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Russian billionaire bid for Standard

Viscount Rothermere, owner of DMGT, has rebuffed a bid for the Evening Standard by ex-KGB officer Alexander Lebedev

Poland has appeal as a calm haven amid turmoil

Dell's move to Poland is the latest in a long line of foreign investment into the EU's largest post-communist economy

Dell axes 1,900 jobs and stuns Ireland

Ireland suffered its biggest economic blow in years when Dell, the computer group, said that it was slashing its workforce

RBS in talks to sell £2bn stake in Bank of China

Steven Hester, the bank's new chief executive, is reported to have met executives from the Chinese bank and regulators

Banks swoop to sell Merckle UK interests

Phoenix Group, owner of UK's third-largest drugs distribution business, and Rowlands pharmacy chain put on the market

Santander to miss targets over Madoff

Spain’s biggest bank predicted to miss its €10bn profit target after compensating clients on Madoff and Lehman bonds

Merckle, the penny-pinching billionaire

Breaking point came when Adolf Merckle realised that to save the remnants of his fortune, he would have to sell Ratiopharm

German tycoon commits suicide

Adolf Merckle, owner of HeidelbergCement and world’s 94th richest man, had lost millions of euros in bets on VW

Euro falls as pressure rises for ECB rate cut

With inflation plunging and the service sector suffering, the European Central Bank may be forced to take further action

Kaupthing taking legal action in London

Icelandic bank to argue in High Court that the Government acted unlawfully when its UK arm was forced into administration

Cuts feared as Russian row heats up

Payment dispute and theft accusations threaten to squeeze gas flows out of Ukraine as Vladimir Putin orders cuts to supply

Germany ready for economic stimulus U-turn

Angela Merkel prepares to agree €50bn package for German economy, weeks after dismissing Gordon Brown's similar plan

Aberdeen pays £250m for Credit Suisse business

Aberdeen Asset Management snaps up funds arm of Swiss bank to create Britain’s largest independent manager

French retailer files for bankruptcy

Fashion retailer Morgan has been on the block for most of the year, but talks with potential buyers failed to result in a sale

Aberdeen buys part of Credit Suisse business

Aberdeen Asset Management snaps up UK division of Swiss bank to create Britain’s largest independent fund manager

Slovakia joins eurozone in new year

Slovakia will become the sixteenth country to drop its national currency, the koruna, when it adopts the euro on January 1

Pound’s parity with euro comes closer

The pound slid by more than 2 cents to a record low of €1.02 as currency dealers braced for another cut in UK interest rates

Car production faces global fall until 2010

PricewaterhouseCoopers is forecasting a 17% drop in the US to 10.8m cars and a 12% fall in the EU to 15.5m vehicles

Slovakia adopts the euro on January 1

The koruna will become one of the Continent's shortest-lived currencies when Slovakia joins the eurozone this week

Spain in recession as New Zealand woes grow

Spain is now officially in recession, and New Zealand's downturn is expected to continue throughout next year