The UK's banking regulator, the Financial Services Authority, is abolished and replaced with two successor organisations.

More families are shunning full building surveys so they can raise enough cash to buy a home, but this can lead to big repair bills later, surveyors say.

Japanese business sentiment improves in the January to March quarter, the Bank of Japan's Tankan survey indicates.

Chinese manufacturing activity increases at its fastest pace in 11 months during March, indicating that an economic recovery is continuing.

India's Supreme Court rejects a plea by Swiss company Novartis to patent an updated version of its cancer drug, Glivec.

Changes to the UK's welfare system are fair, Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith insists, as some of the changes come into effect.

Lord Turner, head of the now-disbanded Financial Services Authority, is to join a US think tank co-founded by billionaire investor George Soros.

Healthcare campaigners hail India's rejection of a patent bid by Swiss company Novartis for its cancer drug, Glivec, amid industry criticism.