On Friday, after Mr Mandelson offered to cut tariffs on farm goods by up to 60 per cent, the French government said it would ask the European Commission to investigate whether the proposal had breached the Common Agricultural Policy.Yesterday, the head of France's largest farming trade union described the offer as a "provocation" and called on French President Jacques Chirac to exercise his right to veto the proposals if the Commission failed to act.Jean-Michel Lemetayer, head of the FNSEA farm union, said: "I hope that the French government, which has shown a lot of firmness in the past few weeks, will not only threaten the use of its veto, but also apply it."However, the Commission is also under pressure from the United States, which believes Mr Mandelson's latest proposals to cut farm subsidies do not go far enough. Rodrigo de Rato, the IMF managing director, and Paul Wolfowitz, the World Bank president, issued a joint communiqu?rging national governments to "face down interest groups" during the latest round of trade talks. The joint statement added: "At the heart of the [talks] lies agriculture and rightly so - the sector remains riddled with trade distortions that penalise consumers everywhere and the many poor in developing countries who earn their living from it."The warning follows strong opposition from French farmers to new proposals from the European Union Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson. The heads of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank yesterday issued a thinly veiled attack on French farmers they believe could derail global trade talks. News Corp, which will not be voting on the issue, has tried to win over shareholders with an agreement to cap its voting rights at 37 per cent.Rupert Murdoch, who will chair the BSkyB AGM, has just seen off a shareholder revolt at News Corp over its "poison pill" arrangement to scupper a takeover bid.. Hermes, another major British shareholder in Sky, has already stated that it will vote against the plan this Friday. It meant that News Corp's shareholding in Sky last financial year increased from 35 per cent to 37 per cent, while that will rise to 39 per cent under this year's proposal.Allan Leighton, a Sky non-executive director, has a meeting scheduled with L&G for today to discuss its concerns, which were leaked to the Press over the weekend.News Corp needs special shareholder approval not to take part in the buyback plan, as its shareholding is above 29.9 per cent and, ordinarily, any increase would trigger an automatic bid for the company.

L&G, one of BSkyB's top five investors, has already written to the company to say that it will be voting against the buyback plan, which has been accused of being a mechanism for Rupert Murdoch's News Corp to gain "creeping control" of BSkyB. News Corp is BSkyB's biggest shareholder, but it refused to take part in the company's buyback last year and has said it will not sell shares into the buyback this year either. Legal & General will today meet BSkyB to explain why it plans to join a shareholder revolt over the television group's plan to buy back its shares, which is to be put to a vote at the company's annual general meeting this week. The value of their stakes has multiplied, but the company's decision to list on AIM will allow them to cash in their shares while paying capital gains tax (CGT) at a rate of just 10 per cent, rather than the more usual 40 per cent.. Dozens of independent financial advisers were offered small shareholdings in New Star at its launch four years ago, with many taking up the offer. Private investors in New Star - the fund manager launched five years ago by John Duffield, right - are set to save thousands of pounds of tax simply because the group is to float on AIM.

With demand falling, the rise in oil prices left companies reporting a rise in their average unit costs.Despite this factories continued to cut prices, though to a lesser extent than they had forecast at the time of the previous survey in July.However, the gloomy tone of the survey contradicted the latest official figures which showed a rise of 0.6 per cent over the three months to August.Meanwhile, a separate survey showed business confidence had enjoyed a healthy rebound since July with companies resilient in the face of high oil prices and the consumer downturn.An optimism index from the business advisers BDO Stoy Hayward which acts as an indicator of GDP growth two quarters ahead rose from 100.4 in July to 101.2 in October, implying economic growth of just over 3 per cent in the second quarter of next year.. At the same time, orders fell for the third successive quarter with a balance of 15 per cent indicating a decline as the consumer spending slowdown spread into other areas of the economy.Looking ahead, firms did not expect any improvement in the fourth quarter of 2005. Output from UK factories has hit its lowest level for two years while rising energy costs are squeezing their profit margins, the CBI said today. Small- and medium-sized manufacturers (SMEs) reported the third consecutive quarterly fall over the three months to October, according to a survey of almost 700 companies. Just 20 per cent increased production compared with the 35 per cent who saw it fall, leaving a balance of minus 15 per cent - the worst since October 2003. However, Qualcomm described the complaints as "factually inaccurate and legally meritless". The company said it had granted more than 130 licenses to a broad range of companies, including five of the six complainants..