During a grilling before senior US politicians, Tim Cook said that Apple had become one of the largest corporate income tax payers in America, handing over nearly $6bn (�3.9bn) last year.

The incoming governor of the Bank of England has warned Europe it must make "sustained and significant reforms" if it is to avoid a Japanese-style lost decade caused by austerity measures.

By Leila Lemghalef. MONTREAL | Tue May 21, 2013 8:58pm BST. MONTREAL (Reuters) - The next head of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, agreed on Tuesday with current Governor Mervyn King that the Bank could not be run as a one-man show.

LONDON�Burberry Group PLC showed further signs of recovery following a midyear profit warning, as it reported a rise in full-year revenue on Tuesday.

The chairman of the Commons home affairs committee has branded a �1.2m payoff to outgoing G4S chief executive Nick Buckles "astonishing" given his role in the Olympics security fiasco last summer.

Major shareholders had urged Vodafone to distribute most of the special dividend from its 45pc stake in the growing American operator.

Scotland can "more than afford' to be a successful independent country, its first minister has said. Alex Salmond was speaking as he launched a paper outlining the nation's key economic strengths.

Bank of Ireland has written to 1,200 borrowers threatened with an increase in their mortgage rate to advise them they will not face the change after all, following a review of customer complaints.

Nigel Terrington, chief executive of Paragon, said yesterday the company would start providing personal and car loans again, as part of a planned move back into the consumer banking.

Price-fixing in the cement industry may have cost the struggling construction sector �180 million over the past five years, an investigation by the Competition Commission has concluded.