Dreamliner Grounded Until At Least End Of May

Boeing 787 Dreamliner Timeline

Updated: 10:30am UK, Monday 25 February 2013

The turbulent history of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner:

Feb 25, 2013: All Nippon Air (ANA) confirms all of its fleet will remain grounded until the end of May.

Feb 8, 2013: Boeing confirms it has sent letters to airlines expecting imminent deliveries of possible delays.

Feb 7, 2013: US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) allows limited test flight of the grounded Dreamliner.

Feb 5, 2013: Japanese official reveal CT scans of failed batteries does not reveal fire cause.

Feb 4, 2013: Boeing requests FAA approval for test flights of grounded model.

Jan 30, 2013: Amid revenue loss forecasts of $500m to $5bn, Boeing CEO addresses investors and downplays impact.

Jan 28, 2013: Investigators widen battery examination to sub-contractors of lithium ion battery maker GS Yuasa

Jan 21, 2013: Safety officials start probe of lithium ion battery maker GS Yuasa

Jan 19, 2013: Boeing says it is stopping deliveries of the Dreamliner to airlines

Jan 18, 2013: FAA officials arrive in Japan to examine a 787 and its melted battery pack after an ANA emergency landing two days earlier

Jan 17, 2013: The European Aviation Safety Agency,  FAA and Qatar Airways ground Dreamliners under their regulatory control

Jan 16, 2013: Japan Air Lines Co Ltd (JAL) follows suit and suspends Dreamliner flights from Japan over safety concerns

Jan 16, 2013: ANA grounds all 17 of its 787s after four of its aircraft suffer problems

Jan 16, 2013: ANA 787 Dreamliner makes emergency landing in Takamatsu, Japan, after smoke appears in cabin

Jan 11, 2013: The Federal Aviation Authority announces a review of the 787 design and systems

Jan 11, 2013: ANA discovers engine oil leak after a domestic flight lands at Miyazaki

Jan 11, 2013: A separate ANA flight to Matsuyama reported a crack appearing in the pilot's window

Jan 9, 2013: ANA cancels a Boeing 787 Dreamliner flight due to a brake problem

Jan 8, 2013: Japan Air Lines (JAL) grounds a jet at Boston Logan International Airport after a 787 leaks 150 litres of fuel

Jan 7, 2013: A fire erupts in a battery pack in another JAL Dreamliner at Boston

Dec 13, 2012: Qatar Airways grounds one of its Dreamliners because of a faulty generator

Dec 5, 2012: The FAA orders inspections of all 787 Dreamliners in service in the US

Dec 4, 2012: A United Airlines 787 is forced to make an emergency landing in New Orleans after a generator fails

July 23, 2012: ANA grounds five Dreamliners due to an engine component issue

Feb 22, 2012: Boeing says around 55 Dreamliners may be affected by a flaw in the fuselage

Oct 26, 2011: The Dreamliner makes its maiden flight with paying passengers on board an ANA jet

Sep 26, 2011: Boeing delivers its first 787 Dreamliner to Japan's ANA, three years late

Jun 23, 2010: Boeing postpones the first flight of the Dreamliner because of a structural flaw

Dec 15, 2009: The passenger jet 787 Dreamliner takes off on its maiden test flight

Apr 9, 2008: Boeing says there will be a revised plan for the first 787 flight and initial deliveries

Dec 11, 2008: Boeing announces further delays due to strike action by machinists Sept-Nov

Oct 19, 2007: Boeing says there will be a six-month delay to deliveries due to assembly issues

Jul 8, 2007: The first assembled 787 goes on display to media, employees and customers

Jul 18, 2006: Boeing says it is making "solid progress" on the 787 Dreamliner programme

Jan 28, 2005: Boeing gives its new commercial airplane an official model designation number - 787

Jan 29, 2003: Boeing announces the launch of a new aircraft called the 7E7

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Exclusive: BBA Members Back Libor Handover

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

The British Bankers' Association (BBA) today moved a step closer to relinquishing its role in setting interbank borrowing rates as regulators seek to restore their credibility following the Libor scandal.

