Figures revealed by a latest research have revealed that for the month of November, asking price for property slipped by 1.6% as a result of the housing sector suffering its traditional season slowdown. Property website Rightmove has resorted that across England and Wales, seller dropped their asking price by an average of ￡3,744 during the period of four weeks up-to November 7.

A recent study conducted by the World Cancer Research Fund has shared that as many as 80,000 cases of cancer can be prevented each year if people switch to a healthy diet and regular exercise lifestyle, which would also help prevent onset of some other chronic, lifelong diseases.

In spite of Bank of England's £200 billion quantitative easing programme, UK's small and medium-sized enterprises are still struggling hard to get finance.

33 per cent of the companies surveyed by the British Chambers of Commerce said that accessing credit had become more difficult. Five months ago the figure stood at 20 per cent.

On the other hand, number of companies believing access to finance had improved dropped to 3 per cent from 6 per cent in the previous survey.

JPMorgan Chase & Co., the second-largest US bank, is busy in pursuing discussions to buy the remaining half of Queen's stockbroker Cazenove Group for around $1.7 billion.

A person familiar with the matter said that the transaction could be announced before the end of this month.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. had forged its joint venture with Queen's stockbroker Cazenove in November 2004 with a view to perk up its relations with corporate clients.

Drug-manufacturer Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. announced on Sunday that it would spin off its Mead Johnson Nutrition Co. in order to focus on its bio-pharmaceutical business.

Under the deal, Bristol-Myers will give its shareholders roughly $1.11 of Mead Johnson shares for each $1 in Bristol share they tender.

The accurate ratio will be determined by a 10 per cent discount to the daily volume-weighted average prices of Bristol-Myers and Mead Johnson shares from December 8 to December 10.

Japan's economy reported a better-than-expected growth of 1.2 per cent for the July-September quarter.

It was the second quarterly growth. In the previous quarter Japan's economy had grew by 0.9 per cent.

The recent global economic crisis had plunged Japan into its worst recession since Second World War.
 
Government's stimulus measures lifted consumer as well as capital spending in the country.

But, experts believe that weak job market plus deflation may obstruct economic recovery.

UK engineering firm Rolls-Royce announced that it bagged orders worth about $2 billion from Air China and Ethiopian Airlines.

Rolls-Royce will supply Trent 700 engines to Air China for a value of $1.5 billion to Air China, which will use them to power 20 A330 aircrafts.

The deal includes maintenance, repair and overhaul of the engines.

Second order was from Ethiopian Airlines, which ordered Trent XWB engines worth $480 million. Ethiopian Airlines will use the engines to power 12 Airbus A350s.

Telecommunications giant Optus has launched a mobile applications store, which will provide its customers with one-stop shop access to a number of other mobile applications stores.  

The new store provides access to Symbian, Java applications, BlackBerry, Android, Windows Media.

Speaking on the development, Optus’ general manager Mark Mulder said, “The Optus Application Store gives our customers an easy to navigate ‘one stop shop' to purchase a full suite of applications via Optus Zoo.”

Half of the British employers are planning to freeze wages next year, according to a fresh study conducted by the CBI and the recruitment firm Harvey Nash.

It may be noted here that 2010 will be the second consecutive year wage freezes.

The latest employment trends revealed that only 4 per cent employers have plans to introduce inflation-beating pay increases.

Going by the findings of two extensive studies by researchers from the UK IBD Genetics Consortium and the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium, the two of the main inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) - ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease – have a genetic component.

Putting forth the argument that patients undergoing cosmetic surgery are increasingly at risk due to the “unregulated mess” that the cosmetic surgery industry is in, doctors from the UK and abroad called for the introduction of a regulator to deal with the growing prevalence of poor practice.

Retailers Mothercare and Halfords are expected to post business figures for the current fiscal year's first half next week, and it has been reported that the pair has managed to pull out of the recession laden times in a pretty much decent shape.

As was confirmed by Health Minster Mary Harney on Saturday, her department would contribute to cuts of as much as 800 Million Euros in the upcoming budget in which the Irish Government is looking to make a target saving of atleast 4 Billion Euros (3.56 Billion Pounds). The healthcare cuts will be in addition to the annual saving of 300-400 Million Euros.

Ryanair's 2010 charity calendar, which reportedly features scantily clad employees, has managed to create a strong media storm and the carrier is now facing lots of criticism, including some from the National Women's Council of Ireland which has called the airline "irredeemably old-fashioned" while accusing it of possessing it a "serious lack of imagination."

Citigroup Inc. announced on Sunday that it would sell off its stake in Bellsystem24, a telemarketer of Japan, to US private equity firm Bain Capital.

Citigroup will sell its 93.5 per cent stake in Bellsystem24 in a deal worth 93.5 billion yen, or $1 billion.

Citigroup’s current move will help it in replenishing its capital.

It may be noted here that Citigroup has already lifted over $7 billion by selling off other assets in Japan.