The people of Greece are now having to pay the price of past official financial mismanagement, as the government takes drastic steps to try to avert a euro debt default. Paul Mason went to Athens to report on the human cost of political hubris.
Broadcast on Wednesday 28 September 2011.
The company behind the Superdry brand said the problems had seen a "reduction both in the amount of stock and range of sizes reaching its UK stores".
The firm said the problems centred on an upgrade to its Gloucester warehouse.
Supergroup's shares ended the day 30% lower at ￡7.07.
In a management statement, the firm said it estimated "the total cost of this isolated event, including the additional temporary warehousing capability and resulting lost sales will impact the current year's profitability by between ￡6m and ￡9m".
Supergroup, which is based in Cheltenham, also said its stock levels would increase by ￡2m.
Analysts believe the problem will add to a range of difficult factors facing the firm, including the tough consumer climate, a weak August and the unseasonably warm September weather discouraging the purchase of autumn clothes.
In July, Supergroup said that profits for the year to May had jumped by 110% to ￡47.3m.
Supergroup floated its shares on the London Stock Exchange in March 2010, at a price of ￡5 per share.
Stocks in France and Germany have fallen in value by more than 25% since the end of June.
Shares in London's FTSE are down 13.7%, the worst quarterly performance since 2002.
Friday's falls follow an unexpectedly sharp rise in the eurozone inflation rate for September to 3%.
Investors had hoped the European Central Bank would move to lower interest rates in the eurozone, after raising them in July to 1.5% to limit inflation.
However, the latest inflation figures may make such a move less likely.
Wall Street's main Dow Jones index ended Friday trading down 2.2% to record its worst quarterly performance since 2008.
Eurozone worriesBut Friday's falls were just the latest bout of volatility in European markets, which have failed to regain ground since crashing towards the end of July.
Continue reading the main story
Jamie Robertson Presenter, BBC World News Following all the violent swings in equity markets since the sharp falls at the beginning of August, the main markets have not really moved outside fairly narrow ranges: the FTSE between 5,000 and 5,400 and the Dow between 10,800 and 11,600.
The Nikkei, the Dax and the Cac 40 have been gradually trending downwards by about 6-10% over the past two months. This is almost entirely due to uncertainty over the debt crisis and the fate of the eurozone.
However, even if there is no further bad news on that front, things are likely to get very active for individual companies.
Many of them, particularly ones that move in tandem with the economic cycle such as those in mining, retail, the auto sector and manufacturing, are trading on values that imply double digit growth.
October's results season could upset a lot of earnings forecasts, as markets come to terms with the prospect of near-zero growth in Europe and the US, and companies undergoing what are politely called price adjustments.
Economists say worries over the ability of eurozone countries to pay their debts are sparking concerns of a new banking and credit crisis."The euro area debt crisis has potential ramifications to euro area banking sectors in particular," said Grant Lewis, head of research at Daiwa capital markets.
"You've got concerns that a Greek default going wider into something more serious in terms of an Italian default, for example, that would leave banking sectors under-capitalised as well as having a calamitous effect on the economic outlook."
Shares in Germany's Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank both lost more than 30% in value since the end of June.
Stocks in French banks fared even worse. Societe Generale saw its stock fall more than 50%, while BNP Paribas saw its share price fall more than 40%.
The share falls have therefore been most pronounced in eurozone countries, with the FTSE falling less than benchmark German and French exchanges.
Brent crude was also set for the biggest quarterly fall since the financial crisis of 2008.
Oil for delivery in one month's time fell just over 8% to $103 a barrel in London as investors worried about a slowdown in the global economy.
Worries ahead Global markets have been hit by a 'toxic cocktail' of factors, says one economistDespite the record quarterly falls, markets remain up on the levels they reached after the 2008 financial crisis.
"There are certainly widespread indications of pretty serious financial stress, but they are not by and large as dramatic as they were in 2007 and 2008," George Magnus, European economist at UBS, told the BBC.
"Then, the whole edifice of the Western banking system was about to implode. At that point, I think it was far more dramatic than it is now."
But investors and economists fear the situation may deteriorate further.
Markets are likely to look to forthcoming company results and quarterly economic data for their next move.
In the longer term, economists say they are seeking reassurance from politicians.
"I think markets are expecting something of substance to be revealed by the G20 [group of leading nations] in November and if it isn't, we could be in a lot of trouble," Mr Magnus added.
Foreign domestic helpers are required to leave the country within two weeks if dismissed by employers Hong Kong's High Court has ruled that a domestic helper from the Philippines should be allowed to apply for permanent residency in the city. The case was brought by Evangeline Banao Vallejos, who has lived in Hong Kong since 1986.
The ruling follows a landmark judicial review and could lead to more than 100,000 other foreign maids winning rights to residency.
The case has sparked widespread debate on equal treatment for foreign maids.
Mark Daly, the lawyer acting on behalf of Ms Vallejos, said that she was very pleased by the ruling, which meant that all domestic helpers now were able to apply for permanent residency.
"When we told her she said 'thank God'," he said, adding that it was a normal working day for her.
"It's a good day for the rule of law," he added.
Mr Daly pointed out that the government had 28 days to appeal.
A spokesman said the government was analysing the judgement and would issue a formal response later in the day.
Public resources
Some critics have said granting residency to domestic helpers would strain the provision of health care, education and public housing.
Continue reading the main storyWe hope it will pave the way for Hong Kong to open its doors to equal treatment for migrant workers”End Quote Norman Carnay Mission for Migrant Workers While other non-Chinese nationals can obtain residency after working in Hong Kong for seven years, immigration rules exclude domestic helpers from seeking permanent residency.
Human rights lawyers and many domestic helpers argue that this is discriminatory.
Permanent residency means that a person can remain in Hong Kong indefinitely, vote and stand in elections.
But some politicians and commentators warned that allowing foreign domestic helpers to have permanent residency would allow them to bring their children and other relatives to the city, who would require education and housing.
Equal treatment
Norman Carnay, programme officer at the Mission for Migrant Workers said that he welcomed the decision.
"We hope it will pave the way for Hong Kong to open its doors to equal treatment for migrant workers," he said.
But he added that right of abode was not necessarily a priority for many domestic helpers.
"From surveys of our community, the more pressing concerns are wages and working conditions," he said.
There are more than 300,000 foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong, mainly from Indonesia and the Philippines. It is thought that around 120,000 have lived here for more than seven years.
They are required to live with their employers and cannot accept other jobs.
Without the right to permanent residency, if a maid is dismissed by her employer, she must find another job as a domestic helper or leave Hong Kong within two weeks.
Hong Kong's domestic workers have a guaranteed minimum wage of 3,740 Hong Kong dollars ($480; ￡308) a month and day off each week, meaning their working conditions are better than other countries in Asia with large numbers of domestic helpers, such as Singapore.
This is higher than the 1% growth it reported in its second estimate, but the same as its first calculation for the three month period.
Consumer spending and exports were both stronger than previously estimated.
Last week, the Federal Reserve unveiled a new plan to try to help the economy.
Under a scheme dubbed Operation Twist, the US central bank is selling about $400bn (￡260bn) worth of bonds maturing within three years and buying longer-term debt.
The sluggish growth in the US economy has not been sufficient to reduce high levels of unemployment, with the jobless rate in August at 9.1%.
For the first six months of 2011 the US economy expanded by 0.9%, the lowest rate of growth in more than two years.
Joe Manimbo, analyst at Travelex Global Payments in Washington, welcomed the latest economic growth figures.
"The final print of second-quarter GDP came out a little bit faster than expected and that suggests the US economy entered the third quarter on a slightly better footing," he said.
Most economists expect the economy to improve in the third quarter, with predictions that it will grow at an annualised pace of about 2%.
With fears about a slowdown in China also hitting sentiment, US light crude had fallen $2.40 a barrel to $84.05.
