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Tatas suffer India land setback

2011-11-03T10:59:00.000-07:00

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28 September 2011 Last updated at 08:09 GMT Tata Motors was forced to abandon its Nano plant in 2008 after violent protests by villagers A court in India has ruled that West Bengal's state government acted legally in reclaiming land where Tata Motors wanted to build its low-cost Nano car.

The 1,000-acre plot of land was acquired in 2006 by the state's former communist government and leased to the company for 99 years.

The new state government took back the land in June to return it to farmers.

Tata challenged the move in the high court in Calcutta and is expected to take its appeal to the Supreme Court.

The BBC's Rahul Tandon in Calcutta says that the case has been closely followed across India, which needs to free up land for industry if it wants to continue its economic growth.

But many farmers say that cannot happen at their expense, our correspondent says.

The high court ordered Tata Motors to remove all equipment from the factory at Singur, near Calcutta, within two months.

It ruled that the company was entitled to ask for compensation if any needed to be paid.

After months of violent protests, the company pulled out of West Bengal last year and shifted production to a new plant in the state of Gujarat.

In May, the Trinamul Congress party led by Mamata Banerjee trounced West Bengal's long-serving communist government on the promise that she would restore the land to the farmers.

In June, West Bengal passed a law that would allow its return to them.

The state government started handing back the land, a move which was challenged in the Supreme Court. It directed the government to suspend the return of land until the high court in Calcutta had ruled on the matter.

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Chinese demand boosts Yum profits

2011-11-03T07:30:00.000-07:00

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5 October 2011 Last updated at 01:37 GMT Yum Brands is planning to expand its presence in China even further to cater to growing demand Fast food giant Yum Brands has reported a jump in third-quarter profit as sales at its Chinese outlets continue to grow.

Yum reported a net profit of $383m (￡248m) in the three months to 3 September, up from $357m last year.

The owner of Pizza Hut and KFC said same-store sales in China rose 19% during the period.

With close to 4,200 outlets, China accounts for more than 40% of Yum's profits.

"This tremendous sales growth, combined with our expectation to open a record 600 new restaurants this year, gives us even more confidence our China business model is as strong as ever," said David Novak, chairman and chief executive officer of Yum Brands.

Domestic trouble

While it continues to grow in China and other emerging markets, Yum Brands has been struggling in the US market.

The company said like-for-like sales at its US outlets fell as much as 3% in the third-quarter, resulting in a 16% drop in profit during the period.

"We're obviously disappointed in our US performance," Mr Novak said.

Analysts said the company was still suffering the effects of the lawsuit against Taco Bell earlier this year, over allegations that it used large amounts of additives and little actual meat in its beef products.

Though the company denied the claims and the lawsuit was dropped, it damaged Yum's brand image.

"They've got a job to do PR-wise to repair that," said Jack Russo of investment firm Edward Jones.

"It looks like it's stabilising and we'll get to the point next year where they'll be bouncing up against some easier comparisons so that will help," he added.

Yum said that it was planning to launch innovation and productivity initiatives in the US in a bid to improve sales and profits.

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Apple co-founder Steve Jobs dies

2011-11-03T02:57:00.000-07:00

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How to make sense of big data

2011-11-02T23:14:00.000-07:00

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5 October 2011 Last updated at 23:08 GMT Each week we ask high-profile technology decision-makers three questions.

This week it is Keith Collins, chief technology officer (CTO) of SAS Institute.

The company describes itself as the world's leading business analytics software company. With about 12,000 staff and customers in 126 countries, the company has a turnover of $2.43bn (￡1.5bn). Founded in 1976 by Jim Goodnight, the firm prides itself for investing 24% of its revenue in research and development.

What's your biggest technology problem right now?

The biggest challenge is that the problems we are trying to solve have increased in complexity. Companies have more and more data, and more and more issues that they want to answer.

They have a flood of information from mobile devices, and all these data bring issues of large scale process optimisation and how to improve large scale forecasting.

Operational analytics allows people to fine tune their business. For example there is a big shift to trying to understand customers - in every industry. The products they buy, at which price. It's about customer satisfaction, whether it's for a mobile phone firm, an insurance company or ATM [cash] machines.

The analytics shows that consumers are more in charge than ever before.

We recently worked with a bank were customer satisfaction with ATMs was a huge issue, so we had to understand how to minimise the times when a machine runs out of cash, and project when the device fails.

Understanding the data made a huge impact on the customer satisfaction score and brought a $2m reduction in maintenance cost.

It's about bringing analytics to specific business problems. We had very good success with this in the retail space, and also help banks fighting credit card fraud.

Call centre optimisation is another example: How can you make sure you pay attention to your most important customers? When you are talking to a customer, do you know how they would prefer to get their information? And is there an opportunity to give them offers, to upsell?

There is an explosion in the understanding in the value of analytics. One problem is actually acquiring enough talent fast enough to deal with the demand.

So we are helping multiple colleges around the world to launch or improve and expand their analytics programmes.

What's the next big tech thing in your industry?

We are investing very heavily in top performance analytics and high performance computing.

Today there's just a small set of customers that demand that scale, but that's accelerating quickly. What we now call high performance computing, in three to five years it will be standard.

This will not always be a big company thing. There is a whole shift to being more consumer centric, and making customers mobile.

Almost any new company that is starting out today has a completely digital view of the market. New startups understand that they need analytics as part of their company's DNA.

And lots of small and medium-sized companies are looking for ready business analytics solutions that they can just plug in - whether it is in the cloud or a targeted application. We will see a shift where this software is directly plugged into a company's process and consumed through the cloud.

Even small companies can act big, because everything that works on Amazon's cloud service rivals anything that our largest customers have.

Adoption of these new models depends a bit on the age of a company's leadership. There is a new generation of entrepreneurs who gets it from the beginning. We also see mid-sized retailers changing their game.

Larger companies usually adapt when a new board comes in.

What's the biggest technology mistake you've ever made - either at work or in your own life?

I have a big problem here, picking the toughest one.

I once developed a whole set of brilliant technologies to near readiness, but had failed to tell the rest of the company about how it works.

So it's not just about having a vision, you need to plan the execution as well.

