Procter & Gamble is buying razor and battery maker Gillette for about $57bn (€43.7bn) in a stock deal that would create the world’s largest stable of consumer products, the companies have announced.

Government spending on science and research programmes is to reach almost €230m this year, it was announced today.

WOMEN could be wasting their money by buying expensive shampoo brands rather than low-cost alternatives, a survey by the consumer magazine Which? has found.

Oxfam has launched an international campaign to demand higher prices to be paid to coffee farmers in the developing world.