The power of suggestion.

The power of suggestion. Viktor, what’s going on? We need to know, - and we think you now have a chance to find this out. Almost certainly it is not quite what you think is going on. But, if you ask leading questions that are ‘designed’ to support a presupposition, - you can get replies that (bolster) your belief. Put aside your biggest ideas (Skolko ‘vo’) and believe in yours strongest assumptions. Overcome your fear of uncovering uncomfortable ‘information’! Relieve yourself. Trust us, you’ll feel much better…

Telefónica / Portugal Telecom. And the Portland 450 cement is what? July 19 2010 16:33. Negotiating a divorce is even harder when the mother-in-law takes a seat at the table. The Portuguese government last month blocked Telefónica’s €7.2bn offer to buy Portugal Telecom out of Vivo, their joint mobile venture in Brazil. Now the Spaniards have ended attempts to revive the offer – they are (not unreasonably) tired of negotiating with shareholders and Portuguese politicians at the same time. Lisbon says it is acting in PT’s best interests; in fact it has damaged the company while doing Telefónica a favour. Not that the deal is necessarily dead. Lisbon remains meddlesome by insisting that PT stay in Brazil: it could buy into a different Brazilian operator (probably Oi) and then take Telefónica’s money. But Oi’s ownership structure is complicated and if PT is to avoid a shareholder revolt it must secure more than a minority stake. Buying in Brazil would also be expensive: Telefónica’s offer, which valued Vivo at about 10 times expected earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, has had the effect of inflating everyone else’s expectations. Telecom Italia, for example, would be unlikely to accept less than €13bn for its Brazilian mobile operator, Tim Brasil. The worst-case scenario for PT, meanwhile, would see Telefónica take the case successfully to arbitration court in The Hague, dissolve the joint venture and seize control on the cheap.

Deutsche Bank returns to have a qualified holding in Portugal Telecom. July 19, 2010 | 18:31. The German bank has bought 2,820,533 ordinary shares of Portugal Telecom now holds 2.23% stake of the operator. Once you have sold, June 8, 2010, 1,132,825 shares of Portugal Telecom, Deutsche Bank acquired 2,820,533 shares on the day following the operator's back to hold a qualifying holding in the company. In total, the German bank holds 19,948,715 ordinary shares of Portugal Telecom, representing 2.23% of its share capital and corresponding voting rights. The actions of Portugal ended today losing 0.34% to 8.02 euros.

Gem falls as output misses target. Gem Diamonds Ltd., a miner of the precious stones in Lesotho and Australia, fell the most in almost three weeks in London trading after first-half production in Australia missed company forecasts, Bloomberg reported. “Plant availability and rain hampered plant throughput from March to June and has resulted in an underperformance against targets,” the London-based company said today in a statement. “Both tonnage treated and carats recovered are likely to be slightly below target for the full year.” Shares in Gem fell 8.2 pence, or 3.7%, to close at 212.8 pence at 4:30 p.m. in London, the biggest daily fall since July 1, according to the Bloomberg report.

Viktor Vekselberg, the Russian billionaire, has launched a High Court action against Christie's after it sold him a 'forged' Boris Kustodiev painting for £1.7 million. Published: 6:28AM BST 18 Jul 2010.