I have learnt that the banking industry trade body held an extraordinary general meeting this morning to approve a rule-change that will enable it to hand over ownership of Libor following a tender process that could last for much of this year.

Baroness Hogg, a member of the Treasury's board, is overseeing the moves to select a new party to administer the Libor-setting regime. Few details have emerged about the process, despite a pledge by the Treasury to publish information about it.

In a statement confirming the move, a BBA spokesman told Sky News: "An Extraordinary General Meeting of BBA members has given its formal approval to the Board to deliver the transfer of BBA Libor to a new operator which will be selected by the Hogg Committee.

"The absolute priority is to ensure the provision of a reliable benchmark which has the confidence and support of all users, contributors and global regulators."

Baroness Hogg's appointment followed a report last autumn by Martin Wheatley, Britain's new chief financial conduct regulator, which said that stripping the BBA of its role was vital to restore trust in Libor and other benchmark rates.

Mr Wheatley's inquiry came in the wake of Barclays' £291m fine for rate-rigging, since when UBS and Royal Bank of Scotland have also been fined heavily for their roles in what authorities say was an international conspiracy.

Today's EGM at the BBA's offices in the City was a legal technicality, but an important one, according to insiders.

The motion to hand over control of Libor, already approved by the BBA governing council last year, was passed unanimously, according to people familiar with this morning's EGM.

Bloomberg is among the organisations which have expressed an interest in taking on the Libor-setting role.

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Domino's Pizza Mobile Orders Double In A Year

Domino's Pizza has seen a doubling of orders taken on mobile devices during 2012, the company has announced.

The takeaway delivery company said that for the 53 weeks ending December 30 a total of 19.7% of online orders were made through smartphones and tablets.

The figure was almost a doubling of mobile ordering  from a year earlier, when 10.1% were made via those devices.

Domino's said 55.7% of all UK sales in 2012 were made online, up from 44.3% in 2011.

It sold 61 million pizzas - up from 56 million a year earlier and opened a record 69 stores.

Although it also closed two stores, it now operates 805 stores in four countries and created 1,500 new jobs.

It expects to employ around the same number of new staff this year.

The statistics were announced as it released its annual preliminary results, showing like-for-like sales up 5% in its 612 mature UK stores, with UK operating profit up 15.7% to £45.2m.

Results for the group, which operates stores in the UK, Ireland, Switzerland and Germany, showed company-wide sales increasing by 12.8% to £598.6m, with record pre-tax profit of £46.7m, up 10.8%.

Chief executive Lance Batchelor said: "Despite a very challenging economic environment, our people and our franchisees have delivered another impressive set of results.

"This performance further demonstrates the resilience of the Domino's Pizza home delivery market."

But the company admitted that snowfall in January has significantly affected its new year business, with more than 60% hit by closures.

Mr Batchelor said: "Clearly the recent spell of poor weather and widespread snow in week three and week four has had an adverse impact on trading.

"During these two weeks, we had a total of 498 stores closed at some point - almost two-thirds of our UK store network was impacted."

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Ikea Meatballs Withdrawn Over Horsemeat Find

A batch of meatballs has been taken off the menu at Ikea's UK stores after they were found to contain traces of horsemeat.

The Czech Republic's state veterinary administration - which made the discovery - said the 1kg packs of frozen meatballs were labelled as beef and pork.

Ikea, whose furniture stores feature restaurants and sell Swedish food, said it had taken the Czech result "seriously".

It has stopped a total of 760kg (1,675lb) of meatballs from the same batch reaching its shelves in 13 countries across Europe, including Britain.

The checks were carried out in response to a European-wide scandal that erupted last month when tests carried out in Ireland revealed some beef products also contained horsemeat.

Traces of horsemeat were found in meals sold by several British retailers.

An Ikea spokesman said: "Ikea takes the test result from the Czech Republic authorities showing indications of traces of horsemeat seriously.

"The concerned production batch of meatballs has been withdrawn from the Swedish Food Market in the Ikea stores.

"Already two weeks ago, Ikea Group initiated DNA analyses of all meat products in the range.

"Twelve tested samples of different batches of meatballs showed no traces of horsemeat."

