More than 400 construction jobs, plus between 50 and 60 full-time positions, will be created by Microsoft’s €97m expansion of its cloud computing data centre in Dublin.

Microsoft is to invest $130m (€97m) in the expansion of its data centre in west Dublin, it has been confirmed.

GENERAL Electric (GE) posted an 80% rise in first-quarter profit, helped by a strong recovery in its finance arm, that topped Wall Street expectations.

Animal rights activists in kayaks barred a livestock carrier from docking at an Australian port today, in protest at the stranding of more than 50,000 sheep on a ship in the Middle East.