A slowdown in activity in the housing market and slowing property prices will only be "temporary", according to surveyors.

Oil firm Royal Dutch Shell was told a pipeline had reached the end of its life years before it spilled up to 500,000 barrels of oil in Nigeria, according to court documents seen by the BBC.

Asian shares traded mixed on Thursday after record closing highs for Japanese shares in the previous two sessions.

Gail Kelly, the chief executive of Westpac, has announced that she will retire in February 2015 and be succeeded by Brian Hartzer.

Postal workers across the UK are to receive alerts about missing people while on their rounds to help locate vulnerable children and adults.

New guidelines proposing tougher fines of for corporate manslaughter and fatal health and safety offences have been issued by the Sentencing Council.

A slew of economic data out of China, which came in below forecasts on Thursday, highlights the continuing downward pressure facing the Asian giant.

India and US reach a breakthrough in resolving food security, an issue which had been stalling the implementation of a global trade pact.