The benchmark index of leading shares advanced 32.57 points to close at 6,755.63 on Monday, its highest since September 2000, as global markets continued to power upwards.

Congressional investigators on Monday accused Apple of avoiding paying billions in taxes on its international profits by exploiting US tax loopholes and using two Irish subsidiaries that are not technically tax residents of any country.

David Cameron failed to raise Google's tax affairs when he met the company's chairman Eric Schmidt in Downing Street yesterday, it has emerged.

Britons should be braced for years of high inflation as the cost of living soars stubbornly ahead of wages, a leading economic forecaster warned today.

Ryanair wants to more than double its share of the European short-haul market to 20 per cent in the next five years. The target was revealed as the budget carrier brushed off higher fuel costs to post a record annual profit of �569 million.