The region’s stocks drifted higher as investors took heart from improved US jobs numbers and an increase in Germany’s business confidence index

Destruction of archives requested despite demands from hacking victims’ lawyers to preserve evidence, court documents reveal

The former prime minister will contest the Labor leadership ballot on Monday after saying that Gillard has lost the confidence of the Australian people

US group, which faced pressure from US fund Calpers, is to adopt a policy that any director not receiving majority shareholder support must resign

Italy’s Consob says the takeover of the Milan bourse has not stimulated cross-border capital flows or increased investments in Italian groups

Microsoft founder, who has donated $2bn to food security, fears that the battle against hunger is being undermined by an inefficient system

Under-fire Stephen Hester says three-quarters of the job is done – as the bank turns in a near doubling of losses

People’s Bank of China outlines three-phase plan to speed up reform for economy’s long-term growth prospects

As the oil price hits highs against the euro and sterling, investors are starting to worry about the knock-on effect on currency portfolios

Reforms are price Greece has agreed to obtain a €130bn bail-out and avoid default that Athens feared would throw society into turmoil

The Spanish economy is forecast to contract 1 per cent, compared with a prediction three months ago of 0.7 per cent growth

Foreign investors will play a bigger role in Chinese markets, the renminbi will take on a bigger international role and Chinese companies will buy up more of their American and European peers

Lenders in France, Germany, the UK and Belgium report billions in losses in the fourth quarter after writing down sovereign bond holdings

With annual lending rates increased to more than 20 per cent last year to fight inflation, the property market in Ho Chi Minh City seized up

A Shanghai court has denied request to suspend sales and refuses to hear case but the decision does not end the bitter intellectual property dispute

Vladimir Putin tells thousands of supporters bussed in for a presidential rally ‘We are a victorious people! It is in our genes, in our genetic code’

The size of the take-up for the ‘LTRO 2’ and the destination of funds will set the tone after the Greek bailout

Growth in Brazil fails to offset a sharp slowdown in energy sales in the UK and Spain, leading to a 2.3 per cent drop in net profit for 2011

The European Commission predicts that the eurozone will experience a mild recession in 2012 while the wider EU will see zero growth

Brent crude prices rise to a peak of €93.63 a barrel prompting talk of ‘regional oil shock’, and follows the high set in sterling terms