UK Business News

USwitch under half former value as sale nears

Price comparison website is expected to be sold by Christmas for less than half the £210m that it fetched three years ago

Outlook for jobs grim ‘for several years’

Labour Market Outlook report predicts unemployment will continue to be hit even with the return of robust economic growth

• Jobless graduate tally to hit 100,000

• Unemployment jumps to 2.4million

Tories plan a voice for business in Europe

Shadow Chancellor George Osborne hints at how the Treasury will operate if the Conservatives win the forthcoming election

• Osborne makes tracks for the Glasgow Tories

• Osborne takes regulatory roadshow to FSA

Phone giants Vodafone and BT eye more cuts

Alongside half-year results, the companies are expected to increase savings targets from £1bn and 'well over' £1bn respectively

World Business News

GM executives fly in to set Vauxhall’s future

American delegation will meet ministers to discuss the future of Vauxhall's 4,500 British workers in Luton and Cheshire

Anglo recruits banking grandee

Appointment of Sir Philip Hampton, chairman of RBS, is the latest in a series of senior changes at the mining group

• Managers bear brunt as Anglo cuts 2,700 jobs

• Anglo American buys time from investors and forces Xstrata to walk

China targets US cars in dumping probe

Tit-for-tat trade row between the two economic giants deepens after America imposes large tariffs on steel pipes

• China slows falling trade in recovery hope

• Tyres trade row erupts between US and China

Berkshire Hathaway turns $3.2bn profit

Profit was triple the $1.06 billion, or $682 per Class A equivalent share, reported by the company a year earlier

Analysis

Which will come top: paper or gold?

Printing presses have been pumping out dollars and pounds. Little wonder many are seeking a more trusty store of value

• William Rees-Mogg

Flawed theory has brought disastrous results

Financial workers are a danger - they shape the debate about capitalism and reform but ignore economic theory

Listen to the bosses’ optimism

When three chief executives call an end to the recession — even though it has not officially ended — we should take heart

Business big shot: Mark Hemsley of Bats Europe

Law  

Setback for Lehman creditors as court blocks PwC plan

Court of Appeal says radical plan designed to speed up the Lehman Brothers administration is unacceptable under UK insolvency law

Former MEP facing jail for £30,000 expenses fraud

Tom Wise admitted spending his secretarial expenses allowance on a new car and fine wines while with Ukip

Potential judges can keep Freemasonry secret

Jack Straw reverses the policy that he introduced in 1998 after a human rights ruling and the threat of legal action

Money  

Northern Rock ‘bad bank’ will trap borrowers

Customers transferred to the bad bank will be unable to remortgage elsewhere

• Northern Rock woos the bonus brigade

• Northern Rock in 'aggressive' mortgage drive

House prices go up again, but fears grow that economy cannot sustain rise

House prices are now 7.1 per cent higher than they were six months ago and 2.9 per cent higher than in December last year

• Lessons to learn from revitalised economies

• House prices record first rise in 19 months

Taxman hits YouTube to root out offshore ‘fiddlers’

HMRC turns to social media with two-minute video to advertise campaign to ensure that savers declare offshore accounts

business travel  

The world's oddest airport lounges

Lounges for dogs and children sound bizarre but not as odd as Finnair's new facility

SkyTeam, Alitalia open new terminal facilities

Alliance gets common check-in at Heathrow while Italian carrier gets a dedicated terminal in Rome

10 rules of business travel etiquette

Business travellers forced to fly in economy might need to be re-educated in acceptable on-board behaviour

• Business airfares to rise in 2010

• Profile: Luxury car boss Clive Sutton