Brent crude was also lower, dropping $1.66 to $110.67 per barrel.
The falls come after data on Friday showed that the US economy added no new jobs in August, a much worse reading than had been expected.
Analysts had predicted that the non-farm payrolls figures from the Department of Labor would show about 70,000 new jobs had been created.
The unemployment rate remained unchanged in August at 9.1%.
In Europe, the main share indexes were down sharply as concerns continue about the high debt levels of eurozone countries, and how these could impact on the wider economy.
Germany's Dax index and France's Cac were both 2.6% lower in morning trading.
Meanwhile, a report in China said that the country's service sector grew in August at its slowest pace since records began.
"Oil is falling on worries over weak demand, unemployment and talk of a double dip recession," said Eugen Weinberg, head of commodities research at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.
He added that oil prices would be falling further were it not for growing optimism that the US central bank, the Federal Reserve, will announce new measures later this month to try to stimulate the US economy.
Mr Borg said Sweden's experience of a financial transaction tax was "very bad" A European financial transaction tax is unlikely to raise the sums of money projected as it would encourage firms to move overseas, Sweden's finance minister has told the BBC.Anders Borg said Sweden abandoned its own transaction tax after most trading companies left the country.
The tax "had a very detrimental impact on our financial markets", he said.
If the European Union introduces the tax, firms could simply move to New York or Asia, Mr Borg said.
'Very bad tax'Sweden introduced a transaction tax on financial firms in the 1980s.
"Between 90%-99% of traders in bonds, equities and derivatives moved out of Stockholm to London," Mr Borg said.
Continue reading the main storyWe are basically taxing growth away from Europe, and that is not a very good idea”End Quote Anders Borg Swedish Finance Minister "The impact was basically that we did not get any tax revenue. It brought in very little tax money while moving most of the businesses outside of Sweden.
"We abandoned [the tax] because it was a very, very bad functioning tax."
The fact that the US has said it has no intention of introducing a similar tax, meant that firms would be free to move to other financial centres, Mr Borg said.
"So we are basically taxing growth away from Europe, and that is not a very good idea.
"I hope [policymakers] realise they might be losing out themselves. This is not a stable tax base."
Mr Borg said he was in favour of making the banking system pay, and making it more robust, but that any measures designed to bring this about should not push firms out of Europe.
Hard hitThe UK has also been vocal in its opposition to the tax proposed by the European Commission earlier this week.
A spokesperson for the UK Treasury said it would "absolutely resist" any tax that was not introduced globally.
London would be hardest hit by the tax as the majority of banking transactions in Europe come through the city.
However, a number of other European countries are in favour of the tax, including France, Austria, Belgium, Norway and Spain.
The commission has said it will look at implementing the tax just in the 17 member states of the eurozone if other EU members oppose it.
Under the proposals, the financial tax would be levied at a rate of 0.1% on all transactions between institutions when at least one party is based in the EU. Derivative contracts would be taxed at a rate of 0.01%.
The tax would raise about 57bn euros ($78bn; ￡50bn) a year and would come into effect at the start of 2014, the commission said.
Mr Osborne has found ￡805m to freeze council tax in England in 2012-13 - saving people ￡72 a year.
But he stressed that money is still tight and there will be no deviation from his deficit reduction plan.
He said solving the eurozone crisis remains the most important factor in kick starting growth in the UK.
The chancellor has been under pressure from Labour to cut VAT to inject money into the economy - and from senior figures in his own party to scrap the 50p top rate of income tax.
'Debt crisis'But in a sober speech to party activists, the chancellor said it would be wrong to borrow money to fund temporary tax cuts or increase public spending.
He did, however, announce that the Treasury would engage in "credit easing" - a move aimed at cutting the cost of borrowing for hard-pressed businesses, as well as improving access to loans.
The BBC's business editor Robert Peston said the move, which would involve the public sector buying bonds issues by companies, was "potentially very significant" but full details would not be revealed until the chancellor's autumn statement in November.
In his speech, Mr Osborne said he had "thought hard" about what more can be done to boost growth and explored "every single option" - but "borrowing too much is the cause of Britain's problems, not the solution".
Continue reading the main story
Nick Robinson BBC Political Editor The most significant announcement in the chancellor's speech is also the one fewest will understand.
It is his pledge that the Treasury will engage in "credit easing" - ie some as yet unspecified way to underwrite loans to small businesses who are struggling to get credit now.
The speech that they are quoting at the top of government is by Adam Posen (a member of the Bank of England's interest rate-setting committee).
Although I'm told that his proposal for a new bank may take too long to implement.
"We would be risking our nation's credit rating for a few billion pounds more, when that amount is dwarfed by the scale and power of the daily flows of money in the international bond markets, swirling around ready to pick off the next country."We will not take that risk. We are in a debt crisis, it is not like a normal recovery. You can't borrow your way out of debt."
And he added: "I'm a believer in tax cuts - permanent tax cuts paid for by sound public finances.
"Right now, temporary tax cuts or more spending are two sides of exactly the same coin, a coin that has to be borrowed - more debt that has to be paid off."
Mr Osborne said Britain's economic troubles were caused by the "catastrophic mistakes" of the previous Labour administration, as well as banks which "let down their customers, let down their shareholders and let down this country".
'Underspend'He said the government is helping businesses by keeping interest rates low - "the most powerful stimulus that exists" - but borrowing billions of pounds more would put that at risk.
Mr Osborne's speech comes as the Institute of Directors called for a fresh effort to boost economic growth in the UK.
The chancellor announced increased investment in scientific research and the extension of mobile phone coverage to six million people - as well as extra cash from a Whitehall "underspend" to fund a council tax freeze.
The government cannot force councils to freeze bills but it is offering to give those that limit spending rises to 2.5% the money they need.Money would also be offered to the Scottish and Welsh administrations, which will choose how it is spent.
Speaking earlier to BBC News, Mr Osborne said a solution to the eurozone debt crisis must be found by the time the Group of 20 nations meet next month and failure to do so would be "terrible not just for Britain, not just for Europe, but for the entire world economy".
The chancellor, who is travelling to Luxembourg for a meeting with European finance ministers, told BBC News that the 17 eurozone nations meeting in Luxembourg on Monday must decisively figure out how to handle Greece's debts, and urged them to extend the size of their bailout fund.
Credit ratingThe chancellor's speech comes as Standard and Poor's said it would hold the UK's credit rating at the highest possible level in light of its "wealthy and diversified economy" and said the outlook remained "stable".
But the agency, which released the announcement just as Mr Osborne took to the stage in Manchester, said the government's efforts to correct the UK's public finances would "weigh on the economy".
For Labour, shadow Treasury minister Chris Leslie said it was "staggering" the speech did not give more attention to the "growth problem".
He said: "His speech really seemed incredibly complacent and quite frankly out of touch, out of touch with the realities of some of the costs that ordinary people face, the difficulties that businesses are facing and no plan for growth."
But Andrew Tyrie, the senior Conservative backbencher who said at the weekend that the government was not doing enough to promote economic growth, told the BBC: "I think it's a huge step forward, and will be widely welcomed not only in the party, but by all those people in the country who also need a growth strategy to help them move forward."
The increase takes account of the current economic uncertainty The minimum wage has gone up, with the main rate for adults aged 21 or over rising by 15p to ￡6.08 an hour.The development rate - for those aged 18 to 20 - goes up by 6p to ￡4.98 an hour, for 16 and 17-year-olds it rises by 4p to ￡3.68 an hour and the hourly apprentice rate rises by 10p to ￡2.60.
The TUC welcomed the rise but Unison said the rates were still too low.
The minimum wage was introduced in 1999 at ￡3.60 an hour for adults, and is set each year by the Low Pay Commission.
The commission recommended this year's increase in a report to the government in April.It said the increases would balance the needs of low-paid workers and their employers facing difficulties during a period of economic uncertainty.