So I had this design technology for a data partition process to have the fastest data warehouse, but I didn't do a good job to educate our sales channel to take advantage of the opportunity.

Another one: I did not realise how fast the market for tablet computers would develop.

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No temporary tax cuts - Osborne

2011-11-02T18:39:00.000-07:00

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3 October 2011 Last updated at 13:33 GMT By Brian Wheeler Political reporter, BBC News, in Manchester Chancellor George Osborne's full speech to the Conservative Party conference in Manchester.

Chancellor George Osborne has said taxes will only be cut when the government can afford to do so, in a speech to the Conservative conference.

Mr Osborne has found ￡805m to freeze council tax in England in 2012-13 - saving people ￡72 a year.

But he stressed that money is still tight and there will be no deviation from his deficit reduction plan.

He said solving the eurozone crisis remains the most important factor in kick starting growth in the UK.

The chancellor has been under pressure from Labour to cut VAT to inject money into the economy - and from senior figures in his own party to scrap the 50p top rate of income tax.

'Debt crisis'

But in a sober speech to party activists, the chancellor said it would be wrong to borrow money to fund temporary tax cuts or increase public spending.

He did, however, announce that the Treasury would engage in "credit easing" - a move aimed at cutting the cost of borrowing for hard-pressed businesses, as well as improving access to loans.

The BBC's business editor Robert Peston said the move, which would involve the public sector buying bonds issues by companies, was "potentially very significant" but full details would not be revealed until the chancellor's autumn statement in November.

In his speech, Mr Osborne said he had "thought hard" about what more can be done to boost growth and explored "every single option" - but "borrowing too much is the cause of Britain's problems, not the solution".

Continue reading the main story Nick Robinson BBC Political Editor

The most significant announcement in the chancellor's speech is also the one fewest will understand.

It is his pledge that the Treasury will engage in "credit easing" - ie some as yet unspecified way to underwrite loans to small businesses who are struggling to get credit now.

The speech that they are quoting at the top of government is by Adam Posen (a member of the Bank of England's interest rate-setting committee).

Although I'm told that his proposal for a new bank may take too long to implement.

"We would be risking our nation's credit rating for a few billion pounds more, when that amount is dwarfed by the scale and power of the daily flows of money in the international bond markets, swirling around ready to pick off the next country.

"We will not take that risk. We are in a debt crisis, it is not like a normal recovery. You can't borrow your way out of debt."

And he added: "I'm a believer in tax cuts - permanent tax cuts paid for by sound public finances.

"Right now, temporary tax cuts or more spending are two sides of exactly the same coin, a coin that has to be borrowed - more debt that has to be paid off."

Mr Osborne said Britain's economic troubles were caused by the "catastrophic mistakes" of the previous Labour administration, as well as banks which "let down their customers, let down their shareholders and let down this country".

'Underspend'

He said the government is helping businesses by keeping interest rates low - "the most powerful stimulus that exists" - but borrowing billions of pounds more would put that at risk.

Mr Osborne's speech comes as the Institute of Directors called for a fresh effort to boost economic growth in the UK.

The chancellor announced increased investment in scientific research and the extension of mobile phone coverage to six million people - as well as extra cash from a Whitehall "underspend" to fund a council tax freeze.

The government cannot force councils to freeze bills but it is offering to give those that limit spending rises to 2.5% the money they need.

Money would also be offered to the Scottish and Welsh administrations, which will choose how it is spent.

Speaking earlier to BBC News, Mr Osborne said a solution to the eurozone debt crisis must be found by the time the Group of 20 nations meet next month and failure to do so would be "terrible not just for Britain, not just for Europe, but for the entire world economy".

The chancellor, who is travelling to Luxembourg for a meeting with European finance ministers, told BBC News that the 17 eurozone nations meeting in Luxembourg on Monday must decisively figure out how to handle Greece's debts, and urged them to extend the size of their bailout fund.

Credit rating

The chancellor's speech comes as Standard and Poor's said it would hold the UK's credit rating at the highest possible level in light of its "wealthy and diversified economy" and said the outlook remained "stable".

But the agency, which released the announcement just as Mr Osborne took to the stage in Manchester, said the government's efforts to correct the UK's public finances would "weigh on the economy".

For Labour, shadow Treasury minister Chris Leslie said it was "staggering" the speech did not give more attention to the "growth problem".

He said: "His speech really seemed incredibly complacent and quite frankly out of touch, out of touch with the realities of some of the costs that ordinary people face, the difficulties that businesses are facing and no plan for growth."

But Andrew Tyrie, the senior Conservative backbencher who said at the weekend that the government was not doing enough to promote economic growth, told the BBC: "I think it's a huge step forward, and will be widely welcomed not only in the party, but by all those people in the country who also need a growth strategy to help them move forward."

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VIDEO: Markets hit by 'toxic cocktail'

2011-11-02T14:22:00.000-07:00

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30 September 2011 Last updated at 19:05 GMT Help

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Olympic deals the company ' unsold '

2011-11-02T10:30:00.000-07:00

October 6, 2011, last updated at 08: 37 GMT by Michael Hirst BBC 2012 almost two-thirds of the packages website for London 2012 can still sell companiesWith 300 days to go before London 2012, only a third of the tickets were sold on the site hosting the games.

But despite the financial downturn, the company with exclusive rights within Olympic venues hosting company remains bullish about the sales.

Ticketing prestige won a public tender by computerized Olympic Locog some 90,000 tickets-about one percent of the total allocation.

The British public must buy most tickets 6.6 m available by ballot.

However, more than 60% of the company's operations are still on offer.

The company did not disclose how much it paid for the tickets, nor the expected profit, citing commercially sensitive information.

And, like the London 2012 Olympics will be the first site hosting company, you can't compare the figures with previous games.

Redgrave Steve Sir said hosting VIP Olympics figaro behind other sporting events

But involved in the industry told the BBC that they would expect much more dimensional ratio of the packages were sold after almost 7 months of sales.

In a public ballot tickets acted outside his powers or more earlier this year, top-tier in any Olympic ceremonies tickets cost ￡ 2,012, with the best seats going for ￡ 750 Athletics events.

The cheapest cards cost ￡ 495 's luxury deals, while the most expensive suites ￡ 4,500 seats sold in batches of 10 or more secure ceremonies and athletics and cycling finals.

