Compiled by LAURA SLATTERY

Court date

L’ORÉAL HEIR Liliane Bettencourt, France’s richest woman and former cash donor to Nicolas Sarkozy, is suffering from dementia and Alzheimer’s and cannot manage her fortune, a Paris court ruled this week. It is a grim twist in a feud with her daughter Françoise Bettencourt- Meyers that recently saw Bettencourt (88) say she would leave France if she was made a ward of court.

“The nightmare would be to depend on Françoise,” she told a French paper. Subject to appeal, Bettencourt is to be put under the guardianship of her eldest grandson, Jean-Victor Meyers, while her fortune will be placed under his brother Nicolas.

THE QUESTION:Why is consumer electronics group Philips struggling?

PHILIPS, THE world’s biggest maker of light bulbs, has announced that it is cutting 4,500 jobs worldwide after its quarterly profit fell to the lowest level in almost two years, with no near-term rebound on the cards. The cut in the Dutch company’s workforce follows the shedding of 6,000 jobs in 2009. And although its lighting and healthcare businesses are struggling under the weight of weak demand in Europe and the US, its real “problem child” is its discontinued television division.

Once its star performer, the Philips TV brand is now a drag on the business, making up fewer than 10 per cent of the group’s sales and accumulating almost €1 billion in losses since 2007. Unable to compete with lower-cost manufacturers such as Samsung and LG Electronics, Philips had been hoping to pull out of television set production for some time, but now seems set to abandon its plan to sell the business to Hong-Kong based TPV by the close of 2011. Philips chief executive Frans van Houten blamed the stall in the sale on the deterioration in the global TV market.

And it is a weak market. Essentially, many households have already upgraded to flatscreen models, weakening the imperative to keep buying more sets. However, this is also about the completion of a switch in market dominance from Europe to Asia.

Philips was among the last remaining mass-market producers of televisions in Europe, with only luxury-end manufacturers such as Denmark’s Bang and Olufsen left remaining.

"The root cause of the trouble is the over-burdened welfare system, built up since the Second World War inEurope - the sloth-inducing, indolence-inducing labour laws"

Jin Liqun, chairman of China’s sovereign wealth fund, the China Investment Corporation, tells Channel Four News he thinks Europeans should “work a bit harder” if they want to get out of recession.

30– the percentage cut in fees paid to RTÉ's highest-earning presenters, even if this means losing some to commercial competitors, says director general Noel Curran.

300– the reduction in staff at RTÉ by the end of the year as a result of its voluntary redundancy scheme, as it becomes a leaner organisation.

STATUS UPDATE

Spaceport galactica: Virgin Galactic has opened a spaceport in New Mexico. Information on its flight schedule – and the long-haul parking charges – is currently unavailable.

Social bailiffs: The UK office of fair trading has warned debt collectors not to pursue borrowers on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, citing privacy issues.

BlackBerry app-ology:BlackBerry-owner Research in Motion is giving customers free apps of classic games such as The Sims as compensation for a three-day global blackout.

Dictionary corner: “Heathwick”

BA CHIEF executive Willie Walsh doesn’t seem in the best of moods these days, what with his disgruntlement at David Cameron’s decision to appoint a transport secretary (Justine Greening) whose constituency is unnervingly under the Heathrow flight path. This makes her compromised, according to Walsh.

The reshuffle certainly doesn’t bode well for the fading prospect of expansion of Heathrow, especially given an alternative to a third runway known as “Heathwick” is being considered by Cameron’s government. “Heathwick” is code for a project that would see a £5 billion high-speed rail link built between Heathrow and Gatwick, creating a joint London airport hub. Questioning who will provide the funding, Walsh describes “Heathwick” as “sub-optimal”.