UK Foreign Office Minister Ben Bradshaw said there was still no independent confirmation of the reports. “I think we have to wait for clarification of this,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.Taliban officials later denied that there were any foreign special forces operating within territory controlled by the regime.. The senior directors of Go-Ahead, the transport group which owns the Thames Trains and Thameslink franchises, received inflation-busting pay rises last year despite a sharp deterioration in the passenger performance of the two rail businesses. The senior directors of Go-Ahead, the transport group which owns the Thames Trains and Thameslink franchises, received inflation-busting pay rises last year despite a sharp deterioration in the passenger performance of the two rail businesses.
Martin Ballinger, the chief executive of Go-Ahead, received a 17 per cent increase, taking his pay to £274,000, while the deputy chief executive, Chris Moyes, was given a 15 per cent rise to £256,000. The finance director, Ian Butcher, saw his pay increase by 21 per cent to £253,000.All three executives also received bigger performance bonuses in the year to 30 June than the previous year, despite the decline in the punctuality of Go-Ahead’s rail services following the Hatfield derailment in October 2000.

Mr Ballinger’s bonus rose by £4,000 to £40,000 while those of Mr Moyes and Mr Butcher increased to £37,000 and £35,000 respectively Rail performance, in contrast, went into reverse. The number of Thames Trains services arriving on time fell from 89.7 per cent to 82.8 per cent while the figure for Thameslink dropped from 85.9 per cent to 74 per cent. The deterioration in punctuality was reflected in a sharp rise in fines from £600,000 in 2000 to £4.8m for Thameslink and from £2m to £4.9m for Thames Trains.Stuart Francis, chairman of the Rail Passengers’ Council, said: “There needs to be a link between performance and pay. When rail company directors are getting their performance bonuses it is only reasonable to ask when passengers are going to get their improvement.”During the year, Go-Ahead, which also owns bus companies in London, Brighton, Oxford and the North-east, saw off a hostile takeover bid from the French company C3D, which cost the company £6m in defence fees.

Go-Ahead, through its joint venture Govia, also took over the South Central commuter franchise from Connex.. Future Network, the loss-making UK publisher, yesterday unveiled plans to launch a rights issue to raise £33m in the face of mounting debts. Future Network, the loss-making UK publisher, yesterday unveiled plans to launch a rights issue to raise £33m in the face of mounting debts.
The group also said it had cut 39 per cent of its 2000-strong workforce in the UK and US and closed or sold 39 magazines since the start of the year.Future Network will offer six shares for every five currently owned at 20p each. It hopes to raise £34.6m before expenses, which would be used to pay off some of Future Network’s £78m of debt.Its shares, which have lost 83 per cent of their value this year, were suspended before trading opened and ahead of yesterday’s statement.Greg Ingham, chief executive, said: “There have been queries about our debt, but this should sort out our capital structure. There has been a good response from our larger shareholders, who I am very grateful to as it has been a tough time for them.”Mr Ingham also said he has beefed up the board with Roger Parry, who is also chairman of Johnston Press, becoming chairman of Future Network. The company’s current chairman and founder, Chris Anderson, will become a non-executive director.The group reported a pre-tax loss of £106.7m in the six months to 30 June, compared with a £14.2m loss last year, as revenue on continuing operations fell more than 10 per cent to £70.3m.Future Network said, as part of the restructuring, most of its internet activities had been scrapped. The total cost of the restructuring and refinancing was about £8m.Future Network publishes the Sony PlayStation 2 magazines in Britain and Italy, and has suffered in the global slowdown in the computer games market..