Quantum Minerals claim of illegal seizure is still under arbitration – FTSE 100 company ENRC needs to look to its reputation
• Mining companies clash over Congo copper mine
Canadian copper group First Quantum Minerals claims some of its assets in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) were illegally seized last year by the government. International arbitration proceedings continue. A fortnight ago, Kazakh-based Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC) bought a stake in one of the disputed mines and says its lawyers demonstrated that it was free to do so.An everyday tale of mining in central Africa? Yes – but with a twist. ENRC is a member of the FTSE 100 index and

White House says oil has gone from Gulf of Mexico oil spill

Head of Transocean, which operated destroyed Deepwater Horizon oil rig, to be asked about safety and deepwater drillingBritish politicians will challenge the UK head of Transocean, the operator of the destroyed Deepwater Horizon rig, tomorrow over whether the Gulf of Mexico disaster could be repeated in the North Sea.In the first televised hearing of an investigation by MPs into what lessons can be learnt from the disaster, Paul King, Transocean's managing director, and other oil industry executives will be questioned about the North Sea safety regime, particularly for deepwater drilling.Transocean has a sizeable presence in the North Sea, with more rigs operating than in the Gulf, although they are mostly at shallower depths.Led by committee

Bankers' pay transparency is only fair and the chancellor knows it – all that's needed now is legislationGeorge Osborne says, via his official spokesman, that he is committed to forcing banks to publish the pay brackets of their big earners on a no-names basis. Good. The scheme, devised by Sir David Walker, is a worthwhile reform. It is also very modest. If the coalition government could not hold its nerve on this minor matter then the new Independent Commission on Banking, examining the case for structural reform, would be redundant.One of the banks' main objections is that disclosure could prove counter-productive – it might encourage a "keeping up with the Joneses" mentality in which everyone

First Quantum writes to UK authorities over ENRC's acquisition of Kolwezi copper mineA row between two mining companies over a multimillion-pound copper mine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has escalated after one of the firms wrote to the UK regulator alleging that shareholders have been misled over the affair.First Quantum, a Canadian company whose copper mine has been seized by the DRC government, has written to the UK regulator. It alleges that ENRC, the FTSE 100-listed rival which now owns a large stake in the mine, misled investors over the acquisition.The Guardian has seen a letter written last month by First Quantum to the UK Listing Authority, part of the FSA, shortly after

What executives are labelling 'Future BP' will be a much smaller company shorn of much of its presence around the worldBP is still standing, but the Gulf of Mexico oil spill has changed the company forever. It could have been far worse.In June, some City analysts doubted whether BP could survive the crisis. Shares had plunged by more than half. Within the space of a few weeks, the official estimate of the amount of oil flowing into the Gulf had increased from 5,000 barrels to anywhere between 35,000 and 60,000 barrels per day. The company's repeated attempts to stop the flow had failed and August – the earliest the first relief well could be drilled

Industry experts fear that many of Obama's changes in wake of Gulf oil spill will be no more than cosmeticOil industry executives in the US call the Gulf of Mexico the "wild wild west", a place where regulations are rarely enforced and offshore operators can do what they want. Barack Obama has promised to tighten regulations to prevent a repeat of the Gulf disaster but many within the industry are sceptical that much will really change.A failure of regulation is as much the cause of the disaster as the actions of BP and the other companies involved on the Deepwater Horizon rig, which exploded in April. The evidence that has emerged so far from the

Vodafone might be looking for a new chairman but it's in no hurry to look for buyers for its assetsSir John Bond does not appear to be in a rush to vacate the chairman's seat at Vodafone. Never mind. The appointment of headhunters will excite those frustrated investors who would like their company to sell some, or all, of its minority shareholdings around the world. They will reason that a new chairman will deliver the kick that Bond hasn't.Well, maybe. But don't count on it. It is true that Vodafone, viewed from some angles, resembles a telecoms investment trust with a portfolio of minority holdings that its shareholders could assemble for themselves. Vittorio

• PricewaterhouseCoopers says consulting arm earned £515m
• Investor groups concerned over conflict of interest issuesThe Big Four accountancy firms came under fire from investor groups todayfor selling consulting services that could lead to Enron-style conflicts of interest after PricewaterhouseCoopers said a quarter of its £2bn income came from consultancy work.The issue has dogged the audit industry since the Enron affair exposed poor practices and conflicts of interest and led to the demise of Arthur Andersen, then one of the biggest accountancy firms in the world. However, PwC confirmed that £515m of its £2bn net income came from consultancy. Its closest rival, Deloitte, revealed last week that its consulting practice generated £459m of

Glaxo shares are biggest FTSE faller after MHRA medical experts say Avandia risks outweigh benefits
GlaxoSmithKline was the biggest faller in the FTSE 100 today after British medical experts demanded that Avandia, its controversial diabetes pill, be withdrawn from sale in the UK.Avandia's side effects have been under scrutiny since the drug – once the pharmaceutical company's second biggest seller – was first linked to heart problems in patients more than three years ago. However, the powerful Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has now come out against the treatment, stating the risks associated with taking the drug outweigh its benefits and that "it no longer has a place on the