LONDON

A four-wheel-drive vehicle crashed into the main terminal at Glasgow airport on Saturday and exploded in flames, a day after police foiled a possible al Qaeda plot to detonate two car bombs in central London.

Shareholders in the London Stock Exchange are expected to support the bourse's decision to buy Milan-based Borsa Italiana, LSE Chief Executive Clara Furse said on Wednesday.

The London Stock Exchange is to buy its Italian counterpart for 1.6 billion euros ($2.15 billion), the two exchanges confirmed in a statement on Saturday, the latest step in a global consolidation of exchanges.

NYSE Euronext Inc. has entered the competition for the Borsa Italiana by submitting a preliminary bid to rival the London Stock Exchange Group's offer, according to the online edition of the Wall Street Journal.

London is the world's top center of commerce, according to a study by MasterCard rating leading cities by how they influence the global economy.

Manganese Bronze Holdings Plc today announced that it had signed Heads of Terms with Zhejiang Geely Holding Group CO. Ltd, the Chinese car manufacturer.

Great Portland Estates said it was in talks to buy London Merchant Securities, which would form the country's sixth biggest listed property company with a speciality in office property.

The Lloyd's of London insurance market unveiled plans to change its structure that would alter the way in which individual investors have put money into the market for over 300 years.

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.

Property group Minerva has dropped plans to build what would have been the City of London financial district's tallest office block, saying on Monday the project was too big for a company of its size.

Arsenal's pretax profit fell 18 percent to 15.89 million pounds in the year to end May, as lower property development sales offset gains from selling players and reaching the European cup final for the first time.

It was announced today by CLS Holdings Plc that an interim financing package for the London Bridge Tower had been completed.

There is little respite for hard pressed with profits policyholders, with Royal London announcing a cut to bonus rates.

Today it was announced that the British Government will be introducing legislation to ensure that the London Stock Exchange will continue to be governed by what Treasury Secretary Ed Balls described as a “light touch risk based regulatory regime.”

Warplane maker Irkut said it would list shares in London only after the formation of the United Aviation Company, a holding company planned by the Russian government

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT), Britain's competition watchdog, has been heavily criticised by an appeals tribunal for a ban it imposed on the London Metal Exchange extending trading hours.

Leading UK shares closed higher on Friday but finished the week with a moderate loss as the market's recent choppy trading pattern, sparked by inflation and interest rate jitters, persisted.

Britain's leading shares were barely weaker on Monday, propped up by gains in oil companies and miners such as BG Group as prices of crude oil and some metals traded near record levels, although most heavyweight sectors such as banks and pharmaceuticals eased.

The London Stock Exchange and Euronext have held secret talks about a all-shares merger of equals to create a European super exchange valued at about 6 billion pounds ($10.5 billion), the Observer newspaper said on Sunday.