As levels of youth unemployment are relatively high, it recommended a lower increase for young workers than for their older counterparts, to try to encourage employers to keep them on.
The TUC it estimated the increases would benefit nearly 900,000, mainly female, workers.
The general secretary of the public sector union, Unison, said ￡8 an hour was needed to provide a living wage.
"The rise to ￡6.08 is a welcome cushion, but with the price of everyday essentials such as food, gas and electricity going up massively, it won't lift enough working people out of the poverty trap," Dave Prentis said.
As a result, he called on employers to pay more than the absolute minimum.
President Sata has begun a mass shake-out of political appointees inherited from his predecessor Newly-elected Zambian President Michael Sata has cancelled the controversial sale of one of the country's banks.The $5.4bn sale of Finance Bank to FirstRand of South Africa was agreed under his predecessor, Rupiah Banda.
The bank had been seized from its shareholders in 2010 by Zambia's central bank, who alleged illegal and unsound practices.
Mr Sata, whose election ended the 20-year rule of the previous regime, has vowed to shake-up the political system.
After only a week in power, the president has already sacked the head of the central bank, as well as a string of other appointees of the previous government, including the head of the anti-corruption authority.
The original decision of the central bank to strip the bank's shareholders has also been overturned.
"There's no document of sale for Finance Bank and I am directing the ministry of finance to take the bank back to its owners immediately," said Mr Sata.
The bank's chairman, Rajan Mahtani, said he was grateful: "I am happy that Zambian investment has been restored to Zambian investors. It was all politically motivated."
FirstRand, a major South African bank, said it had received no formal notification of the decision and would continue to liaise with the Zambian central bank.
Qatar now has 11 years to prepare for the 2022 World Cup To say the football world was shocked when Qatar was given the right to host the 2022 football World Cup would be an understatement.Critics, and many still remain, wondered how such a massive event could be held in a country with a total population less than Greater Manchester's, and where the summer temperature can reach 50C.
However, the man at the helm of organising the tournament insists criticism is misplaced and that the Middle Eastern Emirate will be able to stage a memorable tournament 11 years from now.
Hassan al-Thawadi, the secretary-general of the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee, is looking to provide a World Cup memorable for all the right reasons.
Mr al-Thawadi said that two billion people were within a four-hour flight of Qatar, and that the World Cup would "build bridges of understanding between the Middle East and rest of the world".
And some bridges need to be built.
He said that since Fifa had awarded it the tournament, the emirate had faced an "avalanche of accusations and allegations" relating to claims it had bribed its way to securing the World Cup.
Mr al-Thawadi said Qatar had in fact conducted its bid campaign "to the highest ethical and moral standards".
'Promises'Now he wants to focus on leaving a "bold legacy" from hosting a World Cup which some analysts estimate could cost as much as ￡138bn to bring about.
Qatar hopes to leave a legacy in the areas of football development, air-cooling technology, building modular stadiums (which can be downsized after the event), and fan experience.
New stadiums will be built and existing ones will have their capacity extended "We can deliver... and fulfil the promises we made to the world," Mr al-Thawadi told delegates at the Leaders in Football conference in London.
He said Qatar has been drawing inspiration about how to host a successful event from a number of sources, including London 2012.
The small nation, population 1.7 million, is now looking to appoint a project management company by the end of the year - "a crucial appointment which we must get right".
It is also looking to draw up a "master schedule" for stadiums and infrastructure, in order to resolve any potential pitfalls on the road to 2022 as soon as possible.
There will be 12 stadiums in use at the World Cup, and it is hoped the first new one with air-cooling technology with will be in place by 2015.
CoolingIn addition, Mr al-Thawadi said the 2022 World Cup would benefit from a "state-of-the-art transport infrastructure" which needed to be largely constructed from scratch.
The official said that the small size of the emirate meant fans would be able to stay in the same hotel for the duration of the tournament, and also to travel easily and take in two games in one day at different venues.One on the thorny question of temperature, the country says it is also developing air-cooling techniques.
"Technology is already being trialled in open spaces in Qatar," says Mr Al al-Thawadi.
There has been talk of moving the World Cup to the winter, but this notion has been scotched my many, including the German football federation.
"We submitted a bid that looks towards hosting a summer World Cup - we are moving towards that," says the 2022 supremo.
He said it was up to the global football community to come to any unanimous decision if that situation was ever to be changed.
Meanwhile, nine of the stadiums being used will be modular, and Qatar will donate 170,000 seats to developing countries after the World Cup, when stadiums are slimmed down.
That he said, meant the country would not be lumbered with any large "white elephant" rarely full stadiums after 2022.
AlcoholFor potential visiting fans, Mr al-Thawadi wanted to quell fears that there would be nothing for them to do after matches.
Continue reading the main storyWe are confident and excited that this will leave a legacy of understanding, and that people can unite through a shared love of football”End Quote Hassan al-Thawadi Qatar 2022 "There is significant investment in tourism in Qatar, museums and entertainment sites, and a service industry dedicated towards fans," he says.
"We have always said alcohol would be available. It might not be as available as it is in London, but any fan that wants to enjoy a drink can do so."
He said the Qatar public would also be prepared for the influx of fans and, for example, their different dress sense.
In addition, he said Qatar was host to many different communities, including English people, and was "used to being hospitable".
He added: "We have hosted major events over the years" - including the 2006 Asian Games.
CatalystThe country has also applied to host the 2017 World Athletics Championship - in competition with London - and also the 2020 Olympics.
"The Olympic Games bid is not a distraction to 2022, and may be an opportunity for some synergies with the World Cup."
It is hoped the 2022 World Cup will help improve football quality in Qatar Hosting these large sporting events could, he said, be used as "an economic tool".
"The World Cup can be a catalyst of economic change," he believes, not only for Qatar but for the whole Middle East region.
He said a number of yet-to-be-revealed initiatives were in the pipeline to involve other Middle East countries' participation in the World Cup.
Finally, on the playing field, it is hoped that 2022 will provide the same boost to football in West Asia that the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan did for East Asia, particularly the two host countries.
"We want people to come and explore, and learn about us," he says.
"We are confident and excited that this will leave a legacy of understanding, and that people can unite through a shared love of football."
The test purchases were part of an EU-wide campaign to check consumer rights More than half of traders failed to give full refunds to customers who pulled out of online purchases during a cooling-off period, tests have shown.Under consumer rights law, all costs - including delivery costs - should be refunded if consumers decide to cancel the contract in the allotted time.
Test purchasing by European authorities found that in 57% of cases, traders failed to reimburse delivery costs.
A BBC investigation highlighted the issue in December.
Online shoppingWhen buying from the internet, unlike in a shop, customers are unable to examine the goods before they buy them.
As a result, a cooling-off period is available to people shopping online. In the UK, shoppers have seven working days to return items bought on the internet that they do not want to keep. In some European countries it is longer.
There are a few exceptions, such as unwrapped CDs and perishable goods, but otherwise the money should be credited to the buyer's account as soon as possible and within 30 days at the latest.
Continue reading the main story In the UK, there is a cooling-off period of seven working days for unwanted itemsTraders should refund within 30 days, unless previously agreed otherwiseDelivery charges should also be reimbursedSome perishable goods such as foods and flowers are exemptRights for goods that are not of satisfactory quality are the same as the High Street - a refund, replacement or repairAny refund should include delivery costs incurred by the customer.During a mystery shopping exercise by European authorities in 2003, these delivery costs were not reimbursed in 53% of cases.
But 305 tests earlier this year, by the European Consumer Centres' Network, found that this had increased to 57%, although refunds for the items themselves were paid in 90% of cases.
"This needs to improve in order to ensure a continuous positive development in cross-border e-commerce," a spokesman for the UK European Consumer Centre said.
