April 30, 2012
Spain in Recession
Spain's economy has slumped into a recession. Spain's National Statistics Institute data showed Monday that the country's economy shrank 0.3 percent in the first quarter of 2012, after a similar contraction in the final three months of last year.…
April 25, 2012
Apple doubles quarterly profits to $11.6bn (£7.2bn)
Apple has reported its profits almost doubled in the first three months of the year. Apple said its net profit came in at $11.6bn (£7.2bn), up from $6bn in the same period last year and much better than had been expected. The technology giant sold…
April 25, 2012
Government hits annual borrowing target
The UK government borrowed more than expected in March, official figures have shown, but still met its borrowing target for the year. Public sector net borrowing, excluding interventions such as bank bail-outs, came in at £18.2bn in March, the…
April 25, 2012
BP oil spill: First criminal charges filed in US
The US justice department has filed the first criminal charges linked to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. A former BP engineer was arrested on charges of intentionally destroying evidence. Kurt Mix of Katy, Texas, faces two counts of obstruction of…
April 25, 2012
Google Drive to offer free storage in the cloud
Google has launched a new consumer service offering up to 16TB (terabytes) of storage for photos and other online content. Dubbed Google Drive, the service goes head to head with rival cloud services such as Dropbox and Microsoft's SkyDrive. It…
April 23, 2012
Vodafone agrees £1bn takeover of C&W Worldwide
UK mobile phone giant Vodafone has agreed to buy telecoms group Cable & Wireless Worldwide (C&WW) in a deal valuing the firm at just over £1bn. Vodafone was left as C&WW's only suitor after India's Tata Communications ended its interest in the firm…
April 23, 2012
European shares fall as anxiety returns
Stock markets have fallen after weak manufacturing data and political uncertainty in France and the Netherlands hit investor confidence. France's Cac 40 and Germany's Dax indexes were down about 2.5%, while the UK's FTSE 100 was about 1.5% lower. On…
April 23, 2012
Nestle to buy Pfizer Nutrition for $11.85bn
Food giant Nestle has announced a deal to buy children's food maker Pfizer Nutrition for $11.85bn (£7.35bn). The world's biggest food group, based in Switzerland, said its new acquisition was a "perfect complement" to its existing infant food…
April 23, 2012
Dutch PM Mark Rutte ‘to deliver resignation’
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte will submit his government's resignation to Queen Beatrix today, reports say, paving the way for early elections. The government was plunged into crisis when Geert Wilders' Freedom Party pulled out of talks aimed at…
April 23, 2012
Eurozone deficits fall as austerity bites
Eurozone governments managed to cut sharply their budget deficits last year, but overall debt levels continued to rise, official figures have shown. The deficit to GDP ratio for the bloc as a whole fell to 4.1% from 6.2% in 2010, Eurostat said. The…