Events sell out

Corporate guests are the guests on the site can view:

"The best seats in the House of champagne lunch" Olympic events receptionFour-course canapé with as many "best of British" food and wines, Travelcards London transport, although hundreds of parking spaces will also be available

Olympic Park, the ticket is ￡ 7 luxury building. Pavilion three-story 5 m catering 3,000 guests at a time, only 70 metres (77 metres) from the main stadium.

Read on the Central story of 70 m (75 feet) from the Olympic Stadium cost ￡ 7. 5 m three-storey Pavilion with a massive glass atrium six restaurants catering for dinersIn 3,000 only 29 days before being placed in any well demolishedHospitality halls and Greenwich Park, North Greenwich arena, horses, dornei Eaton Wimbledon.

The economic depression to traditional customers in economics, he joined advertising by companies in areas like construction, energy resources, the company said.

While the company packages baoki women's final was the first to sell out, was also a demand for land in Wimbledon, rowing at Eton dornei coltori events in Greenwich, the company said.

Marketing Manager Tony Bernard Ticketing said he was sure that luxury to sell other packages like companies settled their budgets next year.

"We see significant growth in sales," he told the BBC. "Ballots tickets end so that people can know that if they want to go, there is only one way left to go."

Olympic opportunity

Prof Simon Chadwick, Director of Business Center for international sport at the University of Coventry, said that while the economic crisis hit the company's hosting industry in recent years, the exceptional nature of the London 2012 will allow him "above the prevailing economic conditions."

In a study commissioned by the luxury card, Prof Chadwick predicted companies buying hosting packages-with an estimated ￡ 45bn. 1-will return more than 12% on their investment.

But he warned this figure was based on factors such as language produced by the goodwill visit to strengthen business relationships.

Winner of gold medal Olympic champion Steve Redgrave, five-time Lord said London 2012 Olympic Games hosting a unique opportunity to put on a par with that of other international events.

"I've been invited to guest with other sponsors of the Olympic Games [the previous] after I retired, you looked after very well, but not quite as well as some other large sporting events," he said.

Prestige is one of three official providers for hosting packages, but has exclusive rights to the Olympics place for guests.

Thomas Cook paid by Locog over ￡ 20 m 200,000 tickets sold as part of the exclusive travel and accommodation packages, while sport Jet was bought 100,000 tickets offered as part of a five star deals for clients abroad.

Locog says revenue tickets will be hosting to give free tickets through a set of cards for the troops, the initiative to get set for school.

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European financial tax 'bad idea'

2011-11-02T06:41:00.000-07:00

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30 September 2011 Last updated at 12:40 GMT Mr Borg said Sweden's experience of a financial transaction tax was "very bad" A European financial transaction tax is unlikely to raise the sums of money projected as it would encourage firms to move overseas, Sweden's finance minister has told the BBC.

Anders Borg said Sweden abandoned its own transaction tax after most trading companies left the country.

The tax "had a very detrimental impact on our financial markets", he said.

If the European Union introduces the tax, firms could simply move to New York or Asia, Mr Borg said.

'Very bad tax'

Sweden introduced a transaction tax on financial firms in the 1980s.

"Between 90%-99% of traders in bonds, equities and derivatives moved out of Stockholm to London," Mr Borg said.

Continue reading the main story

We are basically taxing growth away from Europe, and that is not a very good idea”

End Quote Anders Borg Swedish Finance Minister "The impact was basically that we did not get any tax revenue. It brought in very little tax money while moving most of the businesses outside of Sweden.

"We abandoned [the tax] because it was a very, very bad functioning tax."

The fact that the US has said it has no intention of introducing a similar tax, meant that firms would be free to move to other financial centres, Mr Borg said.

"So we are basically taxing growth away from Europe, and that is not a very good idea.

"I hope [policymakers] realise they might be losing out themselves. This is not a stable tax base."

Mr Borg said he was in favour of making the banking system pay, and making it more robust, but that any measures designed to bring this about should not push firms out of Europe.

Hard hit

The UK has also been vocal in its opposition to the tax proposed by the European Commission earlier this week.

A spokesperson for the UK Treasury said it would "absolutely resist" any tax that was not introduced globally.

London would be hardest hit by the tax as the majority of banking transactions in Europe come through the city.

However, a number of other European countries are in favour of the tax, including France, Austria, Belgium, Norway and Spain.

The commission has said it will look at implementing the tax just in the 17 member states of the eurozone if other EU members oppose it.

Under the proposals, the financial tax would be levied at a rate of 0.1% on all transactions between institutions when at least one party is based in the EU. Derivative contracts would be taxed at a rate of 0.01%.

The tax would raise about 57bn euros ($78bn; ￡50bn) a year and would come into effect at the start of 2014, the commission said.

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Barclay brothers buy Claridge's

2011-11-02T02:09:00.000-07:00

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29 September 2011 Last updated at 21:39 GMT Claridge's is the latest luxury hotel to be owned by the Barclays The Barclay brothers have bought three of London's top hotels, including Claridge's, for 800m euros (￡695m).

They acquired Claridge's, the Connaught and Berkeley from the National Asset Management Agency (Nama), the Irish government agency created to manage the toxic property loans of its bust banks.

Nama said it had recovered 100% of the original value of the loans plus interest.

The Barclays already own the Ritz hotel in London.

The loans had originally been made to the Maybourne Hotel Group by two Irish banks to fund the acquisition of the hotels in 2005.

By buying the loans, the Barclays have acquired the hotels.

Nama took control of the bad property debt from Irish banks during the height of the financial crisis, and it is tasked with maximising the return to the Irish taxpayer over the long term.

The agency has said that it wants to dispose of 5bn euros of UK loans in 2011. Its annual report listed total UK assets of about ￡8.5bn.

Sir David Barclay and his brother Sir Frederick also own the Daily Telegraph and the Littlewoods retail group.

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UK construction activity 'stalls'

2011-11-01T21:21:00.000-07:00

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4 October 2011 Last updated at 10:11 GMT Markit said uncertainty over future economic conditions dampened confidence in the sector Activity in the UK construction sector slowed to "near stagnation" in September, a closely-watched survey has suggested.