In 7% of all the purchases made, the trader did not inform the customer about the price of the delivery costs at all.
ChangesSome results of the test purchases do make better reading for consumers.
For example, the delivery rate for items ordered online improved significantly compared with 2003, as had the number of items delivered within 14 days. There was also an increase in the number of websites offering information in more than one language.
Many of the current consumer rules operating in EU countries pre-date the widespread use of the internet by shoppers.
So MEPs have approved plans to update the rules, including a 14-calendar-day cooling-off period for online purchases.
Governments will have two years to implement the changes.
Apple's iPad, now in its second generation, has proven a big hit with consumers Apple's iPad captured 80% of the tablet computer market in the US and Canada in April to July, a report has said.The iPad accounted for six million of all 7.5 million tablets shipped in North America during the second quarter of 2011, according to research group Strategy Analytics.
It described Apple as a "formidable market leader".
Yet it added that Amazon - which is expected to unveil its own tablet this week - could become a big challenger.
'Strong brand'Stategy Analytics senior analyst Alex Spektor said: "Apple remains a long way ahead of its main rivals such as Motorola, Samsung, RIM, Asus and HTC.
"A combination of cool branding, user-friendly hardware, entertaining services and savvy retail distribution has made Apple a formidable market leader."
According to reports, online retailer Amazon could announce the release of its first tablet as early as Wednesday.
"Provided the pricing, screen size and hardware design are right, Amazon can be one of the main challengers to Apple's dominance," said Neil Mawston, director at Strategy Analytics.
"Like Apple, Amazon has a strong brand, compelling content, sophisticated billing systems and widespread distribution.
"In effect, Amazon's new tablet product represents a good opportunity to place an Amazon shopping cart in the hands of American consumers, offering optimised access to purchasing digital content or physical goods from the Amazon online store."
The continuing popularity of Apple's iPad comes despite its incompatibility with Adobe Flash software, meaning that users cannot view a large number of online videos.
Rivals such as Samsung are quick to highlight in their advertising that their tablets are able to use Flash.
Apple and Samsung, which makes the Galaxy range of tablets, are also continuing a number of legal disputes over patents.
On Monday, Apple declined to comment on reports that it had cut orders for iPad parts from its suppliers because of falling sales.
The study by an Asian analyst of US bank JPMorgan Chase said several suppliers had indicated that Apple had reduced its orders by 25%.
The iPad was first released in April 2010, with the second version, the iPad 2, following in March of this year.
Mr Papandreou, left, and Mr Van Rompuy are meeting at an international summit in Warsaw Greek PM George Papandreou is to hold further talks with European leaders as negotiations continue in Athens on a new instalment of bailout loans.He is holding talks with European Council President Herman Van Rompuy in Warsaw before travelling on to Paris to meet French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
International inspectors are in Athens deciding whether Greece should receive bailout funds of 8bn euros (￡6.9bn).
The talks have triggered angry protests on the streets of the Greek capital.
The BBC's Chris Morris in Athens says Mr Papandreou is on a charm offensive, trying to convince his European colleagues that Greece can meet the demands imposed upon it by a tough austerity programme.
The unpopular reforms are vital to guarantee international loans aimed at stopping the debt-ridden country from going bankrupt.
President Sarkozy said that after his meeting with Mr Papandreou on Friday afternoon he would unveil a Franco-German strategy, but did not give any details.
Germany and France together represent about half of the 17-nation eurozone's economic output.
"It is very important that the Franco-German axis can make its voice heard about the concrete application of the decisions taken at the end of July [on a second rescue package for Greece]," Mr Sarkozy said during a visit to Morocco.
Targets missed"After seeing the Greek prime minister... I will have an opportunity to say exactly what our strategy is for supporting countries like Greece," he added.
Since eurozone leaders agreed on a second rescue package for Greece, Athens has fallen behind on its debt reduction targets, raising fears of a Greek default.
A vote in Germany's parliament on Thursday to back a more powerful bailout fund for eurozone economies was welcomed in Athens.
Mr Sarkozy also congratulated German Chancellor Angela Merkel by telephone on Thursday, his office said, calling the vote a key step in stabilising the eurozone.
Greek taxi drivers have been staging a two-day strike over government reforms Mr Papandreou held talks with Chancellor Merkel in Berlin on Tuesday.
But our correspondent says some analysts believe the whole strategy for Greece, with a possible second bailout, needs urgent readjustment.
That is partly because contagion from Greece to other eurozone countries is no longer a threat but a dangerous reality, he adds.
Greek taxi drivers held angry protests outside parliament on Thursday on the second day of their 48-hour strike.
The drivers are opposed to government reforms that would open their closed-shop profession.
Meanwhile, a second round of talks is being held in Athens between the Greek government and inspectors from the "troika" of international creditors supporting Greece - the European Commission, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Many Greeks believe that austerity measures are pushing the country's crippled economy deeper into recession and strangling any chance of growth.
Southern Cross is to be wound up by the end of the year A third of Southern Cross care homes have been transferred to new operators, the company has announced.Southern Cross said the transfer of 250 homes would be followed by further transfers in October and November.
Southern Cross was the UK's biggest care home operator, with 752 homes, but ran into difficulties when it was unable to pay its rent to landlords.
In July, the firm said it was to cease trading after all of its landlords said they wanted to leave the group.
The first "wave" of homes have been transferred to about 18 different operators.
Its largest landlord, NHP, which owns 249 of the homes, will be included in the second wave.
NHP is forming a new company with turnaround specialists Court Cavendish to run the homes itself.
Winding upSouthern Cross said it had entered unconditional business purchase agreements covering 70% of its homes, with the remaining 30% still in progress.
It said all the homes would be transferred by the end of the year and the company would be wound up.
The company also announced the resignation of it chairman, Christopher Fisher, who stepped into the role in April to oversee the restructuring process.
"Now that the transfer of homes has commenced, I consider my role complete," Mr Fisher said.
Aref Ali Nayed, Chief Operations Manager of Libya's Stabilisation Team, tells HARDtalk's Stephen Sackur that foreign support for the Libyan revolution should not be rewarded by oil contracts because support should have been motivated by humanity and not material gain.
You can watch the full interview on Wednesday 28 September at 03:30 GMT, 08:30 GMT, 15:30 GMT and 20:30 GMT. And on BBC News Channel at 0430 BST on Wednesday 28 September and 00:30 BST on Thursday 29 September.
Find out who is coming up on the programme by following us on Twitter.
Bank of America will roll out the change from next year on a state-by-state basis Shares in Bank of America have fallen 2%, a day after it announced plans to charge debit card users $5 (￡3.20) per month to pay for their purchases.Bank of America, the largest US bank by deposits, said it would introduce the fee early in 2012.
The move comes ahead of a new rule that will limit how much lenders can bill retailers for customer debit card transactions.
The bank's debit card holders will still get free cash withdrawals.
The monthly charge will apply to users of Bank of America's basic bank accounts, and will be in addition to any service fees they already have to pay.
A number of smaller US banks, such as SunTrust, a regional lender based in Atlanta, have already introduced charges for debit card purchases.
So far only Citigroup has ruled out introducing the change.
'Changed economics'Bank of America said the new fee would be rolled out on a state-by-state basis.
Continue reading the main storyBank of America is trying to find new ways to pad their profits by sticking it to its customers”End Quote Richard Durbin Domocrat Senator Its move comes as an amendment to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act goes into effect from 1 October.
The amendment, brought by Democrat Senator Richard Durbin, limits the fees that banks can charge retailers for processing debit card transactions to 21 cents.
This compares to the previous average of 44 cents, meaning a substantial fall in revenues for the banks.
A Bank of America spokeswoman said: "The economics of offering a debit card have changed."
Sen Durbin said Bank of America's move was "overt and unfair" and that he hoped its customers would "have the final say".
