Russia opposes the Arab League’s decision to suspend Syria and believes Western nations are inciting opponents of President Bashar al-Assad to seek his removal, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted as saying on Monday. Russian news agencies said Lavrov had also reiterated Moscow’s opposition to any new international sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme […]

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Wednesday confirmed he would resign after implementing urgent economic reforms demanded by the European Union, and said Italy must then hold an election, in which he would not stand.“We have to give Europe and the world an urgent, strong signal that we are taking things seriously,” he told a morning […]

US-based electricity company Dynegy said that its Dynegy Holdings unit and four of its wholly owned subsidiaries had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy late on Monday. The Houston power producer reached an agreement with some of its bondholders to complete a debt restructuring of around $1.4bn. The deal would be completed by August 2012 via […]

Mining giant Anglo American has agreed to purchase Oppenheimer family’s 40 percent stake in diamond minor De Beers for $5.1bn in cash. The deal with CHL Group, which represents the Oppenheimer family interest, will raise Anglo American’s share in the globe’s largest diamond company to up to 85 percent. Under the current agreement Botswana, the […]

Late on Wednesday Russia reached an agreement with Georgia on a bilateral trade deal which will open the door for Moscow’s entry into the World Trade Organisation, said the country’s key negotiator Maxim Medvedkov. The talks ended Russia’s 18-year wait to join the WTO. Moscow’s main hurdle had been coming to an agreement with Georgia […]

Greece’s Prime Minister Georgios Papandreou remained determined on Wednesday to consult his people on the European rescue package that was reached at last week’s EU summit. Papandreou told parliament that “the referendum will be a clear mandate and strong measure inside and outside Greece on our course in Europe and our participation in the euro.” […]

Tokyo-based investment bank Nomura Holdings on Tuesday announced a larger than anticipated quarterly loss, according to a company statement. The country’s largest brokerage by revenue posted a $590m net loss in the three-month period ending September. It announced that it is to increase its original $400m cost cutting target to $1.2bn which will lead to […]

Europe will not offer China concessions in exchange for contributions to the eurozone’s beefed-up bailout fund, an advisor to French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Monday. Eurozone leaders agreed in Brussels last week that emerging nations, led by China, could put money in a special purpose vehicle within the EFSF fund to help increase its […]

ArcelorMittal, the globe’s biggest steel producer, late on Tuesday backed out of its Macarthur Coal joint $5.1bn purchase with Peabody Energy, according to the company. The group originally joined the deal, which will be the second largest coal takeover this year, to help advance its metallurgical coal supplies. The steel maker has now left partner […]

Lockheed Martin’s F-35s play a critical role in the future capabilities of UK defence, writes Mark Roberts

South Africa’s rulers have never entirely trusted capitalists and markets, which explains their fixation with China’s economic model, writes Jon Herskovitz

UBS on Tuesday said 3Q11 profits fell 39 percent owing to the financial loss of around CHF1.8bn ($2.2bn) from an unauthorised trading incident in September. The bank’s net profit beat analysts’ predictions however, as a better than expected $1.13bn was announced due to a large accounting gain which offset the shortfall. Figures were down from […]

Federal regulators late on Wednesday charged a unit of Citigroup with negligence after they found it had sold $1bn worth of financial products linked to the flagging 2007 housing market. The bank’s Global Markets division had misled investors when it failed to inform them that the $1bn investment was doomed for failure, the SEC said. […]

Dutch electronics group Philips on Monday announced that 4,500 jobs will have to be cut “inevitably” to help restore earnings after 3Q11 profits dropped to a two-year low, as demonstrators in London continued a sit-in at the London Stock Exchange. Net profit for the three months to the end of September decreased to €74m, down […]

Standard & Poor’s late on Thursday slashed Spain’s credit rating one notch to AA- with a negative outlook from AA, citing economic woes. The lowering of Spain’s long term rating reflects its uncertain growth prospects in light of the private sector’s need to access fresh financing to roll over high levels of external debt amid […]