The week ahead: news diary briefing for journalists provided by Foresight News.
GDP (July 26); India/Pakistan, Olympics (July 27); BSkyB (July 28/29); Zara, IVF (July 30)
April’s GDP results showed a return to growth in the first quarter of this year, following the 0.5 per cent contraction in the last three months of 2010. Preliminary second quarter GDP figures are released on Tuesday; according to the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee, which recently voted 7-2 in favour of maintaining interest rates at 0.5 per cent, growth prospects for this quarter are again modest.
The Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers meet in New Delhi on Wednesday, with the talks between SM Krishna and the newly-appointed Hina Rabbani Khar (the first Pakistani woman to hold the post) representing a thaw in the recent frosty relations between the two nations. Recent talks have ended with little more than promises of more talks so hopes are high for more progress this time.
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The 2012 Olympics are a year away on Wednesday and the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, is throwing a bash in Trafalgar Square to mark the occasion, where the design for the 2012 medals will be unveiled and Johnson, Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt and LOCOG chair Lord Coe will be patting each other on the back after it was announced last week that construction work for the games is ahead of schedule and under budget.
BSkyB‘s board gathers on Thursday, the day before the company releases its annual results for 2010/11. Speculation was rife last week that Sky’s directors would be discussing James Murdoch’s future as chairman, so Thursday’s statement by ex-News of the World editor Colin Myler and legal manager Tom Crone, disputing evidence given by Murdoch to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, is unlikely to have done the chairman of the board any favours ahead of the big showdown.
The Queen gets the chance to buy a new hat for the wedding of her eldest granddaughter on Saturday. Zara Phillips is marrying England rugby international Mike Tindall (soon-to-be owner of the flattest nose in the royal family) at Canongate Kirk in Edinburgh in what’s likely to be a slightly more understated affair than The Royal Wedding.
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Princess Anne will hope that the Tindalls never need to enter the To Hatch Lottery, which from Saturday offers lucky couples the chance to win £25,000 worth of fertility treatments. The IVF lottery is being run to raise funds for the To Hatch charity, a non-profit organisation which operates an online community for people affected by infertility.
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