Total and Eni blame profit falls on conflict in Libya

Oil companies Total and Eni have both blamed profit falls on the conflict in Libya disrupting their production in the north African country.

France's Total saw its net profit decline 12% to 2.73bn euros ($3.89bn; £2.4bn) in the three months to 30 June.

BMW unveils electric car division

German carmaker BMW has unveiled two new models to launch its electric motoring division BMWi.

The i3 is an all-electric small city car, while the i8, a powerful sports car, combines an electric motor with a three-cylinder combustion engine.

BSkyB to return £1bn to its shareholders

Satellite broadcaster BSkyB is returning £1bn to shareholders angered by the recent fall in share prices.

Its shares have fallen sharply in the past month after News Corporation abandoned its bid for BSkyB amid the phone-hacking scandal.

The company said it had gained 426,000 customers over the past year.

Apple overtakes Nokia and Samsung as smartphone maker

Apple has become the world's biggest seller of smartphones, according to industry analysts.

The US firm overtook both previous leader Nokia and Samsung in the second quarter of the year, when total smartphone sales hit a record 110m.

The figures from Strategy Analytics also showed that 361m handsets were shipped, up 13% on the previous year.

Alibaba launches new mobile operating software

China's Alibaba has taken on established players such as Google and Apple in the mobile operating system market.

It has launched its own operating system, Alyun OS, in a bid to capture the fast-growing Chinese market.

The launch comes as sales of smartphones in China, the world's largest mobile handset market, are expected to grow rapidly.

Apple now holds more cash than US government

Apple is now more cash-rich than the United States government, figures from the US Treasury department show.

The figures, released by the US Treasury department this week, show the country currently has a total operating cash balance of $73.7bn (£44.85bn).

Siemens, Volkswagen and BASF see shares fall

Several German industrial giants have seen their share prices fall after reporting disappointing results.

Siemens, Europe's largest engineering conglomerate, reported a drop in third-quarter profits, sending shares down 0.8%.

Chemical firm BASF and carmaker Volkswagen also saw their stocks drop.