"Bank of America is trying to find new ways to pad their profits by sticking it to its customers," he said.
Buyers and sellers are still thin on the ground House prices continued to "tread water" in September - rising by 0.1% compared with the previous month, the Nationwide said.This left the average price of a home 0.3% lower than a year earlier, at ￡166,256, the building society said.
Prices for the three months to September compared with the previous quarter were unchanged.
Market turmoil as a result of the eurozone debt crisis had hit confidence among buyers, Nationwide said.
"Sentiment towards major purchases is depressed, as a result of weak labour market conditions and ongoing pressure on household budgets from above-target inflation," said Robert Gardner, Nationwide's chief economist.
The figures are based on Nationwide's lending data at post-survey approvals stage.
'Sluggish demand'He predicted that property prices would remain fairly stable over the rest of 2011, although the outlook for the global economy had "darkened".
Continue reading the main storyApproval figures continue to look promising as consumers take advantage of the competitive mortgage rates ”End Quote Adrian Coles, Building Societies Association The struggle for people to find new jobs has resulted in "sluggish demand" from potential buyers.
That, together with a gradual rise in the number of properties on the market, had led to the current market conditions.
Some of these issues are most acute in the north-east of England.
Data from the Land Registry on Wednesday showed that prices in the region had fallen by 7.8% in the year to August.
In Hartlepool, prices had dropped by 15.7% over the same period, leaving the average home worth ￡82,561.
David Sharpe, a sales negotiator at Dowen estate agents in the port town, said that times were difficult for sellers, especially if they were unwilling to drop their asking prices.
"We are telling people to be realistic. If the price is right then it will sell," he said.
Negative equityMany of the properties coming onto the market in Hartlepool were the result of repossessions, he said. These included repossessed properties from landlords who had overstretched themselves.
Hartlepool's sea defences are being rebuilt, but the housing market remains weak This meant there were some two-bedroom homes in need of some work that were on the market for ￡20,000.
However, at the other end of the market, Dowen had just sold an eight-bedroom period property at auction for ￡345,000.
Many properties were selling if prices were lowered, Mr Sharpe said, including one "extreme case" which recently sold at auction for ￡30,000 when it had originally been on the market for ￡80,000.
Dropping prices was not necessarily an option for some sellers though.
"Those who bought at the peak of the market may well have borrowed more than the property is now worth," he said.
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TUC secretary general Brendan Barber has said the sides are a long way apart Talks between ministers and union chief Brendan Barber over public sector pension reform have resulted in no progress, sources have told the BBC.TUC chief Mr Barber met Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude for impromptu private talks at the Conservative conference in Manchester this week.
Unions are balloting members for strike action on 30 November over plans to increase contributions from employees.
The next round of face-to-face talks is due on 24 October in London.
A source close to Mr Barber said he used the impromptu meeting to again urge the government to "give a degree of confidence that they are serious about maintaining sustainable public service pensions in the future".
'Groundhog day'Unions say the changes are unfair and financially unnecessary. Ministers insist that pension contributions must be increased to make schemes sustainable.
In recent weeks Mr Maude has described the talks as "like Groundhog Day", with no progress being made.
Both sides have previously insisted they are committed to resolving their differences through talks but the BBC understands the latest meeting again yielded little.
Mr Barber also met Chancellor George Osborne at a party during the conference, although it is unclear whether the issue of pensions was discussed.
IBM's closing price on 29 September was $214bn (￡137.4bn) while Microsoft's was a shade behind at $213.2bn (￡136.8bn).
The values cap a sustained period in which IBM's share price has moved steadily upward as Microsoft's has generally been in decline.
The growth means IBM is now the second largest technology company by market value. Apple still holds the top slot with a value of $362bn (￡232bn).
Since the beginning of 2011, IBM's share price has made steady gains and is now 22% higher than at the start of the year, according to Bloomberg figures. By contrast, Microsoft's value has dropped 8.8% over the same time period.
Analysts put the switch in the number two slot down to a decision IBM made in 2005 to sell off its PC business to Chinese manufacturer Lenovo to concentrate on software and services.
"IBM went beyond technology," Ted Schadler, a Forrester Research analyst told Bloomberg. "They were early to recognise that computing was moving way beyond these boxes on our desks."
By contrast much of Microsoft's revenue comes from sales of Windows and Office software used on PCs. Also, Microsoft is between releases of Windows which can mean a fallow period for its revenues.
Windows 7 was released in 2009 and Windows 8 is not expected to be released until late 2012 at the earliest.
Many have also claimed that the rise of the web, mobile computing and tablets spells the end of the PC era. In early August, Dr Mark Dean, one of the designers of the original IBM PC, declared that the centre of the computing world had shifted away from the humble desktop.
Thomas Cook has issued three profit warnings over the past year in the face of tough trading conditions Thomas Cook has said bookings by its UK customers were "flat" during the summer holiday season, but that its full-year profits should be "broadly in line with market expectations".In a trading statement, the travel company also said it was continuing to be affected by the political turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa.
It said this had particularly affected its French business.
However, its sales in northern Europe, including Germany, were up strongly.
Its summer bookings for this region - which also includes the Scandinavian countries - were 13% higher than a year earlier.
Bookings in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Eastern Europe were down 1% from a year ago; and there was no change in the UK.
Boss departureThomas Cook's forward bookings for the 2011-12 winter season are currently mixed when compared with the same time last year.
They are down 7% in the UK, and 16% lower in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Eastern Europe, but up 6% in Germany and Scandinavia.
Thomas Cook said it was continuing efforts to boost its profitability.
The company also said it would not be making any dividend payments. It is instead focusing on paying down its debts of around ￡900m.
Former chief executive Manny Fontenla-Novoa left in August, followed just over a week later by the head of its UK retail division, Ian Derbyshire.
They departed the company after it had issued its third profit warning in a year.
Thomas Cook is now continuing with a strategic review of the business.
Oswald Gruebel UBS's former chief executive resigned over the rogue-trading loss. Swiss bank UBS said it will make a small profit in the third quarter despite losing $2.3bn (￡1.5bn) through unauthorised trading.When it first discovered the alleged fraud, it warned it might report a loss for the three months to the end of September.
But the bank has said in a statement: "UBS expects to report a modest net profit for the group."
Former UBS trader Kweku Adoboli is accused of fraud and false accounting.
The 31-year-old City of London-based trader was remanded in custody until 20 October.
The bank said it now expected a small profit even after taking into account losses from the incident, as well as 400m francs ($435m, ￡270m) worth of restructuring charges linked to its cost-cutting programme.
But the bank said that its strength buffer - the so-called Tier 1 capital ratio - was expected to be slightly down on the second quarter because of the losses due to the trade.
The former chief executive of Swiss bank UBS Oswald Gruebel resigned over the rogue-trading loss.
The bank is also undergoing a major shake-up which will see it shrink its investment banking division to reduce its risks.
Protester Michael Pellagatti holds up the plastic handcuffs used to restrain him and the court summons he was issued Police in New York City have freed most of the more than 700 people arrested on Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday during a protest against corporate greed.Fewer than 20 protesters are still held as they are yet to be identified.
Most of those freed were given citations for disorderly conduct and a criminal court summons.
The Occupy Wall Street group, camped in Manhattan's financial district for two weeks, says it will continue its demonstrations.
A spokesman for the New York Police Department told the BBC the small group still detained were expected to appear at the Manhattan criminal court on Sunday.
'Multiple warnings'The arrests took place on Saturday after protesters carried out an impromptu walk over the East River to Brooklyn.
Some demonstrators carried slogans reading "End the Fed" and "Pepper spray Goldman Sachs".
Police said the protesters were given "multiple warnings" to keep to the pedestrian walkway but spread to the road, halting bridge traffic for several hours.
Some protesters accused the police of not issuing warnings or of tricking them on to the roadway, accusations the police denied.
