By the morning, when the election observers arrive, they have gone.”He deplored the departure at the weekend of the United Nations monitors after they objected to rules set down by the Zimbabwe government Mr Tsvangirai said: “Their departure was premature. If they could not stay as co-ordinators why did they not just stay and observe? Their withdrawal sends a message of disapproval but does not solve the problem.”Mr Tsvangirai, who denied reports that the MDC had considered pulling out of the election, said it was clear the vote would not be fair because of the prevailing climate of intimidation and fear. Nevertheless, he remained optimistic that his party, which originated in the country’s trade union movement and many of whose supporters are too young to remember the liberation struggle against white rule, would win a substantial share of votes.”Demographics are on our side We believe popular anger will translate into votes. If there is a Zanu-PF victory it will not be possible to contain the anger,” he said.More than 500 candidates from Zanu-PF, MDC and other parties are standing in the country’s 120 constituencies. What is not clear is how many of the independent candidates are allied to the ruling party.

Furthermore, in a parliament of 150 seats, President Mugabe has a right to appoint 30 MPs. Consequently, to gain a parliamentary majority, the MDC will need to win 76 seats – considerably more than half of the country’s constituencies.. Star Alliance, the airline grouping led by United Airlines and Lufthansa, served notice yesterday that it would oppose a British Airways-KLM merger unless there was a full open-skies agreement liberalising transatlantic services from Heathrow. Star Alliance, the airline grouping led by United Airlines and Lufthansa, served notice yesterday that it would oppose a British Airways-KLM merger unless there was a full open-skies agreement liberalising transatlantic services from Heathrow.
Mike Whitaker, the vice-president of international and regulatory affairs for United, said that in the absence of such an agreement, the BA-KLM alliance would be too dominant.”Obviously, it would be unacceptable for us if BA got unlimited rights through the back door,” he said. “The first issue that jumps out is that there needs to be a significant opening up of Heathrow.”Mr Whitaker also forecast that if BA took over KLM, it would face severe difficulties gaining rights to operate KLM’s transatlantic services out of Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, as these rights are granted on the basis of an airline’s nationality.A fresh round of open-skies talks are taking place in London this week but Mr Whitaker said he did not expect any significant progress to be made until the next round of talks in Washington, scheduled to take place between 5 and 7 July.

Even then, he said, the best that could be hoped for was a “mini-deal” that would allow one new UK carrier – British Midland – and two new US carriers – probably Delta and Continental – to start limited transatlantic services from Heathrow.”I am not optimistic that we will get an open-skies agreement with the UK. Ultimately that has to come as part of a US-EU agreement,” he added.BA is pressing for anti-trust immunity for its long-delayed alliance with American Airlines as the price for opening up Heathrow, while Virgin Atlantic is demanding full access to the US domestic market.But Mr Whitaker said the two sides were “so far away from an open-skies agreement that anti-trust immunity was not even on the agenda”.. Bass, the All Bar One to Inter-Continental group, yesterday severed its 223-year-old tie with the brewing industry as it unveiled the long-awaited disposal of its beer unit to Belgium’s Interbrew for £2.3bn. Bass, the All Bar One to Inter-Continental group, yesterday severed its 223-year-old tie with the brewing industry as it unveiled the long-awaited disposal of its beer unit to Belgium’s Interbrew for £2.3bn.
The deal will catapult Interbrew, the privately held Stella Artois maker, which last month paid £400m to acquire Whitbread’s brewing division, to the status of number one beer company in the UK and second in the world, trailing only Anheuser-Busch of the US.Under the terms of the deal, which is subject to approval by the European Commission but not by UK regulatory authorities which earlier blocked the planned merger of Bass’s brewing interests with those of Carlsberg-Tetley, Interbrew will pay £1.4bn in cash and £874m in assumed debt to take ownership of the Bass name – the oldest trademark in Britain – along with the group’s six UK breweries, three Czech plants and a portfolio of ale and lager brands which includes Carling, Tennent’s, Worthington, Grolsch and Caffrey’s.Industry experts said the deal was almost certain to attract the concerns of antitrust officials. Mike Bennett, industry editor at the Morning Advertiser, formerly The Licensee, said: “I cannot see the thing being allowed through as it is.” He said Interbrew is likely to be forced to dispose of a handful of brands, which could include Draught Bass or Boddington’s.But Hugo Powell, Interbrew’s chief executive, said: “We don’t enter the [EC] review process with any pre-conceived idea that any brands should be sold.” He claimed earlier estimates that Bass controlled 24 per cent of the UK beer market, while Whitbread had 16 per cent, were “over-inflated”. He said the combined Bass and Whitbread beer businesses would represent a 32 per cent slice of UK beer sales, below the average level controlled by an industry leader and said the UK market was among the most competitive in the world, with all the major suppliers present alongside a network of strong retailers and pub companies.Mr Powell said that while Interbrew awaits the outcome of the regulatory review, which will initially fall to the European Commission but could be clawed back by the UK Office of Fair Trading, it will run the Bass and Whitbread units separately.

