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.

Toyota to double production in India

Toyota, the world's biggest carmaker, has said it plans to nearly double its production capacity in India by 2013.

The Japanese firm said it would invest a further 17.2bn yen ($220m; £135m) and hire new employees "to meet the rapid growth of India's automobile market".

Morgan Stanley has seen its second quarter revenues rise by 17%, beating market expectations.

Morgan Stanley has seen its second quarter revenues rise by 17%, beating market expectations.

The US bank's net revenues totalled $9.3bn (£5.7bn) in the three months to 30 June, up from $8bn a year earlier.

Morgan made a net loss of $558m, or 38 cents per share, during the quarter. However, the loss was caused by a one-off $1.7bn charge, without which Morgan would have made a profit of 64 cents.

The charge was caused by an investor converting its Morgan shares.

McDonald's profits rise 15% on higher global sales

Fast food giant McDonald's has seen its quarterly profits soar 15% on higher sales across all its global regions.

Its net profit for the three months to 30 June totalled $1.41bn (£866m), compared with $1.23bn a year earlier.

Revenue growth was led by Europe, where McDonald's same-store sales increased by 5.9%. They rose by 4.5% in US, and by 5.2% for the rest of the world.

The US technology giant Microsoft said its annual revenues hit a record of $69.94bn (£43.4bn).

The US technology giant Microsoft said its annual revenues hit a record of $69.94bn (£43.4bn).

Sales of the company's Xbox 360 videogame console and its Office software helped fuel the growth.

Net income at the world's biggest software maker jumped 23% to 23.15bn for the year.

Fake Apple stores found in Kunming city, China

An American blogger has discovered three fake Apple stores operating in Kunming city, China.

Pictures of the stores, their staff and a description of a stroll around them was posted on the BirdAbroad blog.

In the article, she writes about conversations with staff, many of whom were convinced that they were employed by the US electronics firm.

Nokia suffers heavy loss as sales slip

Mobile phone giant Nokia has plunged into the red as sales fell and margins were squeezed in the second quarter.

The firm made a net loss of 368m euros ($521m; £323m) in the three months to the end of June, compared with a profit of 227m euros a year earlier. Net sales fell by 7% to 9.3bn euros.

It had warned that its second quarter results would be disappointing.

Marks & Spencer gains share in tough clothes market

Marks and Spencer has reported sales growth and a bigger market share despite the stagnant UK clothes market.

Like-for-like UK sales excluding VAT in the 13 weeks to 2 July rose 1.7% versus a year ago, in line with expectations.

The growth was entirely driven by food sales. Non-food like-for-like sales saw zero growth - an improvement on the 3.9% fall in the previous quarter.

Entrance into HDTV market seen boosting Apple's market cap by $100B

Categorizing Apple's rumored entrance into the high-definition television market as an "eventual" next step, a new analysis concludes that such a move could increase the company's market capitalization by $100 billion, or $100 per share in incremental value.

Analyst Maynard Um with UBS Investment Research does not believe it is a foregone conclusion that Apple will enter the television market by manufacturing its own HDTV. But he does believe the "logic is sound" for Apple to enter the market with a new product differentiated enough to stand out from the competition.

Beko fridge-freezer fires began four years ago

Some faulty Beko fridge-freezers began catching fire as long ago as 2007, the BBC has learned.

Nevertheless most consumers were only warned this week that some of their appliances were potentially lethal.

The Fire Brigade said 15 people had been injured, and one person had died, as a result of fires in London alone.

Secret agents raid Apple store webcam 'artist'

The US Secret Service has raided the home of an artist who collected images from webcams in a New York Apple store.

Kyle McDonald is said to have installed software that photographed people looking at laptops then uploaded the pictures to a website.

Mr McDonald said he had obtained permission from a security guard to take photos inside the store.

JP Morgan agrees further fraud settlement

JP Morgan Chase is to pay $228m (£143m) to settle claims it rigged auctions, its second fraud payout in a month.

The deal was reached with regulators, tax authorities and 25 US states, who accused it of fixing bids for state and municipal contracts on 93 occasions.

Facebook adds Skype video chat feature

Facebook has announced a partnership with Skype to add video chat to the social networking site.

The move is likely to be seen as a shot across the bow of Google, which recently launched a Facebook rival, Google+, also featuring video calling.

This is not the first time Facebook and Skype have teamed up - they already share some instant messaging tools.

It’s None of Our Business Whether China Wants to Buy Shares of Facebook

Last week, the story “leaked out” that a China sovereign wealth fund had expressed interest in purchasing a significant stake in Facebook. Lots of chatter then ensued about whether it was true, what it meant, and what “we” should do about it. (No, I don’t really know who “we” are.)

Allow me to be blunt on this issue: from a legal/investment perspective, I don’t give a shit if China wants to buy part of Facebook. Their motives for doing so are irrelevant as long as no laws are broken, and all the chatter about whether such a deal is a good idea is a negative influence on inward foreign investment in the U.S., and possibly corresponding deals in China by U.S. firms.

China state fund eyes Facebook stake

A state-owned fund in China is reportedly interested in buying a stake in social network Facebook, said a media report. A source told US business magazine Business Insider that China's sovereign wealth fund - the China Investment Corp - is hoping it could buy a stake in Facebook, large
enough "to matter", the Shanghai Daily reported.

Financial firm Citibank is reportedly trying to acquire as much as $1.2 billion worth of Facebook stock on behalf of two sovereign wealth funds - one from China and another from the Middle East, the daily said.

Apple consortium beats Google to Nortel patents

A group of technology companies including Apple, Microsoft and Research in Motion have paid $4.5bn in cash for a collection of strategically vital patents from Nortel in a blow to Google and its fast-growing Android operating system.

Google had opened the bidding for the remaining portfolio of the bankrupt Canadian telecoms equipment maker in April, with an offer of $900m for the more than 6,000 patents which cover wireless, 4G, data networking, internet and semiconductor technologies.