Demonstrator Henry-James Ferry: "'The police moved in with orange mesh barricade". Saturday footage courtesy Robert CammisoOccupy Wall Street says it will continue its campaign, with meetings on Sunday in Zuccotti Park, the privately owned area of land not far from Wall Street that it has occupied since 17 September.
There will be another march on Wall Street on Wednesday afternoon.
"We are the majority. We are the 99%. And we will no longer be silent," the group said in a statement.
"We are using the revolutionary Arab Spring tactic to achieve our ends and encourage the use of non-violence to maximise the safety of all participants."
The protesters have had previous run-ins with New York's police.
On Friday, about 2,000 people marched under the Occupy Wall Street banner to New York's police headquarters to protest against arrests and police behaviour.
Some 80 people were arrested during a march on 25 September, mostly for disorderly conduct and blocking traffic, but one person was charged with assaulting a police officer.
A series of other small-scale protests have also sprung up in other US cities in sympathy with the aims of Occupy Wall Street.
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No breakdown was given, but Eurostat said its initial forecasts were usually "reliable".
Separate figures also released by Eurostat showed the eurozone unemployment rate unchanged at 10% in August from the previous month.
The number of people unemployed fell by 38,000 compared with July.
The unemployment rate in Spain, the highest in Europe, rose slightly to 21.2%, with youth unemployment hitting 46.2%.
However, the jobless rate for those under 25 in the eurozone as a whole fell slightly, to 20.4%.
Falling sharesAnalysts, who had expected a small rise in inflation, pointed to technical changes in the way price rises are calculated as a contributory factor in the sharp increase.
Continue reading the main story
Andrew Walker Economics correspondent, BBC World Service This rise in the inflation rate makes the situation even more complicated for the European Central Bank.
The ECB has been widely criticised for raising interest rates earlier this year, as several eurozone countries are struggling with government debt crises and economic growth that is either weak or completely stalled.
The ECB has an inflation target of close to but below 2%. So the increased rate of price rises will make the Bank even more cautious about making interest rate cuts.
In addition, some of the ideas being discussed for responding to the eurozone crisis involve a wider role for the European Central Bank which could be characterised as, in effect, "printing money". As this could be inflationary, the latest data on price rises underlines the potential risk of such a move.
"It's not a nice number, but I wouldn't panic that the high inflation which some have warned about for years is finally here," said Martin Van Vliet at ING."We will see inflation declining over the next months, staying above 2.5% but next year, with stable oil and food prices, we will fall to lower levels."
The European Central Bank target for inflation is 2%, and the bank raised interest rates in July from 1.25% to 1.5% in order to combat rising prices.
However, the continuing debt crisis makes further rate rises in the coming months unlikely, analysts say.
With confidence in the outlook for economic growth in the eurozone fragile, policymakers are unlikely to risk raising rates, they say.
Equally, however, sharply rising prices make a cut in interest rates less likely.
This put further downward pressure on markets that fell sharply in early trading.
Germany's Dax index was down 2.5%, with France's Cac 40 and the UK's FTSE 100 sliding about 1.5%.
By Nigel Cassidy Business correspondent, BBC News, Athens 
The Greek lottery OPAP will be sold as part of an ambitious privatisation programme Go into any of Greece's 5,000 OPAP lottery shops and there is one thing you definitely cannot bet on. It is that the array of Greek state assets lined up for sale will fail to raise an agreed 50bn euros by 2015 to lighten the country's crushing international debts.
OPAP is on a long list of nearly 20 entities earmarked for full or partial sale, by order of the European Union (EU) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
They are the sell-offs Greece's European partners are now demanding should be stepped up, not least because efforts to raise revenue through tax receipts are still defeating the country.
But in spite of Greece's lofty plans, the BBC has found that only one solitary stake has actually been sold in recent months: a 10% stake in the mobile phone group OTE has been bought by Deutsche Telecom for 400m euros.
Consequently, the chances of Greece reaching its target of raising 5bn euros by the end of the year from asset sales look slim.
Fear and frustrationIt is easy to see why the programme is being opposed every step of the way by most of the state's employees.
As protesters unfurl their banners in Syntagma Square, it is clear that they bracket all the mooted sell-offs with other unpalatable measures, such as austerity tax rises and job cuts.
Greek utility workers are wary about plans to sell off the companies they work for Staff fear that as public services - from power and water supply to transport and defence industries - are sold, it is inevitable that their pay and pensions will be drastically cut.
For their part, Greece's European partners are infuriated at the painfully slow progress in freeing up all these utilities.
Critics frequently suggest Greek privatisation is mired because the Pasok party in power has traditionally protected state workers, and is not pushing the measures through with enough vigour or conviction.
Much resistanceWhether or not this is true, there are several other reasons for the delays.
Some of these are apparent if you take a ride to the Athens suburb of Zografou.
(Bids for 49% of the railway OSE are welcome, by the way, but offers may not be forthcoming until losses of a billion euros a year have been stemmed.)
Greece remains "the last Soviet bastion in Europe", says Eydap's chief executive Nikolaos Bardis This is where you find the headquarters of Eydap, the well-respected water and sewage utility serving Athens, which employs 2,800 workers and has a good reputation for maintaining supplies of high-quality drinking water.
Eydap is supposed to be privatised next year, but the company says little has happened since it was put on the list.
Few workers are expected to lose their jobs after any sell-off, but bosses admit that pay, conditions and pensions may not be maintained at current levels.
Yet a huge union poster outside the front door shows a wad of euro notes, with a running tap emerging from them.
The message: Do not try to profit from our essential services.
'Soviet bastion'There are two reasons why the sell-off process has been slow, according to Eydap's chief executive Nikolaos Bardis.
Bureaucratic delays have contributed, as have investors' concerns that the potential value of the company might fall, given the current financial climate.
"We can say that Greece remains the last Soviet bastion in Europe," Mr Bardis says.
"There is a lot of opposition to the process. Socially this is a completely new idea. People here are just not used to private investors controlling state-owned companies.
"It is also true that the (Eydap) capitalisation is low because the market is extremely distressed and [the sell-off] didn't happen much earlier when the capitalisation was larger."
Investors' concernsMr Bardis has recently returned from a visit to the City of London to drum up investor interest in his company.
MP Elena Panaritis says privatisation is slow because democracy in Greece is weak One concern expressed there was that the Greek government was retaining the right to set water charges, a job that might be expected to fall to an independent regulator.
Potential buyers do not like the idea of political interference in consumer charges, which could easily have the effect of wiping out profits or investment spending plans, Mr Bardis observes.
"They are also concerned about the country's solvency and whether it will stay in the eurozone or be forced to re-adopt the drachma," he says.
"And they are making the assumption that the country will ask its lenders to take a 50% haircut on its loans," he adds, which means the lenders should expect only half their money to be repaid.
While investors are getting used to the idea, the same seems to be the case with the Greek people, who are gradually coming to realise that their country is broke.
"I do believe there is now a a silent majority in the society which is in favour of reform," says Nikos Koritasis, a principal at the Koultadis law firm that is deeply involved in the country's gas privatisation.
The company is working for a new Greek agency that has been set up expressly to run the sale of the country's assets, and Mr Koritasis insists people understand Greece has to try something new.
"There have been long delays, but there is now a new will to speed up the whole process," he says.
Speedy privatisationOne member of the Greek parliament who has a clearer perspective than most is Elena Panaritis.
She is a former World Bank executive, brought into the ruling Pasok party by Prime Minister George Papandreou to help oversee decisions and educate other politicians about the ways of the markets.
Following another long night of parliamentary debate, the country is making "superhuman" efforts to clear the way for the privatisations, yet it is taking time, she laments.
"We haven't been able to be as effective precisely because our bureaucracy is so bad," she reasons.
"Getting anything done is so complicated, with conflicting regulations and far too many people involved in taking decisions on each single asset.
