IBT Staff Reporter

Japan's Softbank Corp. (9984.T) unveiled 13 new cell phone models on Thursday to compete with bigger rivals when a rule change in October lets mobile phone users keep their phone numbers if they switch carriers.

Most mobile phone users will still have to wait some time for Internet telephony company Skype's mobile service because of technical hurdles and a lack of suitable handsets, Skype's chief executive was quoted as saying in a Finnish newspaper on Thursday.

A Japanese-developed adult-themed computer game has incensed some of China's Internet surfers who deem it a bawdy slur on the classic novel, Dream of the Red Chamber.

Cleaning and maintenance company Mitie Group said on Thursday it had continued to perform in line with management expectations, with good levels of organic growth.

Radio firm GCap Media said on Thursday it expected first half like for like revenues, excluding its Capital Radio station, to fall around 4 percent against last year's proforma results.

Grainger Trust, the country's largest quoted residential property investor, said on Thursday it had received an approach that could lead to an offer for the company

Alliance Boots, created from the merger of chemist chain Boots and drugs wholesaler Alliance Unichem in July

Insurer Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Group said on Thursday it was selling its U.S. arm to Arrowpoint Capital

Advertising firm M&C Saatchi said on Thursday it expects full year profits to be significantly ahead of expectations despite first half pre tax profits being down 30 percent,

Financial regulators across the world need to work together to keep checks on the increasingly powerful $1.2 trillion (810 billion pound) hedge fund industry

Independent financial advisers (IFAs) could assume up to 25 billion pounds worth of the value of the UK life sector within the next decade or two

Japanese imports of U.S. beef totaled only 105 tonnes in August, the first full month of shipments since Tokyo reopened the market to meat from the United States, government data showed on Thursday.

General Motors Corp. Chief Executive Rick Wagoner said he was open to an alliance with Renault-Nissan and made clear that talks could be extended beyond a mid-October deadline set by the carmakers.

Internet media giant Yahoo Inc. said on Wednesday it had acquired Jumpcut, a site that provides simple to use online video editing tools

The FTSE opened higher on Thursday, supported by mining and oil stocks, as traders reacted positively to renewed U.S. confidence following a near record breaking high on Wall Street on Wednesday.

Accenture Ltd., one of the world's largest consulting firms, is poised to pull out of a major computer system project for the NHS as early as Thursday

House prices jumped in September, the Nationwide Building Society said on Thursday, evidence that August's interest rate rise had done little to cool the property market.

HMV Group, which sells music, DVDs and books, said on Thursday its total like for like sales were down 3.7 percent, once the benefit of its recent acquisition of Ottakar's was taken out.

Don't waste too much time mulling over those retirement rules of thumb that seem to pop up everywhere. They've never been very useful, but changes in the way people live and work make them even less so.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the largest lender in China Mainland, started a preparation for acquiring a small Indonesia bank......

Internet media giant Yahoo Inc. said on Wednesday it had acquired Jumpcut, a site that provides simple-to-use online video-editing tools......

Hong Kong tycoon with exploiting spirit Richard Li seems interested in doing some extraordinary matters.

Hong Kong shares yestoday rebounded to 17,500, backed by China Mobile after the day before's plunge of 237 pcts; Hang Seng Index yestoday jumped 213 pcts......

The international rating agency Moody's yestoday upgraded Hong Kong's long-term foreign currency rating from A1 to Aa3 - the level same with civil currency, with a positive outlook......

Nissan Motor Co, Renault SA and General Motors Corp agreed to continue their talks on a possible tripartite alliance until October 15 as initially planned, Nissan said.

Australia's Tap Oil Ltd has taken an 85 per cent stake in an oil exploration project in the Sulu Sea in the southern Philippines, local partners in the consortium said on Wednesday.

Newmont Mining Corp said its gold sales would drop this year and next but would recover in 2008 and 2009 when projects in the United States, Ghana and Australia reach full production.

Nearly half of all city workers believe they do not have the right balance between their work and personal lives, a survey reveals.

The Australian Trucking Association (ATA) has welcomed a Productivity Commission report which shows trucking companies may be paying too much to use the nation's roads.