Any lingering hopes that some parts of the world economy, particularly the fast-growing emerging markets such as China, would remain immune to the crisis were snuffed out

UK business investment tumbled by even more in the first quarter of this year than estimated initially, data from the Office for National Statistics showed yesterday, adding to the growing tome of weaker economic data.

The region's franchise industry appears to be flourishing despite the gloom in the economy that has engulfed a number of other sectors. According to the latest Natwest/British Franchise Association survey, turnover in the industry hit £12.4bn last year

Some doomsayers are drawing parallels between the U.S. credit crunch and the Japanese financial crisis of the 1990s. Julian Jessop, chief international economist of Capital Economics, an economic research consultancy based in Britain, is in the opposite c

Yesterday's ouster of VMware (NYSE: VMW) CEO and co-founder Diane Greene could mean the beginning of a closer relationship with parent company EMC (NYSE: EMC), according to observers.