Reforms demanded in return for a €110bn loan to prevent sovereign default are on track, offering the chance to make rapid economic progress – though hurdles remain to be cleared

Owner of Gourmet Burger Kitchen declines to comment on identity of suitor and cautions there is no certainty that a formal offer would be made

The US mobile phone retailer intends to open outlets in most of Target's discount stores, as it faces a drive by rivals Best Buy and Walmart into the rapidly expanding wireless business

David Cameron, the UK prime minister, narrowly escaped a full-blown diplomatic crisis when Pakistan reluctantly buried its outrage at his warning to stop "promoting terror" during a visit to arch-rival India.

In the third of a series of interviews with UK corporate leaders, Sir Kevin Smith, chief executive of GKN, tells Michael Kavanagh that the engineering group is back on the acquisition trail after the recession took its toll

Bitter experience suggests that when hired hands and entrepreneurial spirits are forced to work together, the magic can fade as quickly as a gambler's winning streak

The British prime minister is an engaging ambassador. But he should beware of falling into Tony Blair's trap – of believing that charm and energy are all you need on the world stage

It is difficult, despite internet advertisers' vociferous protests, to see what is wrong with everyone being asked to consent explicitly before data is harvested

The tangle in which Mifid has left Europe's securities markets reflect the broader lesson that market competition and sound regulation are not opposed but mutually dependent

The S&P; 500 is slightly closer to the 2009 low than the 2007 high, which leaves open the possibility that this is still a bear market rally, albeit a fairly long one

Base metals prices rise to near a three-month high, lifted by greater appetite for risk and tight supply of some ores

Tensions between the government and business have risen after it emerged many leading companies have been blocked from bringing in non-European staff

David Cameron has led the largest official delegation to India since its independence from Britain 63 years ago. By doing so, he has tested Britain's place in the world, and how far it has travelled since 1947

The world's biggest futures exchange says that banks will continue to trade OTC derivatives in much the same way as they did before the crisis in spite of US reforms

Digital Sky Technologies, the Russian internet group that has invested in Facebook, is selling up to 25% of its local unit in an initial public offering next year

Barry Callebaut chief warned prices could stay at current high levels for the foreseeable future because of continued demand pressure and scarce supply

US government agencies charged with reviewing sensitive acquisitions are engaged in a debate over how to handle Huawei, the Chinese software and telecoms equipment-maker viewed with deep scepticism by government security experts

People associated with Mr Cameron’s visit said it was suspected that she had been taken ill and was travelling

Rio Tinto may have had gone through some tough times in China, but the deals are back now – and there are champagne corks to prove it

Grupo Televisa, the world’s largest Spanish-speaking media company, is in the business of producing “telenovelas”, the quintessentially Latin soaps that in recent years have become a formidable export. But in the last few months, it found itself starring in a real-life one. The list of characters could hardly have been more...

Two-thirds of Pakistanis oppose the US-led war in Afghanistan and roughly six in 10 think the US is an enemy, according to a new survey

Objection heds to with the US courts over German alumina group's request to switch its support to a restructuring led by DIC

The builders' merchant returns to dividend payments after a two year hiatus, as it overcame a weather-blighted start of the year to beat market expectations for the first half of 2010

Pact allows the Chinese state-owned miner to buy in to a rich iron ore project in Guinea, in a move that places both mining companies at the centre of multi-billion-dollar scramble for west Africa’s iron ore

Advertising agencies report significant improvement in sales and profitability in the second quarter, with both Interpublic and Publicis raising forecasts and beating market expectations

The Taiwanese smartphone maker is emerging as one of the biggest beneficiaries from the growing popularity of smartphones, as it reveals a 58% jump in revenues in the second quarter

Venerable leftwing playwright Howard Brenton revisits the subject of religion, but shows he is concerned not with theology, but with churches as a political body against which individuals strive, writes Ian Shuttleworth

One of Verdi's mature masterpieces, this opera is not performed often as companies run in fear of its length, or its cost. So full marks to Opera Holland Park for giving it a go, says Richard Fairman

This ensemble piece begins with a form of dance-drama cultivated in the Thai court, where costume signals a character's status. But the movement tells you whether or not he is good, writes Apollinaire Scherr

The 74-year-old has been a man of many parts: from college sports star to Rhodes scholar to sentimental Hollywood old-timer. Tonight though, says Richard Clayton, there is no doubt he is playing from the heart

In this festival opener, the ad hoc orchestra encounters some rough patches; the energy level is high, the finesse level is not. Still, Martin Bernheimer has a mostly wonderful evening

The relationship between government bonds and swaps has dislocated this week for only the second time, largely as a result of the burst of bond issuance from banks

A long-awaited deal between Telefónica of Spain and Portugal Telecom opens the way for the final wave of consolidation of Brazil’s telecoms sector. It will also allow operators to put years of distractions behind them and get on with building their businesses. After months of increasingly acrimonious negotiations, all sides seem to have...

Everyone wants to clean up in emerging markets, but they all can’t come out smiling

Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian prime minister, says the West Bank’s economic boom is not sustainable and lasting growth could happen only once Israel lifts its restrictions on the occupied territory for good

Industrial companies have led the recovery after a crushing fall in earnings last year

Flight from eurozone risk to UK government bonds is moderating

As bikini-clad Muscovites fling themselves in city fountains to escape the scorching heat, it is too late for Russia’s drought-stricken farmers even to hope for relief. The dry heat wave that has gripped Russia since June has already destroyed more than one fifth of the country’s grain crops and parched pasture lands. SovEcon, the...

Rob Carnell, at ING, says that though state and local finances have been hit hard, it is a manageable problem and of limited scale compared to Federal debt

After speeding up from an annualised pace of 1.6 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2009 to 3 per cent in the first quarter of this year, consumer spending is expected to have risen by 2.4 per cent in the second quarter of 2010, validating concerns over cautious public spending

Afghanistan's president says named individuals could be targeted by insurgents for working with US forces

Joachim Fels just isn’t giving in.Here’s what Morgan Stanley’s central-bank watcher had to say on his recent theme of inflation on Thursday — never mind...

Never have so many emerging markets been as flush as they are today, so investors with a long-term horizon should add selectively to their exposure

From the FT’s beyondbrics blog Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, on Thursday raised its bet on the continued rapid growth of the global semiconductor industry to the tune of $1bn. The company, which commands half the global market for contract chips, on Thursday raised its capital expenditure plans for this year from $4.8bn [...]

A new contender in UK banking opens its doors – with one branch

Ed Miliband’s campaign has announced that it has raised nearly £40,000 in small donations from supporters. This will help feed his narrative as being the grassroots/Obama-esque candidate; given that by early July he had only received £15,000 in large donations. David Miliband, by contrast, has accepted about £185,000 in big donations (including two of £50,000 [...]

Central and eastern European equities performed strongly on Thursday, as more US companies beat earnings expectations and European business and consumer confidence reached two-year highs. Russian stocks led the gains, amid privatisation promises and a higher oil price, while Turkey’s ISE 100 index is now up nearly 25 per cent since...

Track the progress of the Greek debt crisis in this interactive timeline

Astra Zeneca upgrades earnings forecasts following strong US expert endorsement of its new drug Brilinta

It was hardly a surprise when Ukraine passed the bar for a $15.5bn IMF bailout. Desperate to plug a budget gap and stay financially afloat, Kiev caved in to unpopular but economically necessary austerity measures in recent weeks. While painful for average cash-strapped Ukrainians, a nod from the IMF should reopen the door to international debt...