility was equities or bonds ranked below investment grade. A further 17% was unrated credit or loans, according to a Financial Times analysis of Fed data released this week.Gold imports into China have soared this year, turning the country, already the largest bullion miner, into a major overseas buyer for the first time in recent memory. The surge, which comes as Chinese investors look for insurance against rising inflation and currency appreciation, puts Beijing on track to overtake India as the world's largest consumer of gold and a significant force in global gold prices, the FT reports.JJB Sports will be forced to seek fresh funding after admitting yesterday that it was on course to breach the rules attached to its bank loan after trading worsened. The struggling sportswear retailer, which has been in distress since a disastrous trading update two years ago, said yesterday that it was talking to Bank of Scotland, the Lloyds Banking Group subsidiary, after it became clear it would break its banking covenants when they are next tested in January, the Times reports.Royal Dutch Shell is facing "serious" charges for alleged environmental and safety problems connected to a fire at its Bacton gas terminal almost three years ago. The Environment Agency and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) told the energy giant's UK subsidiary on Thursday that the company will be prosecuted jointly by both authorities, the Telegraph reports.The Government has scrapped plans to force big businesses to disclose the difference in pay for men and women they employ, on the day it emerged that little progress had been made in bringing women into the boardroom. The equalities minister, Lynne Featherstone, said yesterday she had ditched plans drawn up by the previous government and due to come into force in 2013, calling it a "blueprint for change", the Independent reports. Employers will now be asked to publish gender pay data on a voluntary basis only.Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation has reached out to the European Commission by offering specific commitments as it seeks to ease potential concerns over competition prompted by its plans to take over the satellite broadcaster BSkyB. In response, the Commission has allowed 10 extra days for the first phase of its inquiry into the planned £12bn deal, extending the deadline from 8 December to 22 December, the Independent reports.A London solicitor asked the High Court yesterday to block his extradition to America in connection with an alleged multi-million dollar international bribery conspiracy. Jeffrey Tesler, 62, a dual British-Israeli national, is accused by US authorities of conspiring to funnel more than $130m (£85m) in corrupt payments to Nigerian officials to secure engineering contracts, the Times reports.JP Morgan Chase is being sued for $6.4bn by the trustee representing the victims of Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme, who is alleging that the investment bank was at the centre of the multibillion-dollar fraud. Irving Picard, who was appointed by the courts to recover assets from the collapsed fund, this week filed more than 100 lawsuits against individuals and institutions believed to have profited unfairly from Mr Madoff's $50bn (£32bn) fraud, which was uncovered in December 2008, the Times reports.