January 31, 2012
Liam Neeson movie The Grey tops US box office
Action movie The Grey, starring Liam Neeson as a survivor of an airplane crash, has gone straight to the top of the North American box office chart. The film took $20m (£13m) between Friday and Sunday, according to industry estimates. Neeson leads…
January 31, 2012
UK and Czechs refuse to join fiscal compact
Twenty-five of the EU's 27 member states have agreed to join a fiscal treaty to enforce budget discipline. The Czech Republic and the UK refused to sign up. UK Prime Minister David Cameron said his government would act if the treaty threatened UK…
January 31, 2012
Honda sees sharp drop in profit
Japan's third biggest carmaker, Honda, has announced a 41% drop in quarterly profit, as it continues to feel the impact of Japan's March disasters, the floods in Thailand, and the high yen. Net profit for the third quarter fell to 47.6bn yen…
January 31, 2012
Japanese auto parts firms to pay US anti-trust fine
Japan's Yazaki Corporation and Denso Corporation have agreed to plead guilty and pay fines for fixing prices of parts supplied to US manufacturers. Yazaki will pay $470m (£300m), the second-largest antitrust fine in US history, while Denso has…
January 31, 2012
Cameron urges RBS to show ‘restraint’ over more bonuses
Prime Minister David Cameron has urged RBS to show "restraint" in the award of other bonuses for senior executives. Although RBS chief executive Stephen Hester has waived his award of £963,000 in shares, senior colleagues are also in line for…
January 31, 2012
France cuts 2012 growth forecast
France has cut its growth forecast for this year to 0.5% from 1%, Prime Minister Francois Fillon has announced. The revision was made to "take into account the deterioration of the economic situation", he said. It comes as European leaders meet in…
January 31, 2012
China loses WTO appeal over raw materials exports
The World Trade Organisation's appeals body has upheld a ruling that China restricted exports of certain raw materials to protect its domestic manufacturers. China had appealed a WTO ruling in July that it broke global trade rules. The US, Europe,…
January 31, 2012
Romney Leads Polls Heading into Florida Vote
Republican voters in the southeastern U.S. state of Florida are heading to the polls Tuesday in what is expected to be a pivotal contest in the race for the party's presidential nomination. A recent survey of likely voters showed that…
January 31, 2012
UN Nuclear Watchdog Approves Japanese Nuclear Stress Tests
The United Nations' nuclear agency has approved the Japanese government's plan to assess the safety of its nuclear power plants. The International Atomic Energy Agency on Tuesday turned over the results of its week-long fact-finding visit to…
January 31, 2012
Beijing Increases Security in Tibetan Monasteries to Contain Protests
A top official in Chinese-ruled Tibet has ordered increased surveillance in Buddhist monasteries in an apparent effort to prevent the spread of anti-government protests by ethnic Tibetans in neighboring Sichuan province. Qi Zhala, the Communist…