Guaranteed bonuses accounted for about 5% of the bonuses paid out for 2009 at 37 leading financial companies surveyed by the Institute of International Finance ...

The European Union reached a long-awaited agreement on reform of financial supervision, paving the way for the establishment of three pan-EU watchdogs to oversee controls on banks ...

Leading UK and continental European companies eschewing banks from Spain, Italy and even Germany because they do not believe the Europe-wide assessments gave a true picture of thei ...

Warning given over British banks moving their headquarters abroad if UK government-appointed Commission on Banking were to decide that big groups should be broken up ...

The singer and campaigner for aid to the continent is seeking to raise money from institutional investors for a private equity venture on the continent ...

Russia announced a 12-month extension of its grain export ban, raising fears about a return to the food shortages and riots of 2007-08 which spread through developing countries dep ...

Israeli and Palestinian leaders pledged to achieve a

An oil platform 80 miles offshore in the Gulf of Mexico exploded on Thursday, sparking a rapid search and rescue helicopter response that recovered 13 people, the US Coast Guard sa ...

General David Petraeus, the head of US and Nato forces in Afghanistan, defended Hamid Karzai, the country's president, after controversy over Kabul's stance on corruption ...

The German central bank calls on the country's president to dismiss one of its board members over comments he made about immigration and Jews. ...

US authorities indict 11 German and Chinese executives for conspiring to illegally import $40m worth of honey from China. ...

Russia will consider lifting its grain export ban only after the next year's harvest has been reaped, Vladimir Putin says. ...

Police in Spain arrest a Russian man wanted for questioning about a fire at a Russian nightclub that killed more than 150 people in 2009. ...

Hewlett-Packard appeared to have won the bidding battle for data storage technology company 3Par after Dell said on Thursday it would not raise its offer and was ending talks ...

Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve chairman, admitted that he was not

New claims for jobless benefits in the US fell last week but still remain above the level economists say is necessary to create jobs ...

Burger King has agreed to be acquired by 3G, an investment fund backed by three of Brazil's foremost businessmen, in a deal valued at $4bn including debt ...

The European Commission criticises France over its expulsions of Roma (Gypsies) and requests more information about the crackdown. ...

The European Central Bank raises its forecast for eurozone growth for this year and next year, and keeps interest rates on hold. ...

David Cameron supports William Hague "100%" following speculation about the foreign secretary's private life, the PM's spokeswoman says. ...

Natalie Portman attends the opening of the Venice Film Festival, which launched with her film Black Swan. ...

Russian gas monopoly Gazprom reports a threefold surge in profits for the first three months of the year, despite a sharp fall in gas prices. ...

A division of Italy's Fiat group is recalling all 1,248 cars of the 458 Italia model after reports that five of the supercars caught fire because of glue in the wheel-arch leaking ...

Foreign companies are losing market share in China across a broad range of industries because of discriminatory treatment by the government and regulators, according to the Europea ...

Official borrowing costs in the eurozone have been left at a record lows for the 16th consecutive month as the European Central Bank sticks to its cautious stance on the region's e ...

Royal Bank of Scotland is axing another 3,500 jobs, taking to nearly 27,000 the number of staff cut since Stephen Hester took over as chief executive of the troubled UK bank less t ...

Allies of Gordon Brown rally behind the former prime minister, describing criticism of him in Tony Blair's memoirs as "unfair" and "one-sided". ...

Four Greenpeace activists are arrested after giving up their occupation of a Scottish company's drilling rig off Greenland. ...

Sweden's central bank raises interest rates for the second month in a row, highlighting the strong recovery in its economy as the centre-right government battles for re-election .. ...

The eurozone economy grew by 1% between April and June, official figures confirm. ...

Zara starts selling its clothes online following similar moves from Gap and Banana Republic last month. ...

A metal detecting enthusiast finds what is believed to be the only intact Roman lantern made out of bronze ever discovered in Britain. ...

Physicists explain one of football's most spectacular free-kicks, showing that Roberto Carlos's 1997 "impossible goal" was not a fluke. ...

European bourses are set to open about 0.4 per cent lower as traders take a more critical view of the previous session's

Apple made its most serious bid yet for the internet-connected television market, slashing the price and size of its AppleTV product by more than half and providing it with movies ...

Global meat prices have hit a 20-year high as robust demand from emerging countries has coincided with a drop in production ...

The drinks group is working with other FTSE 100 companies on a system to change how the City understands

Apple made its most serious bid yet for the internet-connected television market, slashing the price and size of its AppleTV product by more than half and providing it with movies ...

Unpopular 50% charge failed to change bankers' behaviour, says Darling ...

Stock markets surge as investors took global surveys of manufacturing output to show the world economy was recovering rapidly and chances of double-dip recession had receded ...

Book by Bundesbank board member Thilo Sarrazin is an undisguised attack on the perils of excessive immigration ...

US universities are producing too few engineers to meet industry demand, Indian outsourcing companies say, leaving such businesses little choice but to hire foreign skilled workers ...

Robert Gates, US defence secretary, has said America's war in Iraq is over and that the US has moved into the final phase of its engagement in the country ...

President Barack Obama and his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, said they had

Corporates argued forcing them to process OTC derivatives trades through clearing houses would cause a huge drain on cash, possibly hurting European economic growth prospects ...

Two Yemenis arrested in Amsterdam on suspicion of planning a terror attack are released, prosecutors in the Netherlands say. ...

European countries asked Kenyan ambassadors to explain why Kenya refused to arrest the Sudanese president on a recent visit. ...

General Motors' sales in its core US market sagged in August, potentially complicating its bid to drum up investor support for its forthcoming public share issue ...

The EU urges China to curb smuggling to Europe, saying counterfeit cigarettes alone deprive the EU of 10bn euros (£8bn) in tax revenue annually. ...

Luxury carmaker Ferrari recalls all of the 458 Italia cars made this year, following reports of the supercars catching fire. ...

Germany's Deutsche Bahn will test a high-speed train in the Channel Tunnel in a bid to rival Eurostar. ...

World's third largest supermarket chain was among a pack of more than 10 bidders in the first round of an auction for the south-east Asian assets of Carrefour, the French retailer ...

People are feared to be buried after parts of a tower block collapsed in the Russian city of St Petersburg. ...

UN says international food prices have risen to levels not seen since 2008, partly because of drought in Russia. ...

Richard Fuld, former chief executive of Lehman Brothers, will accuse the Federal Reserve of worsening the financial crisis by allowing his investment bank to fail in 2008 ...

The Paris mansion of Liliane Bettencourt, France's richest woman has been raided by police in the latest twist in a family row that has escalated into a political scandal ...

Private sector employment fell for the first time this year in August, underscoring fears that a recovery in the labour market is faltering ...

German industrial group that hit financial trouble after a controversial swoop for rival car parts supplier Continental sheds new light on its business in a step that reflects a gr ...

Swedish prosecutors have reopened an investigation into an allegation of rape against Julian Assange, founder of the WikiLeaks website ...

Vuvuzelas, the noisy air horns which provided the soundtrack to the World Cup in South Africa, have been banned from all Uefa-sanctioned games. ...