"All this is taking longer than the 16 months we have to get it resolved. There really is the appetite to get the job done, but there are layers of steps and we get bogged down with the actual details."
It took the privatisation pioneer Britain well over a decade to free up and sell off its essential industries. Greece is expected to do much the same in a few months.
So it is no wonder that privatisation is a hard sell. It is another leap for this state-dominated island nation into what are seen as shark-infested commercial waters.
As President Nicolas Sarkozy greeted the world's leaders at the Libya meeting in Paris last month, one leader who emerged from his limousine was perhaps a little less well known than the others.Qatar's Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, then proceeded to stand alongside President Sarkozy and British Prime Minister David Cameron as the talks began.
The tiny Gulf state's bank rolling of the Libyan rebels has given its leader a front-row seat in international politics.
The Arab uprising is changing the political map of the region and Qatar is playing an important role in it.
Tiny population
A picture of Qatar's emir hangs on a building in the anti-Gaddafi stronghold of Benghazi There are fewer than two million people living in Qatar. And of those, only about 250,000 are Qataris, the rest being foreign workers. But its vast gas reserves have made its people the richest on the planet.
At a time of unprecedented unrest and while traditional regional leaders like Egypt are dealing with their own problems, that wealth is being used to try to forge Qatar's new path as a regional political heavyweight.
But Qatar is not a democracy. Ruled by a monarchy, this may seem at odds with the political changes happening in the region, but some experts think it actually helps Qatar in making quicker decisions.
"We have the emir at the top, but he's generally well respected and he has a lot of genuine domestic legitimacy here," says David Roberts of the Royal United Services Institute think tank.
"It's quite conservative so there's some kind of societal deference."
Rebel TVQatar's support for the rebels has been widespread and was not just limited to funding the fighting on the ground.
It also provided money for projects such as Libya TV, a television station set up to counter the pro-Gaddafi propaganda machine.
Libya TV is funded by the Qatari government as part of its support for Libyan rebels It got off the ground in just five days - no dry runs or practices. Dozens of Libyan journalists and non-journalists alike were recruited and trained at lightning speed.
Among them is 26-year-old Yusra Tekbali. Born and brought up in the US, she returned to live in Tripoli in December. But when the violence started, her plans had to change.
A month ago she arrived in Doha to work for Libya TV as a blogger. And despite the shift in direction, she remains upbeat.
"I was lured to Libya by greater economic opportunities and also a connection with my roots," she says.
"But now, the opportunity for Libyans and young Libyans from abroad is going to grow at an amazing rate. And Qatar will have a role in that, of course."
Despite Qatar saying that its interests were solely about the welfare of the Libyan people, it is expected that Qatar's support for the rebels will pay off economically in time, too.
It has already helped to market oil for the rebels and that relationship is expected to continue.
And as the world's biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas - there may be potential to work with Libya on exploring its reserves.
'Arab renaissance' Continue reading the main storyThis opens the door quite well for Qatar to take this leadership role and to play a role in the Arab renaissance in the 21st Century”End Quote Ibrahim Sharqieh Brookings Doha Centre Qatar's role in the Libyan conflict has boosted its profile. And that, according to some experts, is exactly what Qatar wanted. It is a Gulf state trying to stand out from the crowd.
"These are brand new countries, dating back to the 1970s," says Mehran Kamrava, the director of the Centre for International and Regional Studies at Georgetown University in Qatar.
"They're frantically trying to play catch-up, frantically trying to make a global presence felt.
"[They are] competing with countries like Egypt with centuries of history, competing with countries like Saudi Arabia, competing with countries like Iran that has tremendous resources and a massive demography and geography."
This stance has been well received at home.
In a region used to foreign intervention, an Arab country taking the lead is seen as a welcome step and one that provides both political security and economic stability too.
"This opens the door quite well for Qatar to take this leadership role and to play a role in the Arab renaissance in the 21st Century," says Ibrahim Sharqieh, deputy director of the Brookings Doha Centre.
"By having that active role in the international arena at this point and taking political leadership, Qatar is protecting its wealth and protecting its existence."
Falling demand and prices of flat-screen TVs have hurt profits at various electronics makers Samsung Electronics has issued a better-than-expected profit forecast for the third quarter as its handset business helped to offset falling demand for TVs and computer chips.Samsung said it expected an operating profit of 4.2tn won ($3.5bn; ￡2.3bn) a 14% dip from a year earlier, but better than market projections of 3.5tn won.
Compared with the previous quarter, the projected profit is up 12%.
Samsung is the world's second-largest maker of mobile phones.
"Its telecommunications business is seen very positive as shipments of smartphones and other high-end handsets expanded," said Park Jong-Min of ING Investment Management.
Advantage Samsung? Analysts said they expected Samsung's handset business to keep growing robustly, not least due to the Apple's decision to upgrade its existing model of iPhone4 with new features and technology, rather than launch a new version.Apple had been expected to launch an iPhone5 at a media event held earlier this week.
"Given Apple's relatively unchanged new iPhone, Samsung will have the opportunity to eat into Apple's market share with its hardware build-up and growing software power until next year," said Jang In-Beom of Bookook Securities.
Samsung has also been growing its presence in the tablet PC market.
Last month the Korean electronics manufacturer announced that sales of the Samsung GALAXY S II had crossed the 10 million mark, doubling from five million in just eight weeks.
'Major risk'Despite the optimism about the growth potential of its handset business, analysts said that external factors remain a big threat to the company in the short to medium-term.
There have been concerns that a slowdown in the US coupled with the ongoing debt crisis in Europe may hurt global growth and dent consumer demand.
"The macroeconomic situation will remain a major risk for Samsung in the fourth quarter," said Ahn Seong-Ho of Hanwha Securities.
At the same time, there are fears that volatility in the currency markets may also have a bearing on its earnings.
The Korean won has fallen as much as 10% against the US dollar since the start of July.
A weaker won makes Korean goods cheaper for foreign buyers.
"The weakening won may have inflated third-quarter profits," said Kim Young-Chan of Shinhan Investment Corp.
However, Mr Kim added the exchange rate remained a threat to Samsung as any recovery in the won would have a counter effect.
The shutdown if the refinery has affected gas, oil and jet fuel production. Shell has declared a force majeure on some of its customers after a fire shut down its refinery in Singapore last week. The fire affected its diesel fuel unit but forced Shell to shut its entire refinery, hurting its supplies.
The declaration of Force Majeure excuses a company from contractual agreements when an extraordinary event occurs which is beyond its control.
The refinery is Shell's biggest such operation globally.
"We confirm that Force Majeure has been declared on some of our customers," Lee Tzu Yang, chairman of Shell Singapore, said on the company's website.
"We continue to be in discussions with our customers to address their supply of product needs and to minimise any potential impact on them," he added.
The refinery has a capacity of 500,000 barrels a day.
Virender wants to grow his business of recycling plastic Sorting out plastic bags collected from rubbish tips is a serious business for Virender Kumar.Sitting on a pile of plastic bags, he is busy giving directions to the labourers he employs to help him with the recycling.
Once the bags are sorted, he sells them to recycling units to be melted down into plastic pellets.
He makes about 20,000 rupees ($410; ￡262) profit every month. But he has bigger ambitions that need funding.
He says that by working overtime, he saved money to start the recycling unit. But now he wants to hire more people and expand the business.
"But everything needs money," he says. "Banks don't lend to people like me."
India's growing middle class has been a target for many companies, but now another segment of society is increasingly becoming a focus for investors - people living below the poverty line.
But can businesses make a profit and also serve a social purpose?
Loan controversyPeople like Mr Kumar are now being wooed by financial institutions such as the Shriram Group.
While millions of people across India have little or no access to formal finance, investment funds which want to make a social impact are lending a helping hand.
These funds invest in people and sectors that traditional banks ignore. It is called "profit with a purpose".
