British Conservative MP Andrew MacKay announced today he would stand down at the next general election after discussing his position with Conservative leader David Cameron this morning.

British MPs were feeling the full wrath of their constituents as the man who brokered the release of MPs’ expenses claims insisted Parliament would be a better place for the disclosures.

Car hire firm Avis Europe today said it planned to cut 315 jobs – equivalent to 5% of its workforce – and close some rental locations.

Telecoms group Cable & Wireless dealt a fresh blow to staff today by warning it could halve its UK workforce in the next five years.

Cruise giant Carnival ensured the FTSE 100 Index sailed to a new four-high today by posting record profits for the summer season.

Computer giant Hewlett-Packard is to cut 968 jobs in the UK as part of its worldwide restructuring, the company confirmed today.

DHL owner Deutsche Post has made an approach to buy the UK logistics group Exel in a deal that could be worth more than £3bn (€4.4bn), it emerged today.

Shares in troubled engineering group Mowlem plummeted today after it issued its third profits warning in eight months.

UK pub chain JD Wetherspoon said today that trading at its non-smoking pubs had been in line with expectations after bar sales dipped but food business picked up.

British construction group Mowlem warned on profits today for the second time in as many months and said its finance chief was quitting.

Cable & Wireless unveiled another round of job cuts today, after warning it planned to reduce its headcount in the UK and continental Europe by 600.

Car rental group Avis Europe today warned it saw no strong near-term recovery in corporate business despite seeing trading recover from the impact of the Iraq war.

POWER returned to the homes of Umm Qasr yesterday for the first time since the outbreak of war.

Avis Europe tightened its grip on the continental car hire market today by acquiring a chunk of rival Budget’s global operations.

Car rental chain Avis Europe today announced it was in talks to buy the rights to rival operator Budget’s name and trademark in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Northern Ireland information technology company SX3 which employs 1,400 people across Ireland and the UK announced today it was making workers redundant.

Electronics Boutique surged on the stock market today after revealing a huge increase in sales across its video and computer games stores.

Hundreds of tennis fans have emerged from their tents to join the queue for tickets for the men's singles final at Wimbledon.