Get Closer

Bank shares rocked by nationalisation rumours

Government expected to demand convertible preference shares giving taxpayers exposure to improvement in banks' share prices

Why globalisation yields to fiefdoms

While the global banking system slashes its own wrists, the real economy has just arrived at outpatients with headaches

Balfour Beatty gives up £2.25m after SFO probe

Serious Fraud Office orders construction group to forfeit £2.25m over inaccurate accounting at joint venture

Canary Wharf Group plans to expand

Property group is confident that it will secure JPMorgan as a tenant for a new phase of the Docklands financial district

Yell secures renegotiation of debt covenants

Yellow Pages publisher has negotiated amendment to covenants for £3.7bn debt after investor concerns

Kesa turns to PPR for new chief executive

French home shopping veteran to replace Labroue in January in 'orderly handover' that is unrelated to trading woes

Detroit’s car giants cut EU output

Collapsing demand for new cars across Europe is to cost skilled workers at General Motors and Ford hundreds of shifts

Balfour Beatty gives up £2.25m after SFO probe

Serious Fraud Office orders construction group to forfeit £2.25m over inaccurate accounting at joint venture

Eli Lilly revealed as mystery £6.1bn bidder for ImClone

The 'large pharmaceutical company' has emerged as the bidder that Carl Icahn said was prepared to acquire his biotechnology group

Glaxo plans to axe 850 jobs in UK and US

The world’s second biggest drugmaker announces it is to get rid of 850 research and development jobs in Britain and US

US group set to win British missile plant

Jacobs is tipped to win auction for stake, which was put up for sale after ministers decided to break up British Nuclear Fuels

Akzo Nobel plans 3,500 jobs cuts to save £80m

The world's biggest paints company says it is taking aggressive action in attempts to cope with lower consumer demand

Food for thought

Airline riled by poor odds | Paris unsure about hotel arrivistes | Easy Diner in search for investor | Your hotel - as seen from space

Hoteliers watch over shoulders as vultures circle

Analysts are predicting tough fourth quarter and there are plenty of opportunistic investors with any eye for a bargain

Ofcom may allow more peaktime TV adverts

The extra adverts could come even though Ofcom’s own research shows the public does not want to see more advertising

Yell secures renegotiation of debt covenants

Yellow Pages publisher has negotiated amendment to covenants for £3.7bn debt after investor concerns

Oil price bounces back on rate cut hopes

Opec is expected to push for production cuts despite rebound in oil price after interest rate cut in Australia

Iraq: Battle for business begins

Fewer attacks have encouraged companies to explore opportunities in the country for the first time since the invasion

Michael Page says times are tough in UK

Recruitment company says financial turmoil has eroded confidence in the wider economy and demand is lessening

Community spirit helps solve age-old problem

Kent Probation Service approached Age Concern to run a lunch club for the elderly and help change offenders' behaviour

Green: don't talk Britain into recession

Sir Philip Green told Britain to cheer up despite his group’s profits having fallen by 40 per cent over the last year

Full figures mean big profits for N Brown

The home-shopping group has announced a 12.6 per cent increase in sales to £322.8 million in the 28 weeks to August 30

EBay to cut 10% of staff worldwide

The online auction website is to let more than 1,000 staff go and pays $1bn for an online payments business

Ask.com raises questions over Google's power

The smaller but still significant search firm is relaunching both its US and UK services in a bid to challenge Google's dominance

EU sends tough message on texting cost

European regulators announce campaign to slash the cost of sending a text message or down-loading data when abroad

Bidders offer less for Tiscali

Carphone Warehouse has returned to the table in the drawn-out auction of broadband provider with a bid of less than £450m

'Ryanair crews must take unpaid leave'

Michael O'Leary said the airline’s executives would also receive a 10% pay cut of because of the financial difficulties

Slow sales hamper BA-Iberia deal

Falling share price and declining passenger numbers have hit airline's negotiating position, according to some analysts

Coal-fired power generators face EU threat

European Union has backed laws that would force power companies to pay for all of their carbon dioxide emissions from 2013

Way open for £700m Buncefield payout by Total

Oil company admits in High Court that explosion and ensuing fire at Hertfordshire premises could have been predicted