The Swedish firm stressed that meatballs would still be available to buy in its stores and only one batch was being withdrawn as a precaution.

The European Union's agriculture ministers have gathered in Brussels to discuss the widening scandal's fallout, with some member states pressing for tougher rules to regain consumer confidence.

The 27-nation bloc must agree on binding origin disclosures for food product ingredients, starting with a better labelling of meat products, German agriculture minister Ilse Aigner said.

"Consumers have every right to the greatest-possible transparency," she said the consignment of meatballs that was tested had not been distributed to consumers, the statement said.

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Mandelson Bank Wins Role In Royal Mail Sale

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

The Wall Street firm for which Lord Mandelson, the former Business Secretary, works is poised to clinch a role advising the Coalition Government on the privatisation of Royal Mail.

I have learnt that Lazard, the investment bank, will be hired in the coming days to work alongside UBS on preparations for the biggest British privatisation in a generation.

Officials are due to finalise the terms of Lazard's appointment this week, according to insiders.

The firm, for which Lord Mandelson is the chairman of its international operations, is being brought on board to provide ministers with independent advice as a potential sell-off of Royal Mail returns to the top of the political agenda.

It is unclear whether the former Labour Business Secretary will play any role in Lazard's work on Royal Mail. Lord Mandelson led the previous attempt to privatise the postal operator in 2009, which collapsed amid deteriorating economic conditions and waning interest from rivals such as Deutsche Post and TNT.

Spearheaded by Michael Fallon, the business minister, the latest effort to inject private capital into Royal Mail is likeliest to come through a stock market listing of the company.

Sky News revealed last week that Royal Mail employees would have to hold onto their shares for some time as ministers aim to avoid a repeat of the 'stagging', or immediate share sales, which blighted many of the privatisations of the 1980s.

Lazard's imminent appointment adds its name to a host of other major banks which are working on the Royal Mail sell-off. Ministers and the Shareholder Executive, which oversees state-owned companies, are keen to have an 'independent' adviser on board, since UBS is likely to be among those vying for a role in executing the flotation.

Barclays, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs are all advising the Government, and have been co-ordinating a series of meetings between Royal Mail management and institutional investors.

Lazard has a long track record of work for the UK Government, having assisted with the sale of the Tote in 2011. The firm is also working on the sale of the NHS's key blood plasma supplier.

A spokesman for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills declined to comment.

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Andy Murray Buys £1.8m Cromlix House Hotel

Tennis star Andy Murray has bought a luxury Victorian hotel near his home town of Dunblane.

The £1.8m Cromlix House Hotel was the venue for his brother Jamie's 2010 wedding to Colombian wife Alejandra Gutierrez.

The world number three plans to turn the Perthshire mansion into a 15-bedroom hotel in time for next year's Ryder Cup, which is taking place at Gleneagles, around 13 miles away.

In a statement, Murray said: "I am pleased to have acquired Cromlix House and look forward to securing its future as a successful business.

Murray won the US Open last year

"By re-establishing Cromlix as a leading luxury hotel at the heart of the Dunblane community we will be able to attract new visitors to the area, create a number of new jobs and focus on supporting other local businesses."

The hotel, which is set in 50 acres of woodland, also boasts its own chapel and trout loch. Murray's venture is expected to create up to 40 new jobs.

Previous owners the Eden family, who had managed the hotel for 30 years, said they were happy the venue was staying in local hands.

Inverlochy Castle Management International (ICMI) will manage Cromlix House on behalf of the US Open champion.

ICMI managing director Norbert Lieder said: "I am confident that, with Andy, we can create a very special hotel in his home community."

The hotel will also be home to a Chez Roux branded restaurant, offering fine dining and using local produce.

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Samsung Galaxy S4 Smartphone Set For March

The successor to Samsung's big-selling Galaxy S3 smartphone will be unveiled next month, the company has said.

US mobile networks are understood to have pushed hard for an American launch after last year's London debut of the S3.

The event will take place in New York, with Samsung tweeting: "March 14. Ready 4 the show? #UNPACKED", along with an image that reads: "Come and meet the next Galaxy".

