New financial regulation is likely to prompt the biggest US banks to break themselves up, says Fed chairman.

There is no place for God in theories on the creation of the Universe, Professor Stephen Hawking concludes in a new book.

Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, yesterday told us what he thinks is the most important lesson to learn from the financial crisis. Drum roll. And the answer is?

Life is about to become a lot tougher for China's disparate property developers as the country moves to tighten up laws surrounding the way new building projects are financed.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Up to five JPMorgan proprietary metals traders in London left the company this week, including former Sempra trader Tim Jones, industry sources said on Thursday.div class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.reuters.com/~ff/Reuters/UKBusinessNews?a=tZMRLhWHjE0:ObKoqGt4vIk:yIl2AUoC8zA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Reuters/UKBusinessNews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.reuters.com/~ff/Reuters/UKBusinessNews?a=tZMRLhWHjE0:ObKoqGt4vIk:F7zBnMyn0Lo"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Reuters/UKBusinessNews?i=tZMRLhWHjE0:ObKoqGt4vIk:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.reuters.com/~ff/Reuters/UKBusinessNews?a=tZMRLhWHjE0:ObKoqGt4vIk:V_sGLiPBpWU"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Reuters/UKBusinessNews?i=tZMRLhWHjE0:ObKoqGt4vIk:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Reuters/UKBusinessNews/~4/tZMRLhWHjE0" height="1" width="1"/

The job cuts at the bank are turning into a "horror story", says union Unite, as the number of UK staff lost since its part-privatisation tops 20,000.

Feijoada, a stew of beans with beef and pork, has long been considered the national dish in Brazil.

The European Union last night took its first major step towards the creation of three super regulators that could eventually take direct responsibility for the oversight of individual member states' financial systems.

The pension liabilities of British companies has soared by 20pc over the past 12 months reaching a record £1.2trillion.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union finance ministers are unlikely to decide anytime soon to cut the number of European seats at the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund, a move sought by the United States, EU sources said.div class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.reuters.com/~ff/Reuters/UKBusinessNews?a=_rQMf0BEe-8:MZ9jt-8B6Xc:yIl2AUoC8zA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Reuters/UKBusinessNews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.reuters.com/~ff/Reuters/UKBusinessNews?a=_rQMf0BEe-8:MZ9jt-8B6Xc:F7zBnMyn0Lo"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Reuters/UKBusinessNews?i=_rQMf0BEe-8:MZ9jt-8B6Xc:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.reuters.com/~ff/Reuters/UKBusinessNews?a=_rQMf0BEe-8:MZ9jt-8B6Xc:V_sGLiPBpWU"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Reuters/UKBusinessNews?i=_rQMf0BEe-8:MZ9jt-8B6Xc:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Reuters/UKBusinessNews/~4/_rQMf0BEe-8" height="1" width="1"/

PotashCorp's hopes of securing a white knight to fend off a hostile $40bn (£26bn) bid from BHP Billiton has been delivered a blow, after Saskatchewan's premier said he would be "very circumspect" about a Chinese takeover of the company.

Hewlett-Packard has scored a victory in the multi-billion dollar bidding war for data storage company 3PAR, after Dell said it was pulling out of the race.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Burger King Holdings Inc agreed to sell itself to investment firm 3G Capital for $3.26 billion (2.11 billion pounds), giving the No. 2 U.S. fast-food chain breathing room to fix its business and close the gap with leader McDonald's Corp .div class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.reuters.com/~ff/Reuters/UKBusinessNews?a=koZhgKRujac:bqXPbiIcgRQ:yIl2AUoC8zA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Reuters/UKBusinessNews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.reuters.com/~ff/Reuters/UKBusinessNews?a=koZhgKRujac:bqXPbiIcgRQ:F7zBnMyn0Lo"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Reuters/UKBusinessNews?i=koZhgKRujac:bqXPbiIcgRQ:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.reuters.com/~ff/Reuters/UKBusinessNews?a=koZhgKRujac:bqXPbiIcgRQ:V_sGLiPBpWU"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Reuters/UKBusinessNews?i=koZhgKRujac:bqXPbiIcgRQ:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Reuters/UKBusinessNews/~4/koZhgKRujac" height="1" width="1"/

Executives at Travelzest are set for a £2.6m bonus if they can secure a takeover of the holiday company at 18.5p a share - 33pc lower than yesterday's closing share price.

American companies are finding it harder to squeeze more work out of their staff because the downturn has already forced them to trim employee numbers.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pending sales of previously owned U.S. homes rebounded unexpectedly in July and new claims for jobless benefits fell last week, helping quell fears the economy could face a double-dip recession.div class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.reuters.com/~ff/Reuters/UKBusinessNews?a=MmCLPKAmu9w:vKaim1xAiwo:yIl2AUoC8zA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Reuters/UKBusinessNews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.reuters.com/~ff/Reuters/UKBusinessNews?a=MmCLPKAmu9w:vKaim1xAiwo:F7zBnMyn0Lo"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Reuters/UKBusinessNews?i=MmCLPKAmu9w:vKaim1xAiwo:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.reuters.com/~ff/Reuters/UKBusinessNews?a=MmCLPKAmu9w:vKaim1xAiwo:V_sGLiPBpWU"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Reuters/UKBusinessNews?i=MmCLPKAmu9w:vKaim1xAiwo:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Reuters/UKBusinessNews/~4/MmCLPKAmu9w" height="1" width="1"/

John Browett, the chief executive of electricals retailer DSG, poured cold water on the likelihood of a double-dip recession but warned that consumer demand remains subdued.

Maplin Electronics, the high-street electrical goods retailer, could be about to change hands for an estimated £400m.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard Co won the bidding war to buy data storage company 3PAR Inc for $2.4 billion (1.55 billion pounds), as rival Dell Inc bowed out on Thursday.div class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.reuters.com/~ff/Reuters/UKBusinessNews?a=O6C8SxosnnI:72MvihyudV4:yIl2AUoC8zA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Reuters/UKBusinessNews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.reuters.com/~ff/Reuters/UKBusinessNews?a=O6C8SxosnnI:72MvihyudV4:F7zBnMyn0Lo"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Reuters/UKBusinessNews?i=O6C8SxosnnI:72MvihyudV4:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.reuters.com/~ff/Reuters/UKBusinessNews?a=O6C8SxosnnI:72MvihyudV4:V_sGLiPBpWU"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Reuters/UKBusinessNews?i=O6C8SxosnnI:72MvihyudV4:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Reuters/UKBusinessNews/~4/O6C8SxosnnI" height="1" width="1"/

Rockhopper has awarded almost £1m in early bonuses to four executives after finding oil in the Falkland Islands - before key tests on the flow have been completed.