The Markit/Cips construction purchasing managers' index (PMI) fell to 50.1, just fractionally above the 50 "no-change" threshold that separates expansion from contraction.

In August, the index had read 52.6.

Markit said fewer new orders was the reason behind the slowdown, but added that staffing levels rose slightly.

Confidence in the sector remained relatively subdued, the research group said.

Also on Tuesday, builders' merchant Wolseley announced a return to full-year profit but said recent weaker economic forecasts were likely to have an impact on its markets.

On Monday, Markit/Cips data showed surprise growth in the manufacturing sector.

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Stiglitz: Austerity not the way

2011-11-01T17:20:00.000-07:00

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3 October 2011 Last updated at 23:01 GMT Viewpoint by Joseph Stiglitz Professor at Columbia University Joseph Stiglitz won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2001 and is a former World Bank chief economist Most economists thought that when the euro was put together, it was an incomplete task. They'd taken out too many adjustment mechanisms and had not put anything in its place.

One of the things that makes the American common currency work across the country is we have a common fiscal authority and high migration - we're willing to allow North Dakota to become empty.

In Europe, there's no fiscal authority, migration is more difficult and most of the countries are not willing to let themselves become empty. So the framework for allowing for an effective common currency is not there.

Now you might be able to make up for the deficiencies in one part by strengthening another part, for instance by having a stronger fiscal authority. But they don't have that.

What they did fiscally was tie themselves to the stability and growth pact, which was a pact for recession rather than for growth because limiting deficits when you have a shock is a recipe for recession, which is what is happening in Greece.

So the question was always: when a crisis occurred would they be able to finish the task? And I think the jury is still out.

Misguided

The agreement that they made in July was a reasonably good agreement. It recognised that Greece needed help to grow but they haven't put in any money and the process of ratification has been very slow.

So I think it's really a question that has not yet been resolved.

There are a number of institutional ways of going about helping to resolve it. The European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) needs to be larger or to have more ability to leverage itself. That's a minimum.

Over the longer term they're going to need European bonds and a number of other actions, and they have to recognise the framework of austerity is not the way to go.

Issuing bonds should be one part of the fiscal framework.

The problem with the eurozone was the one part of the framework that they thought they needed was limiting fiscal deficits and that was just a misguided analysis.

Ireland and Spain had surpluses before the crisis. But they thought that having limited fiscal deficits was necessary and sufficient for protecting the economic framework and that was just wrong.

Politics

The July agreement was a good start if they implement it quickly. But that's not been happening.

Austerity measures in Greece have brought widespread protests

Let me say, for democracy it's not been that slow. Two months to get landmark legislation through is not a long time. But markets move quickly. So I don't criticise the fact that there's been a deliberate pace - that's the nature of democracy.

My criticism is they didn't do anything in the 10 years before there was a crisis.

I suspect that we're going to see a lot of volatility. Whether at the end the eurozone will emerge intact or not, it's hard at this point to say.

It all depends on the politics. Even though I think the commitment of the leaders to do something is there, the political process in some ways is not in tune with the economics. The problems are deep.

I think there is a reasonably good chance that a year from now you would find the eurozone smaller than what it is today.

There's a broad consensus among economists that the best way of doing it would be for the northern European countries to leave. That would be the easiest adjustment.

But the general view is that is not what's going to happen. The view is that some of the weaker countries will leave and that will lead to very large trauma in the global financial markets such as freezing the credit markets, a repeat of 15 September 2008 (when Lehman Brothers collapsed).

Growth potential

If Europe insists on going forward with the kind of austerity packages in Germany and without the kind of assistance they need to help those countries with severe economic problems, such as Greece, then almost surely the eurozone will break up.

But if they come forward with that money, then it can survive, at least for a while.

Continue reading the main story Use the dropdown for easy-to-understand explanations of key financial terms:AAA-rating GO The best credit rating that can be given to a borrower's debts, indicating that the risk of borrowing defaulting is miniscule.The European Central Bank (ECB) is the one institution that has the kind of flexibility that is necessary to deal with the crisis. It will be absolutely essential, because they will be able to step into the breach and be willing to do that.

Now the problem is that some people in Germany and elsewhere have said the ECB should not be buying Italian and Spanish bonds and that it should not be stepping into the breach. But if the ECB doesn't do that, then the eurozone's prospects are very, very bleak.

It's not inevitable that Greece will default if they come forward with enough assistance for it to grow. It has enormous growth potential, so if Europe comes up with enough money, it will grow and that will enable it to manage its debts.

But so far I've seen nothing in the form of growth assistance as opposed to austerity assistance just to meet its budget shortfall, and I'm not very optimistic that it will avoid a default.

Joseph Stiglitz is a recipient of a Nobel Prize in Economics and a former chief economist at the World Bank.

The opinions expressed are those of the author and are not held by the BBC unless specifically stated. The material is for general information only and does not constitute investment, tax, legal or other form of advice. You should not rely on this information to make (or refrain from making) any decisions. Links to external sites are for information only and do not constitute endorsement. Always obtain independent, professional advice for your own particular situation.

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UK 'super-port' to open in 2013

2011-11-01T12:47:00.000-07:00

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4 October 2011 Last updated at 10:25 GMT DP World says the project could add 32,000 jobs to the UK economy The owners of the London Gateway port say the project is due to open in the last three months of 2013.

DP World says the site will initially be able to handle 1.6 million standard shipping containers a year. Over time, the Dubai-headquartered group plans to raise capacity to 3.5m containers.

Construction work began near Thurrock, Essex, in January 2010 on the site of a former Shell oil refinery.

When complete, it will be the largest deep-sea port in the UK.

DP World says the Thames Estuary development has already created 600 jobs and it plans to increase that number by a further 1,000 over the coming months. Seven hundred of the new posts will be in construction, while the other 300 are described as port jobs.

The firm estimates that eventually, the port and a neighbouring logistics centre will help create 32,000 jobs, adding ￡3.2bn to the UK economy each year.

'Environmentally friendly'

The company says the project is also good for the environment. It says that by allowing the world's largest cargo ships to unload their goods next to a major distribution centre, 65 million road freight miles can be saved every year.