The S3 has been a big success story for the South Korean firm, challenging the dominance of Apple's iPhone and widely seen as the standard-bearer for Android phones.

Samsung overtook Apple as the world's top smartphone maker last year and its Galaxy range recently outsold the iPhone for a fourth straight quarter.

Apple still has a slightly larger market share in the US - 34% to Samsung's 32.3%, according to the most recent figures.

The new Samsung device is expected to feature a larger, higher-resolution display and an improved camera, as well as a faster processor.

Huawei's Ascend P2 aims to challenge Apple and Samsung's phones

News of the launch comes as Barcelona's Mobile World Congress begins, with manufacturers showing off their latest technology in the hope of tempting consumers away from Apple and Samsung.

It is not all about high-end phones however; demand still exists for cheaper handsets.

Nokia announced a 15 euro (£13) handset, the Nokia 105, aimed at emerging markets such as China and India.

The Finnish company also unveiled a smartphone, which uses Windows 8 operating system, that costs 139 euros (£122) called the Lumia 520

Its chief executive, Stephen Elop, said the launch of cheaper handsets would not devalue its high-end phones.

"What we've done is taken some of the great experiences available on our flagship products - we've done the hard engineering necessary to take elements of that and put it on lower priced devices." he told Sky News.

"You can't take everything from the top and move it onto those lower products, but you can certainly create a whole family of products that take you nicely through the capabilities."

Chinese company Huawei has already unveiled what it claims is the world's fastest smartphone. The Ascend P2 has download speeds up to 150 megabits per second.

HTC and Blackberry have also recently launched new flagship products - the HTC One debuted last week, while the Blackberry 10 was launched in January.

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Mozilla To Launch Phone Operating System

Mozilla - the company behind the Firefox web browser - is to take on Android and Apple iOS and release its own mobile operating system.

Using standard HTML 5 web language, Mozilla says its system will be able to operate on more basic devices than current smartphones.

The first crop of handsets will be inexpensive touchscreen devices made by the likes of Huawei and LG, and will run on Qualcomm Snapdragon processors.

Phones using the new system will appear this summer, starting with Brazil, Colombia, Hungary, Mexico, Montenegro, Poland, Serbia, Spain and Venezuela.

Mozilla says that 18 phone networks are backing the venture, including Deutsche Telekom of Germany and Sprint Nextel in the US.

However, the not-for-profit company faces a tough market currently dominated by Apple's iOS and Google's Android, which have 22% and 69% share respectively.

Others fighting to take a piece of the action include Microsoft's Windows Phone platform and Blackberry's operating system.

Speaking at Barcelona's Mobile World Congress, Mozilla boss Gary Kovacs revealed high hopes for the new system.

He said: "Our goal is to level the playing field and usher in an explosion of content and services that will meet the diverse needs of the next two billion people online."

Experts have praised Mozilla's early efforts in getting networks and manufacturers on board, but there are concerns about how willing developers will be to produce apps for the new system.

"Developers, which are often small operations, will not want to spend their time developing and supporting applications on several platforms," said Mohssen Toumi from analysts Booz & Co. "Especially if one of them has only a small share of the market."

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Govt Addresses MPs Over Credit Rating Slide

George Osborne has attacked Labour for creating an "economic mess" as he addressed MPs over the loss of the UK's prized AAA credit rating.

The Chancellor told the Commons last week's credit rating downgrade had not led to "excessive market volatility" and was "a stark reminder of the debt problem built up in Britain over the past decade".

But Labour shadow chancellor Ed Balls said Mr Osborne had failed to meet his own 2010 pledge to "safeguard Britain's credit rating" and accused him of "putting his own political pride" ahead of families and businesses.

Mr Osborne was greeted with calls of "resign" from the Opposition benches after Labour was granted an urgent question in the House of Commons.

He insisted he will not change course despite the setback and said: "We will go on delivering the economic plan that has brought the deficit down by a quarter."

The Chancellor was responding to Ed Balls amid the continued political and economic fallout of Friday's rating downgrade.

