Chancellor Alistair Darling warns bankers it would be "disastrous" if they return to their old ways and repeat past mistakes.

A rogue trader at a London-based oil brokerage causes his employer to lose $10m (£6m) after making unauthorised trades.

US marshalls seize the $7m Manhattan penthouse of imprisoned fraudster Bernard Madoff, forcing his wife to move.

Unwanted credit card cheques will be banned and a new post created to help consumers get refunds, the government says.

Carphone Warehouse is to restart selling Vodafone mobile phone contracts, three years after Vodafone pulled the products.

The number of jobs lost in the US last month came in at 467,000, which is much more than had been expected.

The International Monetary Fund tells Zimbabwe it will not provide more funds until it has settled its existing $1bn debts.

The author of an influential report into the future of pensions in the UK tells the BBC his proposals were not radical enough.

Royal Bank of Scotland says chief executive Stephen Hester will not cash in shares worth up to £3.4m for a further two years.

Chef Gordon Ramsay saw his UK restaurants struggle in 2008, forcing him to inject £3.5m of his own money into the business.

A new joint-venture energy firm between Nigeria and Russia has got online communities twittering, after the governments choose the name Nigaz.

Encouraging more women to work on building sites

Welfare costs to strain India's budget

Rip-off businesses will have to face a new foe

Rare music sleuths make a monkey of the major labels

Budget busts mean damp squibs in the US on 4 July

US downturn and swine flu batter Mexico's economy

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declares a fiscal emergency in California to deal with a $24.3bn (£14.5bn) deficit.

Failure to resolve the Royal Mail's huge pension deficit threatens the UK's universal postal service, it has been claimed.

Defaults on loans have risen and are expected to increase in the coming months, a Bank of England survey finds.

The European Central Bank keeps its key interest rate unchanged at 1% following its monthly meeting.

Shares in computer games retailer Game Group fall 14% after it warns half-year profits may be 64% lower.

Rio Tinto announces that there has been strong support from shareholders for its huge cash-raising exercise.

Twitter users can now buy followers to boost the audience for the messages they send via the micro-blogging service.

Hitachi says it will supply lithium-ion batteries to General Motors to power the company's hybrid cars from next year.

Brewer Greene King sees its annual profits fall 62%, but says recent trading had been boosted by the hot weather.

US vehicle sales dropped in June, but there were signs of stabilisation as Ford saw its smallest decline in a year.

Economic growth of 7% in India is possible this year, according to a report from the country's finance ministry.

A German minister blames the European Union for problems in the state Landesbank banking system.

Rising costs are hitting the incomes of those on minimum household budgets, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation says.

Problems with personal pensions drive a 10% increase in complaints to the Pensions Advisory Service.

Trading standards officers call for a ban on online knife sales after a machete was sold to a 15-year-old for £1.50 over the internet.

The unemployment rate in the 16 countries using the euro rose to 9.5% in May, according to official EU statistics.

UK manufacturing shrank at its slowest pace for a year in June, a survey says, adding to hopes the worst of the recession is over.

The Irish Republic's unemployment rate hit 11.9% in June, the highest since April 1996, official figures show.

Defence and aerospace group EADS wins a contract worth an estimated $2.27bn (£1.4bn) to help Saudi Arabia improve its border security.

British Airways asks conciliation service Acas to intervene to help reach a deal with unions on jobs and pay.

The government says it intends to take the East Coast rail service, run by National Express, into public ownership.

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