But they are using insurance as a means of helping small businesses rather than loans.
Microfinance, or giving small loans to low-income borrowers, has received a lot of bad press in India recently.
The sector was booming until a spate of suicides by borrowers in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh led to the authorities tightening regulations.At its peak, the microfinance sector saw almost $7bn in loans distributed to 30 million borrowers, and Andhra Pradesh accounted for a third of the total business.
As a result of the new laws, debt repayments fell drastically and the entire sector is now facing a massive consolidation, and many lenders have been forced to shut up shop.
Microinsurance is different from microfinance as this provides a safety net to prevent people from falling back into poverty.
The International Labour Organisation describes microinsurance as a mechanism to protect poor people against risk (accident, illness, death in the family, natural disasters etc) in exchange for insurance premium payments tailored to their needs, income and level of risk.
If a person earns $5 a day, making $150 a month, and a typical insurance product is under $4 a month, that person is able to, with that very limited amount of capital, free their family up substantially.
Having that extra protection means that instead of sending the children to work to save for a rainy day, they can send them to school.
Capital injectionLeapfrog is a $135m US-based impact investment fund that was set up to invest in companies that underwrite or distribute insurance.
The fund is backed by billionaire George Soros and e-bay founder Pierre Omidyar, as well as a consortium of banks, pension funds and reinsurers.
Leapfrog says that it is a big myth that because people have low incomes they are unable to pay for meaningful products.
"We are looking at the next billion consumers," said Andrew Kuper, co-founder of Leapfrog.
"The consumers who are rising out of poverty and into the middle-classes… aspiring, seeking to acquire financial services and other services that allow them to go on their journey in a more effective way."
He thinks businesses that serve that segment are going to have a massive competitive advantage.
Continue reading the main story
The ability with a very small percent of your income to totally reshape your microeconomic picture is a huge opportunity”End Quote Andrew Kuper co-founder, Leapfrog "The ability with a very small percent of your income - less than 4% - to totally reshape your microeconomic picture and the daily choices that you and your family make is a huge opportunity.
"What isn't happening is companies getting to grips with the notion that you can serve that population, and we find that it is a very narrow slice of companies. Fortunately we are engaging with them."
More than 85% of Shriram Group's customers are first-time buyers of any financial product. It is the first provider to more than 98% of its customers. The group hopes that the capital injection from Leapfrog will benefit 10 million people in India.
G S Sundararajan, managing director of Shriram Capital, says his company is targeting people with an average annual income of $2,500.
"We already offer financing and investment services to the lower-income masses across India. Now, we plan to increase it even further. We'll be using Leapfrog's expertise to design new insurance products that are more effective for our existing consumers."
Huge potentialMicroinsurance is not a new concept in India. The country was one of the first to introduce microinsurance regulation.
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) made it mandatory for all formal insurance companies to extend their activities to rural and social sectors as early as 2002.
But microinsurance companies face a huge challenge in connecting with customers. Many companies have been trying creative ideas - for example, the Shriram group is using its transport finance wing to connect with truck drivers and sell products to them.
India's biggest fertiliser company, IFFCO, provides free insurance cover to farmers along with each bag of fertiliser purchased. It has a joint venture with Tokio Marine and Nichido Fire Group, the largest listed insurance group in Japan.
It also provides a cattle insurance policy that covers the death of the animal due to accident, disease, surgical operations, strike, riots and even acts of terrorism or an earthquake.
A loan increased Virender's profits by 50%, by helping to pay for a new truck The potential is huge. A study by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 2007 reported that up to 90% of the Indian population, or 950 million people, were excluded from the insurance market and represented a powerful "missing market".
But the private sector is risk-averse when it comes to investing in such people.
And just government resources and charitable donations cannot address the enormous social problems the country faces. Impact investments offer an alternative.
Reducing povertyRecognising this growing segment, the biggest newspaper in the country, The Times of India, in association with J P Morgan, has announced awards for social impact.
Rahul Kansal is the organiser of the awards and he says that there are opportunities beyond just microinsurance for social impact in the country.
He says that large scale private capital can be channelled to public works.
"Increasingly we are seeing that in a country like India, there are avenues like healthcare, education, civic areas like waste management which need attention."
"The government cannot cope with the size of the problem. This is where organisations both for profit and non-profit can step in."
He thinks this large-scale neglect and need could be the next big investment opportunity.
A loan helped finance a new truck for Virender Kumar, increasing his profits by more than 50%. But he has also got life insurance and accident cover that came bundled with his truck financing, to protect his family.
It is people like him that are benefiting most by impact investments. Reducing poverty requires not just the generation of income among the poor, but also the protection of these incomes.
They are people who are making the transition from the informal to the formal economy - and bringing financial products to them gives them a chance to be included in the country's rapidly growing economy.
at 11: 29 GMT 16-Volkswagen in its release of detailed investment plan yet, despite economic concerns German factories recorded a 0.9% drop in industrial orders over the month of August, according to government data.It is the second month in a row that demand has weakened, casting further gloom over the prospects for Europe ' s value economy.
Economists had expected no change after July's 2.6% fall.
The German economy support blamed "special factors". It said the decline was driven by a fall in domestic demand during the summer holidays.
Orders from maintains rose by 0.1% over the month.
Eurozone debt and NGOSurveys suggest button Pack German business confidence is waning. The closely watched Ifo business climate index hit its lowest level for more than a year in 203.
Analysts say a lack of "clarity" about how the eurozone debt and NGO will be resolved is making consumers and companies cautious about spending.
"These numbers are too volatile to draw any firm conclusions." said Berenberg bank's chief economist, Holger Schmieding.
"But of course the significant fall in orders in August, following the drop in July, could be a first sign that demand is weakening."
House Speaker Boehner has said taking action against China's currency peg is beyond the scope of Congress A top US Republican has criticised a Senate bill that could penalise China for alleged currency undervaluation.The Senate voted on Monday by 79-19 to debate legislation that could make it easier to impose penalties against US trade partners.
House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner said it was "pretty dangerous" for Congress to tell other countries how to run their monetary policy.
Beijing said it "firmly opposed" the measure.
The bill would give the US government the power to add tariffs to goods imported from countries deemed to be undervaluing their currencies to boost exports.
The proposed law does not mention China by name, but many US politicians accused China of subsidising exports by holding down the value of the yuan, costing US jobs.
'Unfair trade practices'Analysts expressed concern that the bill could damage relations with China, which is the biggest holder of US debt, at a time when the American economy is still fragile.
Continue reading the main story Use the dropdown for easy-to-understand explanations of key financial terms:AAA-rating GO The best credit rating that can be given to a borrower's debts, indicating that the risk of borrowing defaulting is miniscule.And Mr Boehner said: "This is well beyond what Congress ought to be doing, and while I've got concerns about how the Chinese have dealt with their currency, I'm not sure this is the way to fix it."But he came under attack from Democrats over his opposition to the Senate bill, which has bipartisan support in Congress.
"For some inexplicable reason, the Republican leadership in the House is siding with the Chinese government. This is not the time to go soft on Beijing," said Democratic Senator Charles Schumer.
Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid meanwhile said: "We can't ignore blatant, unfair trade practices that put American workers at a disadvantage."
At the same time, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that China's yuan policy hindered a more balanced growth path.
Unhappy ChinaBeijing has expressed "regret" over the measure. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said it "seriously interferes with Sino-US trade ties".
"The yuan exchange rate is not the main reason for the Sino-US trade imbalance," said the Chinese central bank, the People's Bank of China.
Analysts have argued that the Chinese currency could be undervalued by as much as 20-40% in relation to the US dollar.
The effect of such a policy would make Chinese goods cheaper in the US, and US goods more expensive in China.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said the Obama administration was still reviewing the currency bill.
The Senate could vote on the bill later in the week.