He suffered a serious reverse when credit agency Moody's revised downward its verdict on the UK economy - intensifying the pressure on sterling.

Ministers have played down the impact of the change on the Government's borrowing costs which had already been largely priced into the markets.

But Labour has hailed it as a "humiliation" for Mr Osborne, who previously declared that retaining the top-grade rating was a measure of the success of his austerity drive.

The pound slipped overnight following the UK's credit rating downgrade on Friday, but London's FTSE 100 opened higher as the week's trading began.

In Asia, sterling fell to a 31-month low against the dollar and a 16-month trough versus the euro, but the pound recovered slightly early on Monday, and by late-morning was down 0.1% against the dollar at $1.515.

The euro was up 1.27% at 87.58p, not far from its high of 87.75p.

In contrast to the currency market movements, reaction to the downgrade on other markets was muted with economists saying the move was expected and had already been priced in.

The FTSE 100 stock market opened up around 40 points higher at 6375.

Fears that the downgrade would lead to a rise in the cost of borrowing by the UK Government also looked to be unfounded, with the price of British 10-year debt bonds falling beneath their level at the time of Friday's downgrade.

European economist Sarah Hewin at Standard Chartered said the move had already been taken into account.

"The market had anticipated that there would be a downgrade - perhaps the timing of it was a little earlier than expected," she told Sky News.

But she added that the outlook for the UK economy looks "pretty grim".

"The growth rate is struggling, and this was something that Moody's outlined in particular - It's the result partly of fiscal austerity, partly of a credit squeeze on the economy, partly the result of weak export markets.

"So it's going to be a long struggle, I think, back to recovery," she said.

Explaining Britain's downgrade from AAA to AA1, Moody's pointed to "subdued" growth prospects in the UK and a "high and rising debt burden".

It now expects the "period of sluggish growth" to "extend into the second half of the decade".

Ms Hewin said: "The good news is - if there is any good news in this story - is that Moody's outlook for the UK is stable.

"For now the greatest risk is that we see Standard & Poor's and Fitch following suit as well, moving the UK from their AAA rated status down to AA."

Following the move, senior Conservatives rallied round Chancellor George Osborne, predicting it would have little impact on the Government's borrowing costs.

But Tory backbenchers have upped calls for tax and spending cuts to kick-start growth, warning that next month's Budget is the "last chance saloon".

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Italy: Market Jitters Over 'Berlusconi Win'

Italy's stock market rises sharply before stripping out gains as exit polls show former leader Silvio Berlusconi's conservative bloc may take regain power in the Senate.

The leading stock market index, the MIB, was up nearly 4% at 2.30pm GMT over the centre-left Democratic Party's possible win, while the bond yield spread between 10-year Italian and German bonds dipped below 260 basis points, its lowest since the start of February.

Markets were in support of Pier Luigi Bersani, who heads the Democratic Party, but as later exit polls indicated a possible win for the right in the Senate, the MIB dropped for a time to just 0.08% up on the day.

Early exit polls had showed Mr Bersani's centre-left coalition leading a national vote that is testing Italians' resolve to stay the course of painful economic reform.

A poll showed Mr Bersani's coalition has taken 35.5% of the vote for the lower house of parliament, ahead of the centre-right coalition under former premier Mr Berlusconi with 29%.

The poll by Tecne has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5%.

A political movement founded by comic-turned-political agitator Beppe Grillo is projected to take 19% of the vote, while outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti's centrist coalition has 9.5%.

ETX Capital's head of trading Joe Rundle explained the sharp rise ahead of the gain being stripped out.

Mr Rundle said: "Traders switched on the buy signal, snapping up peripheral stocks ... while the EUROSTOXX 50 index is also basking at the prospects of Italy not going down a road of destabilisation with Berlusconi's anti-reform policy.

"Markets were hopeful that there will be no real change to the status-quo in Italy and demonstrated this by today's positive price-action but this early exit poll has almost cemented it."

A  fund manager at a large Milan investment house added: "The market didn't want Berlusconi back in the driving seat.

Polls closed at 2pm GMT, ending two days of voting. The first projections based on partial vote counts are expected at around 7pm GMT.

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