News story: CMA accepts remedies in convenience store merger

The CMA has accepted Co-op’s proposals to remedy competition concerns over its purchase of a My Local store in Widnes, Cheshire.

On 19 October the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced that the Co-operative Foodstores Ltd’s (Co-op) acquisition of 8 My Local convenience stores gave rise to competition concerns only in Widnes, Cheshire where Co-op already owned 3 convenience stores in close proximity to each other.

On 17 November 2016 the CMA launched a public consultation on Co-op’s proposal to sell 2 of its convenience stores in Widnes – CGL Hough Green and CGL Farnworth – to an approved buyer or buyers. No issues were raised regarding the ability of the proposal to remedy the CMA’s competition concerns.

The CMA is satisfied that Co-op’s undertakings to sell the 2 convenience stores to an approved buyer or buyers resolves its competition concerns. The merger will not be referred for an in-depth phase 2 investigation. Co-op must now sell the 2 stores within a maximum of 3 months to a buyer that the CMA will approve.

All information relating to this investigation can be found on the case page.

Weekly Road Report – West End Ward

DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL – WEEKLY ROAD REPORT

REPORT FOR WEST END WARD WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 23 JANUARY 2017

Blackness Road/Glamis Road – temporary traffic lights for 2 weeks for gas main renewal.

Nethergate (West Marketgait to South Tay Street) – closed on Sunday 29 January for water main installation works.

Forthcoming Roadworks

Greenmarket – prohibition of right turn into South Marketgait on Thursday 2 February from 9.00pm 6.00am for BT cabling works.

Nethergate (eastbound from South Tay Street to West Marketgait) – closed on Thursday 2 February from 9.00pm 6.00am for BT cabling works.

This belated attempt to develop a proper industrial strategy looks like too little too late – Clive Lewis

Clive
Lewis MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial
Strategy, in
advance of the publication of the Government’s industrial strategy, said:

“This belated attempt to
develop a proper industrial strategy is a step in the right direction, but once
again what the Tories are offering looks like too little too late.

“We await further detail, but
what’s been announced so far will fall far short of getting us back to where we
were in 2010, let alone equip our economy for the challenges of the 21st
Century. The £170m announced for vocational education, for example, will do little
to plug the £1.15bn hole in the Adult Skills Budget created by Tory cuts since
2010.

“It will be a great shame if the Government
wastes this opportunity to put our economy on a new path. But they have already
watered down a series of flagship commitments, from putting workers on boards
to tackling executive pay, and there are too many people on the Tory benches
who think that the only role of Government is to deregulate markets. The
reality is that a Prime Minister who wants to turn us into a tax haven cannot
be trusted to deliver an industrial strategy.”

China’s 2nd most wanted economic fugitive gets life sentence

One of China’s most wanted economic fugitives has been sentenced to life imprisonment for corruption.

Chinese police escorting Li Huabo (C), second of the list of China’s “100 most wanted economic fugitives” after he arrived at Beijing Capital International Airport. May 9, 2015. [Photo / Xinhua]

Shangrao Intermediate People’s Court on Monday awarded life imprisonment to Li Huabo, 55, the second on the list of China’s ‘100 most wanted’ economic fugitives who had fled overseas.

The former local government official from Poyang County, east China’s Jiangxi Province, was accused of embezzling 94 million yuan (about USD 14 million).

Li escaped to Singapore in 2011, where he funneled 29 million yuan (about USD 5.2 million) through Singaporean banks before fleeing the country.

He was sentenced to 15 months in jail by a Singaporean court for “dishonestly accepting stolen property” in July, 2014.

In May 2015, Li was repatriated to Beijing after serving 10 months of his sentence.

Li was the first of China’s “100 most-wanted economic criminals” to be returned from overseas.

He was repatriated as part of the “Sky Net” campaign, which aims to return corrupt officials and economic fugitives who have fled the country.

PM salutes Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, on his birth anniversary