A dog breeder in England who made more than £100,000 by trafficking women onto a "sexual conveyor belt" across England and Wales has been jailed for four years.

InterContinental Hotels Group reported slower growth in revenue per room in the second quarter, sending its shares down 4%, as a late Easter weighed on its US performance.

Hundreds of people are still desperately trying to trace loved ones in the aftermath of the terror attack at Manchester Arena which left 22 dead and at least 59 injured.

Bless.

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has posted a 1.5% rise in first-quarter global room revenue, missing analysts’ estimates, but said it was confident for the rest of the year, citing current trading trends and brand momentum.

John Daly takes us through the highlights form the first half of the business year.

Warmth of reception at Holiday Inn makes up for lack of heating in a hotel that used to be regularly hit by shells and peppered with bullets throughout the bloody three-year siege of Sarajevo, writes Liam Mackey.

Last-ditch proposals by Greece on major reforms to appease its creditors helped lift London’s top-flight today as hopes were raised that the debt-laden country could win a last minute rescue deal preventing its exit from the euro.

InterContinental Hotels Group reported first-quarter room revenue that beat analyst estimates as the owner of the Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza saw increases in all its regions.

Here’s a run down of today’s business headlines.

The country’s largest hotel group Dalata completed a transformational year with the announcement that it has added the Holiday Inn in Belfast to its portfolio of hotels for €25.7m.

A Dublin City centre hotel, which previously traded as a Holiday Inn, is for sale for €9m.

Within minutes of Jérôme Garcès’s final whistle on Sunday, Munster fans began furiously scouring the internet searching for low-cost deals to Montpellier for the April 27 Heineken Cup semi-final showdown with Clermont Auvergne.

The owners of Holiday Inn have seen an 11% rise in profits.

The operator of Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza hotels deflected attention away from a probe by regulators as it announced a big pay-out for shareholders.

A doctor who ran against Mitt Romney for Massachusetts governor a decade ago won the chance to challenge him again, this time as the Green Party's presidential nominee.

A number of companies of hotelier Johnny Moran have failed in their bid to ask a court to decide whether their property and equality rights were breached when the former Anglo Irish Bank appointed a receiver over hotels and restaurants they operated.

US billionaire Sheldon Adelson said yesterday he plans to spend $35 billion (€26.3bn) on a mini-Las Vegas strip in Spain where he is courting the country’s two top urban areas, Barcelona and Madrid, with plans for a casino complex.

A date may be fixed next month for the full hearing of an application by the former Anglo Irish Bank for €19.4m judgment orders against businessman Johnny Moran over personal guarantees provided by him concerning his Holiday Inn hotel and Blarney Inn pub businesses in Dublin.

World No 1 hotelier InterContinental Hotels is looking to emerging markets and especially China to drive growth after a recovery in the United States and a string of new Chinese hotel openings helped push 2011 profits up 26%.

ANGLO Irish Bank is seeking summary judgment orders for more than €19.4 million against businessman Johnny Moran over his guarantees of loans made to companies which operated a pub and hotel in Dublin city.

The stock exchanges in both London and New York staged a modest recoveries today after four days of heavy losses on hopes of action tonight to boost the US economy.

The FTSE 100 Index slumped by as much as 5% at one stage today as the panic-selling sweeping London’s financial markets intensified.

IT had to end some time, of course.

Aer Lingus have announced the appointment of Andrew MacFarlane as its Chief Financial Officer and as an executive director with immediate effect.

TUI Travel led London’s blue chip share index into the red today as stocks suffered in cautious trading ahead of key forecasts from UK and US central banks.

Holiday Inn firm Intercontinental Hotels Group today set out plans to create 3,000 jobs in the UK, as it reported a 22% hike in half-year profits.

Thai protesters today vowed to fortify their sprawling encampment in Bangkok’s upmarket hotel-and-shopping district before venturing out to “wage a big war” to topple the government.

Supermarket Sainsbury’s was a prominent casualty today as the FTSE 100 Index failed to maintain the momentum after two winning sessions.

Shares in Sainsbury’s retreated 3% today after evidence of more strong sales growth failed to excite the City.

A second day of bank share falls held back progress on the London market today and offset trading cheer from Holiday Inn group InterContinental Hotels.

The FTSE 100 Index plunged deep into the red today as doubts over the US economic stimulus plan rippled through global markets.

The FTSE 100 Index shed more than 1% today after under-pressure property firms suffered more heavy losses.

THE PREM Group — the Dublin-headquartered commercial property management company — has announced a €27 million investment in a new hotel development in Belgium and is promising a number of further investments later in the year.

A drunken man from Kuwait, claiming he had a bomb, briefly held three Jewish teenagers captive today in their room in a Polish hotel where they were staying for Holocaust commemoration ceremonies, police said.

The FTSE 100 Index endured a sluggish session today after downgrades for leading blue-chips including banking giant Barclays.

Telecoms giant Vodafone saw shares soar to a six-year high today, helping lift the wider London market by 1.5%.

Holiday Inn unveiled plans for a new look today as part of a £500m (€720m) makeover set to include its own trademark lobby fragrance.

AT A time when many airlines are withdrawing from such schemes, Irish Ferries says it has renewed its commitment to its frequent traveller programme.

Holiday Inn operator InterContinental Hotels today said strong demand was driving up room rates as it posted a 17% rise in underlying profits.

A man believed to have fatally poisoned himself with cyanide in a Belfast hotel room may have checked in just hours earlier, it emerged today.

British Gas owner Centrica led an advance for the London market today after Russian gas giant Gazprom said over the weekend that it was close to finalising an unnamed deal to increase its market presence in the UK.

A Northern Ireland property and leisure company today teamed up with a leading Scottish hotel management company to develop hotels worth hundreds of millions of euro across Britain.

British Airways was one of the session's high flyers after a positive note from Goldman Sachs regarding the airline's prospects and value as a bid target.