DP World's chief executive, Mohammed Sharaf, said: "London Gateway is a giant leap forward for the UK's supply chains and will benefit our customers tremendously through more efficient transportation of goods."

Business Secretary Vince Cable also welcomed the news, saying: "It will help Britain maintain its competitiveness, drive productivity, and crucially strengthen our links with Asia and beyond."

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World pays tribute to Steve Jobs

2011-11-01T08:53:00.000-07:00

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6 October 2011 Last updated at 03:12 GMT Consumers paid tribute to ''a man of great perspective''

Apple's corporate statement announcing the death of 56-year old co-founder Steve Jobs was brief: "We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today.

"Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve."

Many technology experts, industry peers and other admirers have been quick to add their own tributes.

"Steve was among the greatest of American innovators - brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it.

"By building one of the planet's most successful companies from his garage, he exemplified the spirit of American ingenuity.

"By making computers personal and putting the internet in our pockets, he made the information revolution not only accessible, but intuitive and fun.

"The world has lost a visionary. And there may be no greater tribute to Steve's success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented."

"Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being.

"Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor.

"Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple."

"For those of us lucky enough to get to work with him, it's been an insanely great honour. I will miss Steve immensely.

"Steve and I first met nearly 30 years ago, and have been colleagues, competitors and friends over the course of more than half our lives."

"All of us would be touched every day by products that he was the creative genius behind, so this is very sad news and my condolences go to his family and friends."

"Tonight, America lost a genius who will be remembered with Edison and Einstein, and whose ideas will shape the world for generations to come.

"Again and again over the last four decades, Steve Jobs saw the future and brought it to life long before most people could even see the horizon.

"In New York City's government, everyone from street construction inspectors to NYPD detectives have harnessed Apple's products to do their jobs more efficiently and intuitively."

Steve Jobs is credited with revolutionising the way people listen to music

"Steve, thank you for being a mentor and a friend. Thanks for showing that what you build can change the world. I will miss you.

"His legacy will extend far beyond the products he created or the businesses he built. It will be the millions of people he inspired, the lives he changed, and the culture he defined.

"Steve was such an 'original,' with a thoroughly creative, imaginative mind that defined an era. Despite all he accomplished, it feels like he was just getting started."

"He always seemed to be able to say in very few words what you actually should have been thinking before you thought it."

"VISIONARIES are always called CRAZY in the beginning. A VISIONARY sees things that everybody else says is IMPOSSIBLE, sees a World that People can't invision (sic) - MAC, IPOD, IPAD, IPHONE, ITUNES and PIXAR. I have nothing but Love for Mr. Jobs and Apple, they have always given me and my films L-O-V-E."

"'Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose', as Steve Jobs said in 2005."

"Steve lived the California Dream every day of his life and he changed the world and inspired all of us."

"Thank you for revolutionising the way we listen to music. Your vision will not be forgotten."

Industry colleagues and rivals flocked to pay their compliments for and respect to Steve Jobs, including the founder of Twitter, Dick Costolo, AOL's founder, Steve Case, the chief executive of Time Warner, Jeff Bewkes, the chief executive of Dell, Michael Dell and the chairman of the New York Times, Arthur Sulzberger.

Other tributes (via Twitter) included praise for the way Steve Jobs changed the technological landscape:

"Thank you, Steve Jobs, for making technology a delight to use, instead of a necessary evil."

"The world pauses their iPods and rushes to their MacBooks and iPhones to confirm the news."

"3 Apples changed the World, 1st one seduced Eve, 2nd fell on Newton and the 3rd was offered to the World half bitten by Steve Jobs."

Apple fans were invited to share their thoughts, memories and condolences by sending messages to rememberingsteve@apple.com.

And social networking groups were calling for iPhone vigils in public parks across the United States.

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UK 'will resist' EU financial tax

2011-11-01T04:08:00.000-07:00

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28 September 2011 Last updated at 22:30 GMT Jose Manuel Barroso: "We have to understand we are in a situation where we have to do things together"

Bank shares have fallen in London after the UK said it would "resist" a financial transaction tax on EU members proposed by the European Commission.

The tax would raise about 57bn euros ($78bn; ￡50bn) a year and would come into effect at the start of 2014.

At close, Royal Bank of Scotland was behind by 3.64%, Lloyds Banking Group by 2.4%, and Barclays by 1.22%.

London would be hardest hit by the tax as the majority of banking transactions in Europe come through the city.

'Tax on London?'

City of London officials have said that about 80% of the revenues of any Europe-wide financial tax would come from London.

Stuart Fraser of the City of London said the question that had to be asked was whether the proposal was "a tax on London".

The banking sector played a role in causing the economic crisis, the commission said

Mr Fraser also warned that such a tax could mean a lot of banking transaction being lost to outside of the EU, and that the cost of setting up the scheme could outstrip whatever monies it raised.

The BBC's business editor Robert Peston said that while dealers and investors in financial products such as derivatives and bonds were not happy about the proposal, share dealers were more relaxed as the tax would cost less than the existing stamp duty, which the tax would replace.

Meanwhile, in Germany and France bank shares also fell at close, and the European Banking Federation called the tax a "nonsense".

Among the market losers were Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank in Germany, and Societe Generale and BNP Paribas in France.

'Contribution' Chancellor Merkel faces a crunch vote on the eurozone bailout fund

Despite the opposition Algirdas Semeta, EC commissioner for taxation, customs, anti-fraud and audit, said: "Our project is sound and workable. I have no doubt this tax can deliver what EU citizens expect - a fair contribution from the financial sector."

The EU executive also points out that financial services are "in the majority of cases exempt from paying VAT (due to difficulties in measuring the taxable base)".

Germany and France have been among countries pressing the European Commission to propose the tax on all financial investment systems, as they seek to show their citizens they are serious about recouping some of the costs of the banking crisis.

Austria, Belgium, Norway and Spain also support such a tax.

Earlier, Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso had said banks must "make a contribution" as Europe faced its "greatest challenge".

A transaction tax would need the approval of the UK in order to be implemented across the EU.

The commission said that if the UK vetoed the tax, it would look to implement it in the eurozone.

