POLITICS

Coffee farmers at Guatemala's small Chanmagua cooperative opened their land and growing methods to stiff scrutiny last year, in the hope an environment friendly seal would bring them higher prices.

Pubs operator JD Wetherspoon reported a 24 percent boost in profit on Friday for a year during which it has experimented with restricting smoking ahead of a national ban.

Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Thursday he would quit within a year but refused to give an exact date to placate Labour Party mutineers who want a speedy change of leader to revive their fortunes.

Investments in offgrid energy generation projects are the quickest way to get electricity to the 1.6 billion people in the world without lights, a World Bank official said on Wednesday.

The pound has fallen on uncertainty about Tony Blair's remaining tenure as British prime minister but any longer-term impact on UK assets should be short-lived if finance minister Gordon Brown replaces him.

Carphone Warehouse has been fined 245,000 pounds over failings in its sales of mobile insurance over the telephone.

Britain's FTSE 100 fell on Thursday with Partygaming leading the losers after Sportingbet's chairman was detained by U.S. authorities

Overseas property investors should be wary of Bulgaria as market growth collapses and rental competition hots up

The competition watchdog proposed on Thursday to ease price controls on directories firm Yell Group Plc from April 2008, saying it faced increased competition from a new rival and the Internet.

IBM will build a next-generation supercomputer for the U.S. Energy Department with the potential to achieve a sustained speed of 1,000 trillion calculations per second

A third of financial advisers are breaking City watchdog rules designed to protect consumers, a survey by consumer organisation Which? showed on Thursday.

Research In Motion Ltd, the maker of Blackberry e mail devices popular among executives, said on Thursday it is pushing into a wider consumer market with the Pearl

The FTSE 100 fell on Thursday, led by a sharp decline in the construction sector and amid lingering fears that the Bank of England may put up interest rates at noon.

Online gaming group PartyGaming reported a 47 percent increase in its first half core profit on Thursday and said it was confident for the full year.

Low cost airline easyJet reiterated that it still expected to see full year pretax profit growth of 40 to 50 percent while reporting an 8.4 percent rise in August passenger traffic on Thursday.

PizzaExpress restaurant owner Gondola Holdings has been approached with a possible offer worth 559 million pounds

Japan's Nissan unveiled the Qashqai small four by four car for Europe on Wednesday, aiming to ride a wave of demand for off road vehicles despite high fuel costs.

Sony Corp. said on Wednesday it would delay the European launch of its PlayStation 3 (PS3) game machine

Shares fell on Wednesday, led by Drax Group, amid new fears that the Bank of England may, contrary to expectations, raise interest rates on Thursday after its two day meeting.

The country's biggest pubs operator Punch Taverns said on Wednesday it had finished its financial year trading in line with expectations

Mobile phone operator Amena said on Wednesday it had reached a deal with The Phone House for the British firm to sell virtual mobile phone services in Spain.

Manufacturing output increased for a third consecutive month in July, official data showed on Wednesday, in a further sign of recovery in the sector.

Gallaher Group PLC, Britain's second largest tobacco company, said first half profit rose 17 percent as the company benefited from rising sales in eastern Europe.

A new lawsuit lodged against BP claims the oil giant manipulated crude oil prices by refusing to allow traders access to U.S. storage facilities

Consumer confidence tumbled to its weakest in at least 2 1/2 years in August after the Bank of England's surprise interest rate hike

Confectionery to DVDs retailer Woolworths Group Plc could be broken up under a takeover plan devised by Icelandic investor Baugur

Tobacco company Gallaher Group Plc posted a 4 percent rise in half year profits on Wednesday and forecast an improving second half

Apple Computer Inc. may soon launch a service that allows users to download feature length films, boosting its presence in the digital home

Shares edged down on Wednesday, with electrical goods retailer DSG International among the biggest losers after a muted trading update