Best paid FTSE 100 finance director

Kevin Hayes has the mantle of the highest-paid finance director in the FTSE 100 bestowed on him by Accountancy , a journal of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales .

His remuneration in fact fell from $4.4m to $3.6m (£2.9m) for the year to March, thanks to weaker sterling, but in difficult times it was enough to beat Tesco's Andrew Higginson, on about £2.75m, who has gone on to run Tesco Bank.

The amount may also not be significant in the context of Lehman Brothers, where Mr Hayes worked in a senior positions in London and New York until March 2007, when he made an impeccably timed move to Man Group.

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Will California become America's first failed state?

Los Angeles, 2009: California may be the eighth largest economy in the world, but its state government is issuing IOUs, unemployment is at its highest in 70 years, and teachers are on hunger strike. So what has gone so catastrophically wrong?

California has a special place in the American psyche. It is the Golden State: a playground of the rich and famous with perfect weather. It symbolises a lifestyle of sunshine, swimming pools and the Hollywood dream factory.

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Bank of England holds rates

The Bank of England left interest rates at a record low of 0.5 percent for the seventh month running on Thursday and said it would keep its 175 billion pound asset buying programme in place, as expected.

Focus has now switched to the November meeting when the Monetary Policy Committee will have new economic forecasts, though most analysts do not expect the BoE will change policy then either given Britain may now be emerging from recession.

"Right now we believe they will announce no further additions to the purchase programme in November, but much will depend on the economic news between now and then," said George Buckley, chief UK economist at Deutsche Bank.

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