Referring to "the constraints of unanimity", Mr Barroso said "further changes to the Treaty of Lisbon" may be required in order to push through measures to stabilise Europe's economy.

'Additional revenue'

The commission said the tax was "to ensure that the financial sector makes a fair contribution at a time of fiscal consolidation in the member states".

It said financial firms had played a role in the current "economic crisis" and was "under-taxed" compared with other sectors.

The "significant additional revenue" raised would contribute to public finances, it added.

A spokesperson for the UK Treasury said it would "absolutely resist" any tax that was not introduced globally.

The Treasury has said there are also a number of practical issues that need to be worked through.

And the financial secretary to the Treasury, Mark Hoban, said the transaction tax would be ineffectual unless it was a global agreement.

"If it's not done at a global level, it's not done as part of a comprehensive package, then people will find ways around it," he said.

"They'll move business out of Europe, somewhere else, they'll find different products that are outside the scope of this transaction tax, so I think there's a lot of detail to be looked at to get this right."

Earlier, in his annual State of the Union address in Strasbourg, Mr Barroso had called not only for the transaction tax but for eurozone members to issue debt collectively, through so-called eurobonds.

"Once the euro area is fully equipped with the instruments necessary to ensure both integration and discipline, the issuance of joint debt will be seen as a natural and advantageous step for all," he said.

Further austerity

Officials from the commission, along with those from the European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund, are due to begin reviewing Greece's attempts to reduce its debt levels on Thursday.

Greece's new property tax has proved particularly unpopular

They will then decide whether to release about 8bn euros from a 110bn bailout package agreed last summer, money the Greek government badly needs in order to pay its bills.

A key obstacle to the payment was removed on Tuesday when the Greek parliament passed a controversial new property tax bill that aims to boost revenues.

Eurozone members are in the process of ratifying proposals put forward in July, one of which would see private lenders writing off about 20% of their loans to Greece.

The proposals also included expanding the powers of the eurozone bailout fund. Finland approved the plan on Wednesday, while Germany will vote on it on Thursday.

With 330 seats in the 620-seat Bundestag, Chancellor Angela Merkel can afford no more than 19 rebels if she is to deliver the 311 seats required for a majority.

Greek write-off

There has been renewed optimism this week that eurozone leaders may finally be ready to take decisive action to tackle the debt crisis.

G20 leaders met over the weekend to discuss the best way forward, but EU officials stressed that no grand plan of action had been agreed.

A number of ideas were reportedly discussed, including a 50% write-down of Greece's government debts.

Other proposals included strengthening big European banks that could be hit by any defaults by highly indebted governments, and boosting the size of the eurozone bailout fund.

These helped to boost investor sentiment with stock markets rising sharply on Tuesday, although Asian and European markets were largely flat on Wednesday.

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VIDEO: iPhone 5 'critical' for Apple

2011-11-01T00:34:00.000-07:00

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4 October 2011 Last updated at 02:20 GMT Help

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VIDEO: Dutch sceptical over debt solution

2011-10-31T21:02:00.000-07:00

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4 October 2011 Last updated at 16:19 GMT Help

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VIDEO: Check, check and check again

2011-10-31T16:04:00.000-07:00

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29 September 2011 Last updated at 14:12 GMT Help

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Barclays heads UK complaints list

2011-10-31T11:38:00.000-07:00

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28 September 2011 Last updated at 14:35 GMT There were more than 250,000 complaints to Barclays in the first six month of the year More complaints were made about Barclays than any other banking brand by UK customers in the first half of the year, figures have shown.

The bank received 251,563 complaints, with 53% of closed cases upheld in customers' favour, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) figures show.

Barclays said it had cut complaints by 14% compared with a year earlier.

Other brands high on the list included Lloyds TSB (181,907), Santander (168,888) and NatWest (147,109).

The data pulls together figures released in recent weeks by banks.

Insurance complaints

Nearly 10,000 complaints were filed every day to financial institutions, with a total of 1.85 million made in the first six months of the year.

The FSA figures showed that, among the most complained-about banking brands, Santander was the most likely of the major brands to deal with cases within eight weeks.

It closed 98% of cases within that timeframe. This compared with 74% at Royal Bank of Scotland, 77% at Lloyds TSB, 86% at NatWest, 89% at Barclays and 90% at HSBC.

Complaints were dominated by those about payment protection insurance (PPI), especially after banks lost their legal challenge on PPI rules in April.

PPI is supposed to cover borrowers' loan repayments if they fall ill, die, or lose their jobs.

But mis-selling cases led to new rules on how cases should be dealt with, and also created an extra compensation bill running into billions of pounds for the banks.

Adam Scorer, of watchdog Consumer Focus, said: "This issue continues to dog the financial sector and is a big test of its commitment to treating consumers fairly.

"All firms need to deal with outstanding cases and make sure everyone affected is treated efficiently and fairly."

Complaints about banking, rather than insurance and some other categories, fell by 22% compared with the same period a year earlier.

'Good progress'

The FSA's complaints figures are published relating to banking brands.

Barclays headed the list but said the number of complaints had fallen by 14% compared with the same period a year earlier.

"We want to get it right every time. When we do get it wrong, we apologise, try to correct it quickly and identify how to prevent it from reoccurring," said Antony Jenkins, chief executive of Barclays Retail and Business Banking.

"We have made good progress in reducing complaints with a substantial and sustainable reduction in banking complaints by nearly a third.

"However, there is much more to be done and we are working hard to further improve our service to our customers, putting them at the heart of our business and getting it right first time, every time."

The largest group - Lloyds Banking Group - had most complaints when all its brands were added together.

Some complaints that are unresolved by the banks themselves end up with the independent Financial Ombudsman Service. It recently said that the largest number of these complaints, in the first half of the year, also related to Lloyds Banking Group.

It also said that nearly two-thirds of the new complaints made in the six months to the end of June were about PPI.

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Shares up on eurozone debt hopes

2011-10-31T08:08:00.000-07:00

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6 October 2011 Last updated at 09:47 GMT EC President Jose Manuel Barroso has fuelled expectations that Europe is preparing an action plan Stock markets have been boosted by expectations that European leaders are about to act to ease the debt crisis.

