GERMANY

National Hug Day, or National Hugging Day, is an annual holidayoccurring on January 21. It is officially recognized by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. This day is also known asWeltknuddeltag 2011.

Iran gave no sign of making concessions to world powers bent on coaxing it to curb its nuclear programme at talks on Friday, saying it would not discuss suspending sensitive uranium enrichment.

The Swiss prosecutor's office said on Friday former banker Rudolf Elmer would be detained over the weekend after police questioned him this week over possible fresh breaches of Swiss bank law.

British government plans to introduce new rules this April to cap visas for less skilled workers from non-European countries to cut the number of immigrants from outside Europe.

Japan’s Sony Corp on Thursday said a streaming video service will become available in Japan on January 26 across Sony 2010 and 2011 network-enabled Bravia TVs.

Business confidence in Germany continued to improve further in January, posting a gain for an eighth consecutive month.

Cybercrime has evolved beyond targeting Windows as it moves into smartphones, tablets and mobile platforms.

A new survey reveals kids aged 2-5 are more likely to know how to use a smartphone app than tie their shoelaces.

Iran said it had no fresh offer to make to revive a nuclear fuel swap proposal but was ready to discuss it in talks with world powers on Friday, and Russia said ways of easing sanctions on Tehran should be addressed too.

U.S. online retailer Amazon.Com is to buy the 58 percent of British DVD and games rental firm Lovefilm it does not already own for an undisclosed price, it said on Thursday.

Police questioned former banker Rudolf Elmer on Thursday over possible fresh breaches of Swiss bank law for giving data to WikiLeaks this week, a day after he was found guilty of violating bank secrecy.

The European Commission approved more than 1.8 billion euros ($2.43 billion) in state aid for broadband projects last year -- a fourfold increase -- as part of a strategy to boost growth and create jobs.

Amazon.com said it agreed to acquire the remaining shares in DVD rental firm Lovefilm International Limited. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Rumours began circulating yesterday that Apple's (AAPL) white Iphone 4 will finally start making its way to shelves form February 27th.

Swiss police arrested ex-banker Rudolf Elmer on Wednesday for giving data to Wikileaks, hours after he was found guilty of breaching strict Swiss bank secrecy laws in another case.

Scientists have moved a step closer to creating ultra-fast quantum computers by generating 10 billion bits of quantum entanglement in silicon for the first time.

More than one in five young Italians are neither working nor studying in school, the highest such proportion of inactive youths in the European Union, according to the country’s national statistics office, ISTAT.

One in five young Italians, or more than 2 million people, are not studying nor working, the highest percentage of idle youths in the European Union, the national statistics office said on Wednesday.

German software maker SAP is preparing to restructure and has hiked sales and margin targets to prop up its sagging shares amid litigation woes, weekly Manager Magazin reported.

Gold rallied for a third consecutive session on Wednesday, boosted by broad weakness in the dollar and robust Asian consumer demand, while anticipation of more resilient global growth took platinum to 30-month highs.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp , one of the world's largest custody banks, said its fourth-quarter profit from operations increased 10 percent as acquisitions bolstered fee income.