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/ 12 May 2008

Swiss bank to cut 5 500 jobs

UBS, the Swiss bank that has been Europe’s biggest casualty of the credit crunch, is to axe 5 500 jobs. Of those 2 600 face compulsory redundancy, mainly in its stricken investment banking arms in London and New York, as it struggles to regain its reputation and investor confidence.

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/ 25 September 2007

Microsoft’s failed appeal start of a trend?

The European Commission got the green light from Europe’s second-highest court last week to pursue even more high-profile antitrust actions against dominant global companies. The court upheld the commission’s decision that the software group had also abused its dominance by illegally "bundling" its Media Player software into Windows.

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/ 23 July 2007

Germans in charge

Last week France and Germany abandoned the dual-nationality management structure at Eads, the owner of Airbus, in an attempt to turn the struggling aerospace and defence group into a "normal" global company. The move will bring an end to the strife that has crippled the group for the past two years.

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/ 19 March 2007

EU pact gets green light

Europe became the world leader in tackling climate change recently, when 27 governments agreed to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20% and commit the European Union to generating a fifth of its energy from renewable sources within 13 years. Greenpeace has hailed it as the biggest decision taken to fight global warming since the Kyoto protocol 10 years ago.

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/ 27 February 2007

Daimler might ditch Chrysler

When Germany’s Daimler Benz merged with the third of the United States’s big-three car makers, Chrysler, in 1998, the deal was designed to create an automotive powerhouse, capable of matching the international reach of General Motors and Ford and confronting the emerging challenge from Japan.

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/ 12 January 2007

EU warns of global climate chaos

The European Commission this week stepped up the European Union’s campaign to lead the fight against climate change by warning that global warming was so catastrophic that it could trigger regional conflicts, poverty, famine and migration. Setting out a strategy to combat global warming and improve Europe’s energy security at the same time, it said the secondary effects of climate change would inevitably affect even a less vulnerable Europe.

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/ 6 February 2006

Sparks fly as Arcelor attacks Mittal bid

Arcelor, the European steelmaker, recently launched its defence against Mittal Steel’s hostile â,¬18,6-billion takeover bid with a savage attack on its predator’s track record. It claims Mittal had destroyed shareholder value and jobs and has a shoddy record on corporate governance and safety.