Its shares closed up 1.3 per cent at 927p.Alan Parker, the chief executive, said the turnaround in its ailing pub and high street restaurants was about to take hold and shareholders would miss out if the company was broken up. A number of private equity bidders are thought to be interested in Whitbread's parts. Sales slid into negative territory for the three-month period, but customer volumes increased 8 per cent.Shares in the company rose, however, on hopes the flagging businesses that are dragging down the group may be sold off, leaving Whitbread to concentrate on its budget hotels division. The 142-strong chain is being converted into Beefeater venues, but this did not stop sales falling 1 per cent across its pubs division.On the high street, Whitbread has reduced the price of burgers at its TGI Friday's outlets, and trimmed the number of dishes on the menu, to improve trading. It saw sales rise more than 8 per cent in the first quarter, excluding the performance of Premier Lodge, which Whitbread bought last year.The biggest downturn within Whitbread was in its pub restaurants division, where its family-oriented Brewsters brand had been turning-off customers. He added Mr Annan had similarly reported having no recollection of any such discussions Cotecna denies it acted unethically.. Whitbread, the leisure group behind the Pizza Hut, Beefeater, Costa and TGI Friday's brands, is feeling the heat from the consumer spending slowdown, reporting flat sales at its restaurants and health-club businesses.

The contract was worth $10m annually to the firm.Kojo Annan, the son of the secretary general, had worked for Cotecna from 1995 to December 1997. He remained a consultant for the company until the end of 1998 and thereafter stayed on its payroll until 2004 as part of a deal to prevent him for working for any competing firms.Mr Volcker gave Mr Annan the benefit of the doubt over his assertions that he had had no advance knowledge that Cotecna had been a contender for the contract.But in his memo, Mr Wilson, who was a boyhood friend of Kojo, wrote that he had had "brief discussions with [Kofi Annan] and his entourage" about Cotecna's effort to win the contract during the Paris summit and that he had been told the firm could "count on their support".Fred Eckhard, the secretary general's spokesman, said that officials had checked the UN's own records and had found no mention of any meeting with Cotecna. A suicide bomber blew himself up outside a bank in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, killing 22 people, including pensioners waiting for cheques and child street-vendors. Two civilians were also wounded in the attack claimed in an internet posting by the Ansar al-Sunnah Army - affiliated with al-Qa'ida in Iraq.The attack in Kirkuk was allegedly claimed in an internet posting by al-Qa'ida itself.

It came as the Shia-dominated government of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari received a near overwhelming vote of confidence in the National Assembly on a promise to help restore security. Mr al-Jaafari's 37-member government, announced on 28 April, was approved by a show of hands in the 275-member parliament.Although it has made quashing the insurgency its top priority, Mr al-Jaafari's government has been criticised for its inability to stop a wave of attacks in which more than 1,000 people have been killed since its inception.The motives behind the Kirkuk attack were unclear, but it coincided with the swearing in of Massoud Barzani as the first president of Iraq's Kurdistan region in nearby Irbil.The appointment cements the structure of the regional government with the creation of the post of president and marks out Kurdistan from other areas of the country administered from Baghdad. New evidence has emerged suggesting that the United Nations secretary general knew about a UN contract awarded to the company that employed his son. it also sends a good signal to the upcoming G8 summit in Scotland and sets the pace to other countries in Nepad."Kwamchetsi Makokha, deputy managing editor of the Standard newspaper in Nairobi, said that what Mr Mbeki had done was "a good thing for those who insist on good governance and showing that Africa can govern itself properly".Mr Mandela backed Mr Mbeki's decision, saying that he "fully supported the President in these difficult times in the life of our government", while other South African opposition parties, business associations and civic society groups all backed Mr Mbeki, saying he had demonstrated commitment to transparency and to vigorously tackle corruption.Mr Zuma might still be personally charged with corruption and could face a jail sentence.. The ruling party's constitution does not empower Mr Mbeki to fire Mr Zuma from his ANC position. Mr Mbeki's bold decision has been welcomed across the African continent, which is fighting to remake its image in the wake of continuing scandals over governments' use of money and aid.Ben Kalua, professor of economics at the University of Malawi, said: "Mbeki has always dilly-dallied in acting on governance issues in countries like Zimbabwe, but this action on Zuma today is in line with Nepad's [New Partnership for Africa's Development] flagship, the peer review programme...