COMPANIES

Google on Tuesday unveiled an important new feature for its mapping programs that will provide information on the movement of refugees around the world.

Hewlett Packard unveiled on Tuesday a small laptop, joining the growing market of pint-sized computers which is dominated by Intel Corp., and Asustek Computers Inc.

In an bid to furbish its slowing U.S. business, Starbucks launched its new everyday brew of coffee called Pike Place Roast on Tuesday, and will hand out free samples for the first 30 minutes they serve the blend.

Battered by subprime mortgage losses, savings and loan bank Washington Mutual, Inc sold $7 billion in shares to a group of investors led by TPG Capital and will stop providing home loans through brokers while closing all its free standing home loan offices.

China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC)'s 2007 Net Profit reaches 192 billion yuan ($27 bln), according to Li Xinhua, the deputy general manager of CNPC.

Savings and loan bank Washington Mutual, Inc is on the verge of securing a $5 billion investment from private equity buyout group TPG and other investors after suffering big losses in recent months due to the current credit crisis.

Alitalia has announced that Aristide Police has been appointed to be its new chairman.

After enduring huge losses last year, a former executive at Swiss bank UBS called for a sharp shift in strategy that would split up the company, reject the currently appointed Chairman, and rebuild the company's culture for managing risk. The former president Luqman Arnold sent a letter to UBS yesterday outlining his plans for reform.

The EU competition commission has given the go ahead for the takeover of Scottish & Newcastle's (S&N) European business by Heineken.

British Airways has said that the disruptions affecting the new Terminal 5 at Heathrow airport should have abated by next week.

Jérôme Kerviel, the rogue trader alleged to have lost Societe Generale 5 billion euros ($7 billion), has launched court proceedings to contest his dismissal for gross misconduct, according to a U.K. media report.

Bed company, Sleep Depot Ltd has said that it is going into administration and will be closing down following the company's failure to secure a financial rescue.

Goldman Sachs Group reiterated on Tuesday that it would be making around five per cent of its staff redundant.

Lehman brothers said on Monday it would sell three million shares to raise at least $3 billion in a bid to reduce concern that it is running short on capital.

On Monday Global Radio announced that it would be buying GCap Media for the sum of £375 million, at 225 pence per share.

Brewer Scottish & Newcastle (S&N) has said that its shareholders voted overwhelmingly in favour of a £10 billion takeover big from a consortium of Carlsberg and Heineken. The vote was taken at an extraordinary general meeting on Monday.

Following a two-month review of its business model, Motorola Inc announced plans this week to spin off its struggling mobile phone business to create two separate publicly traded companies in 2009.

IAC/InterActiveCorp. Chairman Barry Diller won a big victory in his bitter legal dispute with Liberty Media Corp. Chairman John Malone, as a Delaware court ruled Mr. Diller can proceed with efforts to spin off four of IAC's largest units into multiple companies.

Clear Channel's perturbed buyout deal, threatened by deteriorating credit conditions, brings to question the crucial role banks are playing in the $19.4 billion deal.

Cnet Netwroks will lay off 120 employees as part of a workforce realignment, effective immediately, according to a regulatory filing late Wednesday.

On Tuesday it was confirmed that Indian car giant Tata would be buying Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford for an estimated $2 billion (£1 billion).

Starbucks was ordered to pay $106 million in back tips on Thursday after a California court ruled that it was unfair for the company's baristas to share their tips with shift supervisors.

China's top e-commerce firm Alibaba.com fell below its IPO price for the first time on Tuesday before the company announced later in the day that its 2007 earnings more than quadrupled.

CITIC Securities Co, one of China's largest brokerages, formally announced on yesterday that it would cancel a proposed $1 billion investment in Bear Stearns Cos after the Wall Street brokerage was bought by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Rupert Murdoch's News International has opened the world's biggest printing plant in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, representing £650 million of investment by the company.

Air France-KLM has announced that the board of Alitalia has unanimously agreed to a takeover bid worth 138 million euros (£106 million).

Frank Quattrone, the controversial financier who rose to stardom during the dot-com boom in the 1990's has announced his long-awaited return to finance with the formation of a new advisory firm.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday accepted a bid by the Federal Communications Commission to overturn a Fox Television indecency case the agency lost in lower courts against News Corp.

Television stations owned by CBS Corp announced Monday the launch of the CBS Local Ad Network, a revenue-sharing ad network that targets social media Web sites and blogs on a local basis.