BA and Iberia agree merger deal
British Airways and Iberia reach a preliminary agreement to merge, paving the way to become one of the world's largest airline groups.

Intel and AMD settle legal rows
US chip maker Intel agrees to pay rival AMD $1.25bn as part of a deal to settle all outstanding legal disputes.

Oil rise 'could derail recovery'
The International Energy Agency says that if the recent rise in oil prices continues it "risks derailing the recovery".

Porsche confirms big annual loss
German sports carmaker Porsche confirms it made a big full-year loss, largely due to its unsuccessful attempt to take over Volkswagen.

Russian economy growing strongly
Russia's economy grew by 13.9% from July to September compared with the previous quarter, the statistics agency says.

Irish pass bad bank rescue plan
The Irish parliament approves legislation to establish a "bad" bank to suck up problem loans in the country's troubled banking sector.

Second SA power executive quits
The chief executive of South Africa's electricity generating company, Eskom, quits his job.

Peugeot raises earnings forecast
Shares in Peugeot Citroen rise 4% after the carmaker raises its earnings forecast for 2009.

Boost for Chinese football league
China's troubled football league says it has enjoyed its best attendances as well as healthy sponsor revenues.

Surprise rise in Australian jobs
A surprisingly strong increase in Australia's October jobs figures leads to talk of a December interest rate rise.

Latin America boosts Telefonica
Spanish mobile firm Telefonica, owner of the O2 mobile brand, sees profits rise thanks to a strong performance in Latin America.

Executive pay on Wall Street is too high, says Bill Gates
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates says that the recent explosion in Wall Street pay can be traced to a 1993 law.

Want to feel younger and healthier? Just retire, says survey
Retirement automatically makes most people feel younger and healthier, a study has found.

Long-haul link
BA and Iberia's lengthy courtship nears fruition

'God's gift'
How Brazil is hoping to find a fortune in oil

Bring me sunshine
Tourism industry looks forward to brighter 2010

Dangerous job
Sacked Nigerian corruption fighter 'got death threats'

Backpack burden
The strong Aussie dollar makes life tough for tourists

Future gazing
Is Brazil finally set to reach its full potential?

Lenders cut repossession forecast
The number of homes likely to be repossessed this year will be only 48,000, the Council of Mortgage Lenders says.

Medvedev calls for economy reform
President Dmitry Medvedev says Russia's old economic model no longer works, as he gives his state of the nation speech.

Poor nations vow low-carbon path
Poor countries vulnerable to climate change plot a low-carbon future and challenge richer states to match them.

Reduction in UK's gender pay gap
The difference in average wages between men and women in full-time employment in the UK has narrowed slightly this year, official figures show.

Climbdown over pushchair safety
UK parents with Maclaren pushchairs can now ask for new safety kits, after concerns were raised about injuries to children.

BT pension deficit rises sharply
Telecoms group BT reveals that its final-salary pension scheme deficit has more than doubled to £9.3bn in the past six months.

Fraud bank 'could face £85m loss'
A bank at the centre of an investigation into alleged fraud could suffer losses of up to £85m, a court hears.

Wal-Mart says climate 'difficult'
The world's biggest supermarket, Wal-Mart, says the sales environment is "difficult".

Upfront model fee ban planned
Modelling agencies would be banned from charging upfront fees, under government plans to be announced later.

Home loans level off, lenders say
The recent rise in mortgage lending to house buyers has levelled off, the Council of Mortgage Lenders says.

People in debt 'go without food'
Almost half of people seeking debt advice from Citizens Advice Scotland have gone without food or fuel to pay what they owe.

Rise in UK jobless slowing
The UK jobless total rose to 2.46 million in the three months to September, but the increase was the smallest since May 2008.

SA power chief quits in race row
The chairman of South Africa's national power company resigns after he was accused of pushing out his black chief executive.

Vodacom cautious about recovery
The boss of the South African mobile phone firm, Vodacom, says it is too early to be confident of a sustained recovery.

Profits up at giant global brewer
Anheuser-Busch InBev makes a profit on cost-savings despite beer consumption volumes dropping in the recession.

Storm blamed for Brazil power cut
A severe storm is blamed for widespread power cuts in Brazil which lasted more than five hours, the government says.

Cathay in $7.6m payout to pilots
A Hong Kong court rules that Cathay Pacific unfairly dismissed 18 pilots and awards them $7.6m in compensation.

China production and retail rise
China's industrial production rises faster than expected and Chinese people are spending more, official statistics indicate.

EU calls for budget deficit cuts
The European Commission calls for 13 members countries to bring their budget deficits below 3% of GDP by 2014 at the latest.

EU cartel fine for plastics firms
A group of plastics companies is fined 173m euros ($260m; £156m) by the European Commission for price-fixing and running a cartel.

Iran's Guards in $2.5bn rail deal
Iran's Revolutionary Guards win a $2.5bn tender to build a railway route linking the south-eastern port of Chabahar to Iran's rail network.

Iraq in third overseas oil deal
Iraq reaches a deal with a consortium led by US oil giant Exxon Mobil to develop the country's West Qurna 1 oil field.

Air India losses more than $1bn
Troubled national carrier Air India reports a net loss of 55.5bn rupees for the full-year to the end of March.

Renault to challenge Tata's Nano
The French carmaker Renault has pledged to build a low-cost car in India even cheaper than Tata's Nano.