The main markets in London, Frankfurt and Paris were about 2% up, after Hong Kong closed 5.6% higher.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said in a television interview that there were plans for co-ordinated action to recapitalise banks.

More details of any action plan could come later at a European Central Bank press conference.

There have been a flurry of reports and comments in recent days that European authorities have negotiated plans to bolster banks and boost bailout funds.

On Thursday, Mr Barroso fuelled expectations further, telling Euronews TV that the EU executive was proposing "co-ordinated action" to the 27 European Union nations to bolster banks.

The intention was to "recapitalise banks and get rid of toxic assets they may have".

Continue reading the main story

You can see this as creeping progress towards putting adequate shock absorbers into the eurozone's financial system.”

End Quote Robert Peston Business editor, BBC News On Thursday afternoon, European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet will lead a media briefing, which will come after the bank announces its decision on European interest rates.

Then German Chancellor Angela Merkel is due to hold talks in Berlin with Mr Trichet as well as the heads of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the OECD and G20.

On Wednesday, Mr Merkel said she was in favour of a co-ordinated recapitalisation of European banks if that was deemed necessary.

Expectations that there will be action to bolster banks and boost European bailout funds began on Monday, when Olli Rehn, European commissioner for economic affairs, said there was "an increasingly shared view that we need a concerted, co-ordinated approach".

In an interview with the Financial Times, he said there was "a sense of urgency among ministers and we need to move on".

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Germany approves EU bailout fund

2011-10-31T04:43:00.000-07:00

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29 September 2011 Last updated at 16:40 GMT Chancellor Merkel achieved her majority after intense lobbying Germany's parliament has voted by a large majority in favour of supporting a more powerful fund to bail-out troubled Eurozone economies.

Chancellor Angela Merkel received strong support despite criticism of the plan from some of her ruling coalition.

Many Germans are against committing more money to prop up struggling eurozone members such as Greece.

There are protests in Athens where international inspectors have held talks on further bailout funds.

The measure is expected to pass in Germany's upper house of parliament, where it will be put to a vote on Friday.

In the Bundestag, 523 deputies approved the bill to support the expansion of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) - 85 voted against and three abstained in the 620-seat chamber. Nine members were not present.

Dissidents

Some members of Mrs Merkel's coalition had vowed to vote against the bill.

But in the end, 315 deputies voted in favour, meaning that Mrs Merkel did not have to rely on opposition support to get the measure passed.

The outcome of the vote was not in question, however, as the main opposition parties, the SPD and the Greens, indicated they would support the expansion of the fund.

Before the vote, there was intense lobbying by Mrs Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) and their coalition allies to pressure the handful of dissidents to get in line.

Continue reading the main story Stephen Evans BBC News, Berlin

Chancellor Merkel got her majority more easily than she might have expected. Fifteen members from parties in her coalition government voted against her, not enough to make her have to rely on the opposition.

The main opposition party, the Social Democrats, supported the government.

As one of its MPs put it in the debate: "We will vote with you because Europe needs this vote. Don't rely on us next time."

In the end, 523 MPs voted with the government and 85 against, including the left group.

Chancellor Merkel emerges not quite unscathed but not as a dramatically weakened leader either.

A reliance on this support would have cast into doubt her ability to get forthcoming votes on both a further bailout for Greece and a permanent successor to the EFSF through the Bundestag.

"The broad majority in parliament clearly shows Germany is committed to the euro and to protecting our currency," said Hermann Groehe, the number two in Ms Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) party.

But Frank Schaeffler of the Free Democrats party - a junior coalition member - argued that bailout measures have made Greece's economic situation deteriorate.

"Despite all arguments, the first bailout did not make the situation for Greece better, but worse," Mr Schaeffler said, according to the AP news agency.

"Expanding the fund will make the situation even worse."

Athens blockade

All 17 countries that use the euro must ratify the commitment made in July to expand the powers of the EFSF and boost its bailout guarantees from 440bn euros (￡383bn) to 780bn euros.

So far, 10 have approved the measure.

As Europe's largest economy, Germany's commitment to the fund would rise from 123bn euros to 211bn.

That bigger fund is already being dismissed as inadequate in the light of the worsening Greek crisis and the threat of it spreading to other economies.

The former President of European Commission Romano Prodi said the German public will come round to supporting the deal

Inspectors from the "troika" of international creditors supporting Greece - the European Commission, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) - returned to Athens on Thursday to decide if the government has done enough to warrant another 8bn euros (￡6.9bn) of loans.

"The climate was positive and creative after the tough measures that were decided," Greece's finance ministry said in a statement.

Public workers blocked entrances to a number of ministries in Athens, protesting against the deep austerity measures the government has imposed as a condition of the bailout.

"Take your bailout and leave," shouted protesters outside the finance ministry, Reuters news agency reported. They said they wanted to prevent Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos from meeting the troika officials.

Taxi drivers, hospital workers and other public sector staff were also due to strike on Thursday, angered by the announcement of new austerity measures including pension cuts and a new property tax.

Without the new loans - laid out under the terms of a bailout agreed last year - Greece will soon run out of money.

New taxes have been approved and deeper spending cuts have been promised, but some decisions have been delayed and privatisation is running behind schedule says the BBC's Chris Morris in Athens.

Many people believe that austerity measures are pushing Greece's crippled economy deeper into recession and strangling any chance of growth.

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US nears South Korea free trade

2011-10-31T01:17:00.000-07:00

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6 October 2011 Last updated at 03:19 GMT The trade deal is expected to dominate President Lee Myung-bak's visit to the US later this month The free trade agreement between the US and South Korea has cleared the first hurdle four years after the deal was first agreed.

The House Ways and Means Committee has voted to advance US free-trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama to the full House.

The push for a swift approval of the deals comes amid a slowdown in the US economy and high rates of unemployment.

Backers of the deals said they will boost US exports and create jobs.

"With zero jobs created last month and the unemployment rate hovering around nine percent, we must look at all opportunities to create American jobs," said David Camp, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Tariff concerns

The deal with South Korea is the largest US trade pact since it signed the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994.

According to some estimates, it is expected to increase US exports to the Asian economy by as much as $10bn (￡6.5bn).

Though the deal was agreed in 2007, there had been concerns in the US over tariffs imposed by South Korea on the US carmakers.