He said opportunities for synergies would be explored once the deal was complete, but analysts predict Interbrew will trim up to £90m by combining the operations. Mr Powell added the Bass deal would not affect the Belgian group’s plans to float as early as the end of this year.Sir Ian Prosser, Bass’s chairman and chief executive, said he was “extremely pleased” to have struck the deal with Interbrew at a price well above analysts’ initial valuations of £1.6bn. It is understood that Interbrew fought off competition from Heineken, Carlsberg and South African Breweries to clinch the acquisition, which it has been plotting since July last year.Sir Ian said: “This is very much a defining moment in Bass’s history.” He said the group would use the £2.3bn gain to expand its global hotel business, which includes the Inter-Continental and Holiday Innbrands, as well as its pubs and restaurants units. But he would not comment specifically on rumours that it was lining up a bid for the US-based Starwood chain or on reports that it was planning a takeover of Whitbread, a suggestion that analysts have dismissed as “wide of the mark” Bass shares closed up 23.5p at 726.5p.. Tony Blair is backing moves to bring more privatised utilities under mutual ownership following confirmation yesterday that Kelda is to sell Yorkshire Water to a company owned by its customers in a deal valued at £2.4bn.

Tony Blair is backing moves to bring more privatised utilities under mutual ownership following confirmation yesterday that Kelda is to sell Yorkshire Water to a company owned by its customers in a deal valued at £2.4bn.
Talks are understood to be taking place today at Downing Street to examine how the structure of mutual or community ownership could be extended from the water industry to cover sectors such as rail, electricity, airports, and even parts of the National Health Service.Peter Bryant of United Capital, the utilities expert who devised the mutualisation scheme for Yorkshire Water, is to brief the head of Mr Blair’s policy unit, Geoff Norris, amid growing enthusiasm in Labour circles for this new approach to ownership of utilities.Kelda shares initially surged by 20 per cent yesterday after analysts calculated that the scheme would result in a payout to shareholders worth between £1bn and £1.2bn – equivalent to 275p-300p a share although they later fell back to close 6 per cent higher at 353p.At least three other water companies – Anglian, Pennon, the owner of South West Water, and Mid-Kent – are contemplating following the example of Kelda by selling their water assets to a mutually owned company and returning the proceeds to shareholders.Kelda is yet to gain approval for its plans from the water regulator, Ian Byatt. The company’s bond holders are also understood to have raised concerns when briefed on the plans yesterday afternoon by the Kelda chairman, John Napier. Bond holders are understood to be concerned that the bonds could be of lower quality and more vulnerable to default if the restructuring goes through.Under the Kelda plan, the assets of Yorkshire Water would be bought for around £2.4bn by a Registered Community Asset Mutual or RCAM owned by the company’s four million customers. The new community-owned company would be 100 per cent debt financed and run by an independent board with two customer representatives. Initially, it would award the management of the water assets to Kelda although contracts would progressively be put out to competitive tender.Kelda said that instead of paying dividends to share shareholders, the new RCAM would be able to use any surplus to reduce customer bills, improve services or increase investment.Mr Napier said the aim was to complete the deal by October but he cautioned that the restructuring would only go ahead if it was in everyone’s interests. In a veiled warning to bondholders, he added: “It anyone wants to get stupid, it won’t happen.”Kelda is also planning to raise around £120m by selling off its White Rose environmental services division and renewable energy business and save a further £10m of operating costs by slimming down its head office..