ECONOMY

India's annual budget proposed a 17 percent hike in its defense expenditure.

Britain's slow and steady economic growth helps it in avoiding recession, followed by upbeat data and last week's Greek debt restructuring. The Bank of England holds its asset purchase programme at £325 billion, as economists predicted 0.2 per cent growth in the current quarter.

The Berkeley Group Holdings, known for its savvy London land purchases, is confident of its ability to meet its targets, buoyed by a pipeline of forward sales that grew 15.2 percent in the six months to October 31, 2011. The group is scheduled to release its interim management statement on March 19, 2012.

Trinity Mirror warns of cuts to pension funding obligation to ease pain of profits fall to £74m.

Richard Brasher reportedly wants to take responsibility for poor sales leading to weaker revenues for the retail giant.

Supermarket giant changes staff retirement rules to plug £275m hole in pension scheme funds.

Jobless numbers increase by 28,000 to 17-year high of 2.67 million.

Government to guarantee 95% of mortage to give people leg up property ladder.

British industrial output posted an unexpected fall in January after a sharp decline in oil and gas production and weaker-than-expected factory output, indicating that Britain's economic recovery could be in peril.

Taylor Wimpey, the homebuilding company, says that it is too early to judge the market for the year as a whole, but the early weeks of trading in 2012 have followed the encouraging patterns of the second half of 2011, with good visitor levels, healthy reservations and low cancellations.

The increase in cost is mainly on account of the need for doubling the number of security men for the Games.

The Scotland government has said the country will become the first to source 100 per cent energy from renewable sources by 2020.

Bank industry initiatives successfully locking out fraudsters from customer accounts.

Andrew Gowers appointed as head of lobby group for bankers in Europe

The new employees will work on fresh produce, meat and bakery counters in stores.

The Australian services sector saw a deep slide in February, with the Performance of Services Index (PSI) retreating by 5.2 points to 46.7 in the month, clearly indicating an alarming contraction level that was last seen more than two years ago.

Lloyd's Banking Group (LBG) and the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), UK's leading part-nationalised banks, are reportedly planning to approach the European Central Bank (ECB) for a special three-year funding scheme.

The profit was driven by considerable increases in e-book sales at Penguin and the Financial Times Group, both of which are owned by Pearson.

The builder of traditional homes reported that its annual pre-tax profits rose 74% for the financial year ended 31 December 2011, as it sold more homes at a wider margins and focuses on increasing profits combined with further improvements in the use of capital. The Group also expects to deliver a strongly increasing return on capital employed in 2012 and beyond.

According to a press release by the Press Association (PA), ongoing research into the "energy bill revolution" has revealed that a staggering 6.4 million homes are facing fuel poverty in the UK.

Ahead of full-year earnings, JP Morgan has assigned "Overweight" rating to the operator of Persimmon Homes, Charles Church, Westbury Partnerships and Space4 as the Group expects to perform in a challenging environment due to the overall economic situation, while the UK housing market remains stable.

Amidst the worries of euro zone debt crisis, investors and fund managers began 2012 in a cautious mood by cutting equity exposures to lowest levels since October.

Bovis Homes Group, the builder of traditional homes in England and Wales is scheduled to report its preliminary 2011 results on Monday, February 27 amid reports that Citigroup has assigned "Buy" rating on the stock, while Panmure Gordon recommends "Hold" rating with a target price of 450 pence per share.

Hammerson, the real estate investment trust is scheduled to release its full year 2011 results next week amid reports that Jefferies has assigned 'Buy' rating on the stock with a target price of 447 pence per share.

Losses double year-on-year for Royal Bank of Scotland after hits over pension mis-selling and Greek debt write-offs.

UK markets brush off latest multibillion eurozone deal to save crisis-hit Greece.

According to a survey of more than 1,000 business leaders, carried out by The Institute of Directors (IoD), a majority of them believe there is only a moderate risk of recession in 2012.

Finance ministers finally thrash out agreement to shore up Greece and bolster shaken currency market.

Major record labels sued the website for breaching copyright laws.