The two sides finally managed to reach an agreement on the issue last year. South Korea said it would halve its tariff on US cars to 4% and lift it completely in four years.

At the same time, US said it would also lift its 2.5% tariff on Korean cars during that period.

South Korea had also agreed to allow the US to export up to 25,000 cars a year that do not meet its more stringent safety requirements.

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UBS to take 'disciplinary action'

2011-10-30T20:32:00.000-07:00

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5 October 2011 Last updated at 17:28 GMT UBS is considering shrinking down its investment bank, where the alleged incident took place UBS has said it is preparing to take "disciplinary action" against individuals deemed responsible for an alleged rogue trading incident.

It comes as the joint heads of the Swiss bank's equities division, in which the incident took place, quit.

Francois Gouws and Yassine Bouhara took "responsibility for the effective management of the equities business".

Equities trader Kweku Adoboli was last month arrested for allegedly losing $2.3bn (￡1.5bn) in unauthorised trades.

The two UBS executives to fall on their swords over the incident only took up their posts last year, with Mr Bouhara having been poached from rival Deutsche Bank.

Their exit follows the departure of UBS chief executive, Oswald Gruebel, last week.

They will be replaced by Mike Stewart, who was recruited from another rival firm, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, in July.

"In addition, appropriate disciplinary action will be taken against other individuals in the equities business as a result of the incident," said the bank.

"UBS also expects to take disciplinary action against responsible staff in other functions."

UBS is also considering shrinking down its investment banking business - of which equities trading is a key part - in order to refocus it on purely serving the needs of its enormous network of wealthy individual clients.

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Sharp rise in eurozone inflation

2011-10-30T17:19:00.000-07:00

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30 September 2011 Last updated at 11:18 GMT Continue reading the main story Last Updated at 03:49 GMT

Market indexCurrent valueTrendVariation% variationThe eurozone inflation rate increased to 3% in September, up from 2.5% in August, according to the first estimate from the EU statistics agency.

No breakdown was given, but Eurostat said its initial forecasts were usually "reliable".

Separate figures also released by Eurostat showed the eurozone unemployment rate unchanged at 10% in August from the previous month.

The number of people unemployed fell by 38,000 compared with July.

The unemployment rate in Spain, the highest in Europe, rose slightly to 21.2%, with youth unemployment hitting 46.2%.

However, the jobless rate for those under 25 in the eurozone as a whole fell slightly, to 20.4%.

Falling shares

Analysts, who had expected a small rise in inflation, pointed to technical changes in the way price rises are calculated as a contributory factor in the sharp increase.

Continue reading the main story Andrew Walker Economics correspondent, BBC World Service

This rise in the inflation rate makes the situation even more complicated for the European Central Bank.

The ECB has been widely criticised for raising interest rates earlier this year, as several eurozone countries are struggling with government debt crises and economic growth that is either weak or completely stalled.

The ECB has an inflation target of close to but below 2%. So the increased rate of price rises will make the Bank even more cautious about making interest rate cuts.

In addition, some of the ideas being discussed for responding to the eurozone crisis involve a wider role for the European Central Bank which could be characterised as, in effect, "printing money". As this could be inflationary, the latest data on price rises underlines the potential risk of such a move.

"It's not a nice number, but I wouldn't panic that the high inflation which some have warned about for years is finally here," said Martin Van Vliet at ING.

"We will see inflation declining over the next months, staying above 2.5% but next year, with stable oil and food prices, we will fall to lower levels."

The European Central Bank target for inflation is 2%, and the bank raised interest rates in July from 1.25% to 1.5% in order to combat rising prices.

However, the continuing debt crisis makes further rate rises in the coming months unlikely, analysts say.

With confidence in the outlook for economic growth in the eurozone fragile, policymakers are unlikely to risk raising rates, they say.

Equally, however, sharply rising prices make a cut in interest rates less likely.

This put further downward pressure on markets that fell sharply in early trading.

Germany's Dax index was down 2.5%, with France's Cac 40 and the UK's FTSE 100 sliding about 1.5%.

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VIDEO: Why is Germany still in thrall to European Project?

2011-10-30T13:43:00.000-07:00

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Newsnight's Peter Marshall reports on why, despite clear public anger about the prospect of continued financial bailouts for the euro zone, Germans apparently still in thrall to the European Project.

Broadcast on Thursday 29 September 2011.

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Increase in UK mortgage approvals

2011-10-30T10:37:00.000-07:00

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29 September 2011 Last updated at 09:29 GMT The figures suggest a pick up in sales may lie ahead The number of new mortgages approved, but not yet lent, for home buyers in August rose to its highest level since December 2009.

The Bank of England said 52,410 mortgages were approved last month.

That was nearly three thousand more than in July, and the highest number since December 2009.

The figures suggest that a recent slight relaxation in lending criteria by banks and other lenders will lead to higher sales in the coming months.

Adrian Coles, director-general of the Building Societies Association, said: "Approval figures continue to look promising as consumers take advantage of the competitive mortgage rates."

"However, the outlook for the economy has deteriorated over the past month as has consumer confidence, which could well spill into the housing market, causing further weakness," he warned.

Lending squeeze Continue reading the main story

We are telling people to be realistic. If the price is right then it will sell”

End Quote David Sharpe, Sales negotiator, Dowen estate agents, Hartlepool Average house prices have been stagnant across the UK this year, with both the Nationwide and the Halifax reporting little change in the past few months.

In its latest survey, the Nationwide said house prices had continued to "tread water" in September. House prices rose by 0.1% in the month, Nationwide said, but were 0.3% lower than a year ago.

The number of house sales fell in August, according to the Bank of England's own figures published last week.

They dropped by 6,000 from July to 78,000 in August which was, in turn, 3,000 lower than in August last year.

Approvals are traditionally a good indicator of near term trends in sales, so the latest approvals data suggests that sales funded by mortgage borrowing may pick up this autumn.

But on Wednesday the Bank of England said banks had told it they may face a renewed squeeze on their ability to lend.

In its quarterly Credit Conditions Survey, the Bank said it had been told by some big lenders that they might find increasingly hard to raise the necessary funds on the wholesale financial markets to lend to home buyers.

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