9am Briefing: FSA to explain decision to clear RBS chiefs

THE Financial Services Authority (FSA), which earlier this month cleared former Royal Bank of Scotland directors of any wrongdoing, is set to publish an explanation of the controversial finding.

Chairman Lord Turner originally refused to release details of the investigation, claiming it would "add little, if anything, to public understanding of what went wrong".

But after a political outcry, senior ministers including Chancellor George Osborne and Business Secretary Vince Cable are reported to have pushed the FSA to be more open about its 18-month probe into the collapse of one of Britain's biggest banks.

Meanwhile, angry shareholders have called on the FSA to reopen its investigation into RBS after Wikileaks revelations that chairman Sir Philip Hampton believed his predecessors had failed in their duties.

• CELTIC striker Anthony Stokes hailed a cab to get home from the players' Christmas bash – from London to West Lothian.

The player was reportedly exhausted after the party at London's Jet Black after-hours club with his teammates on Saturday night.

Rather than wait to travel home with the rest of the team, the 22-year-old took a taxi back to his home in Broxburn from the West End.

Stokes and the taxi driver agreed on an up-front fare of 600 for the mammoth drive.

• THE battle of the bulge is on for a mega-sized moggy and a round hound in the annual PDSA slimming competition.

After a nationwide search, Badger the cat and Ellie the dog, both from Edinburgh, have been chosen by the veterinary charity as two of 11 finalists in its annual Pet Fit Club.

The animals will fight the flab during a six-month diet and fitness challenge.