Thursday Papers: tips and comment

FT Lex Column:

* Detroit's misleading mantras -- Big Three executives have come back to Congress still repeating their claims that bankruptcy is impossible

* Shoot the messenger, again -- muzzling the financial media would make the job of regulators harder, not easier

* Renminbi stops crawling -- China need only look at its neighbours, and recall its own 1998 experiences, to see the trouble a move towards depreciation can cause

* Blackberry picking -- in spite of its profits warning, Research in Motion deserves more than a jaded eye

* German stimulus -- apart from a responsibility to pull its weight in the EU, there are compelling reasons for Berlin to take robust action

* e-Goldman.com -- the former investment bank is considering branching out into online banking for the masses, but the internet is no quick fix

* Asian hedge funds -- locking up money is like asking investors to safeguard a fund from the greatest stake-out the industry has seen

* Spanish bankers -- Metrovacesa's collapse is almost a systemic issue -- its 7 billion of debt is nearly a seventh of all domestic lenders' bad loans

* Telecom Italia -- final relief for TI's long-suffering shareholders is unlikely to come until the Italian government warms to the idea of an outright sale.

Lombard (p.20):

* Sibir Energy: brazen billionaire bail-out is a warning to the City -- Stagecoach: hard man, soft economy -- New Star: Duffield's fading twinkle

Other comment:

* EMI: dark side of the boom (p.13)

* Fund Focus: IMA Sterling Corporate Bond sector (p.29)

* Rentokil falls to record low amid talk of cash call (p.42)

* Speculation that Reed Elsevier could shelve the sale of its business unit (p.42)

* How long might Thomson Reuters stay dual-listed(p.42)

THE TIMES

Tempus:

* Sell Sage Group -- Stagecoach best avoided -- Buy Dawson Holdings

Business Editor:

* The mechanism's broken, rate cuts won't fix it -- Peter Mandelson fails to deliver -- Sibir Energy: a funny way of doing business

Other comment:

* Winter chill in advertising sends shiver through ITV

* BP bets that oil price will rise by storing crude at sea

* Marks & Spencer puts on another sale, but is it really spectacular or just a sign of weakness?

* Desperate state of economy demands rate cut to historic low of 2%, says Times MPC

* Rio Tinto slides amid debt repayment worries

* Surf chains sale doubts hit Blacks Leisure

* Rentokil fall on re-hashed rights issue rumours

* Bet of the day: William Morrison

* Lonrho a tiddler to watch

DAILY TELEGRAPH

Questor:

* Buy Vedanta Resources -- Buy EFTS crude oil

Comment:

* Willie Walsh needs to return to earth and safely land British Airways deal with Iberia -- New bill blow to small business -- Rio Tinto bank talk raises questions

Other comment:

* Financial Times cuts costs to deal with crisis

THE INDEPENDENT

Investment Column:

* Sell Numis -- Buy ACM Shipping Group -- Shaftesbury a cautious hold

Outlook:

* Sterling was far too high. Now it may be going the other way -- Sibir Energy's lesson in caveat emptor -- Mortgage plan may be smarter than it looks

Other comment:

* Marks & Spencer fights for custom amid slump in sales

THE GUARDIAN

Viewpoint:

* When moral hazard can led to fiscal calamity -- Stagecoach: tied to rails -- New Star: from star to duffer

DAILY MAIL

* Interview Charlie Mayfield, head of John Lewis

* Lonrho making hay on shares

* BTG improves ahead of today's completion of its Protherics acquisition

DAILY EXPRESS

* Rio Tinto at five-year low on financing rumour

* BTG healthier on Protherics deal

THE SUN

* Tesco is considering a move into the small-business banking market.