LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister David Cameron woke on Friday to find usually hostile newspapers gushing about his statesman-like qualities after he signalled his opposition to a new law governing the press.

After his party suffered a night of humiliation in three parliamentary elections, instead of facing questions over his leadership, he was cheered for rejecting the main plank of proposals from a public inquiry he set up in the wake of outrage at the excesses of tabloid newspapers.

LONDON, Nov 30 (Reuters) – British Prime Minister David
Cameron woke on Friday to find usually hostile newspapers
gushing about his statesman-like qualities after he signalled
his opposition to a new law governing the press.

After his party suffered a night of humiliation in three
parliamentary elections, instead of facing questions over his
leadership, he was cheered for rejecting the main plank of
proposals from a public inquiry he set up in the wake of outrage
at the excesses of tabloid newspapers.

LONDON (Reuters) – Lord Justice Brian Leveson produced plans for the toughest regulation of the British press in 300 years on Thursday after decades of misbehavior, final warnings and universal acceptance that the current system had failed.

Although rows lie ahead over whether a law will be required to underpin Leveson’s vision for a tough new regulator, the 63-year-old has shrewdly found a way forward which indicates that much of which he suggests is likely to be accepted by even his harshest critics.

LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Thursday that he had serious concerns about legislation to regulate the media, risking a split in his coalition after a damning inquiry triggered by a phone-hacking scandal proposed a press watchdog backed in law.

Opposing a legal foundation to an independent press regulator will delight the British media ahead of the 2015 election but will deepen a divide in Cameron’s coalition government and within his own party.

LONDON (Reuters) – A far-reaching inquiry into British newspapers called for a new independent watchdog enshrined in law to regulate the press, to prevent a repeat of the excesses which led to a phone hacking scandal at Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World tabloid.

The recommendation on Thursday meant Prime Minister David Cameron faced angering either senior figures in his party and Britain’s newspapers or his coalition partners and the public.

LONDON (Reuters) – Prime Minister David Cameron faces a no-win dilemma on Thursday when a far-reaching inquiry into British newspapers delivers its verdict on how to curb the excesses of the country’s notoriously aggressive press.

Cameron, who was embarrassed when details of his personal links to Rupert Murdoch and his media empire emerged at the inquiry, will have to decide whether to accept its findings, which risk dividing his coalition government and angering an already hostile press.

LONDON, Nov 27 (Reuters) – The head of the Financial Times
Group is to stand down almost two months after losing out in the
race for the top job at Pearson, the pink-paged
newspaper’s owner.

Rona Fairhead’s departure – her handover period runs to
April – was the latest in a raft of changes at the once stable
British media and education group in recent months which have
fuelled speculation the FT may be sold.

PARIS/LONDON (Reuters) – Far from fearing the coming investment from Europe’s telecom giants into superfast broadband, smaller cable firms believe they will still beat the big guns to the trigger.

Cable operators Liberty Global, Ziggo, Kabel Deutschland and Virgin Media have already stolen a march on their less nimble rivals, winning customers and investors with their expansion into broadband.

PARIS/LONDON, Nov 27 (Reuters) – Far from fearing the coming
investment from Europe’s telecom giants into superfast
broadband, smaller cable firms believe they will still beat the
big guns to the trigger.

Cable operators Liberty Global, Ziggo,
Kabel Deutschland and Virgin Media have
already stolen a march on their less nimble rivals, winning
customers and investors with their expansion into broadband.

LONDON, Nov 27 (Reuters) – Falkland Oil and Gas -
engaged in a roller coaster ride to find oil in the disputed
South Atlantic islands – lost almost half of its value on
Tuesday when it announced the abandonment of a well following
disappointing results.

The statement wiped 49 percent off FOGL’s volatile stock,
sending its shares to an historic low of 32 pence, giving it a
market value of 103 million pounds ($165 million).