BUSINESS

Having a gun is almost part of the culture

Chancellor George Osborne announces a new Help to Buy scheme, aimed at helping people to buy their own homes.

The US Federal Reserve says the economy has strengthened "moderately" but still needs stimulus measures to underpin recovery.

Cyprus's banks are to remain shut until at least next Tuesday as the cabinet meets in emergency session after a eurozone bailout was rejected.

Barclays awards nine senior staff shares worth nearly £39m in long-term bonuses, including £17.5m for investment bank chief Rich Ricci.

More pensioners are to be compensated for losing money on their pension investments with the collapsed Equitable Life insurance company.

Chancellor George Osborne halves his forecast for UK growth - but cuts corporation tax, the duty on beer and a planned fuel duty rise.

Straw bale houses - where twigs, branches and straw bales are covered in clay to form the walls of a solid modern home - are enjoying a resurgence in western Ukraine as prospective home owners look to get the best deal for the money.

A Scottish fitted kitchen company becomes the first firm in the UK to be fined for "blighting" the public with thousands of unwanted marketing calls.

German airline Lufthansa, Europe's largest by revenue, cancels more than 500 flights in advance of a mass walkout on Thursday.

French police search the Paris apartment of IMF chief Christine Lagarde, in an inquiry into alleged abuse of her authority when finance minister.

Unemployment rose by 7,000 to 2.52 million between November and January, according to official figures.

Ben Brown visits the National Museum of Iraq which suffered pillaging, theft and damage in 2003. A decade years later work is still underway to recover lost cultural treasures.

A 1% pay rise cap for public sector workers will be extended for an extra year to 2015-16, Chancellor George Osborne announces.

The Federal Reserve is likely to keep pumping billions of dollars a month into the US economy after a two day meeting in Washington

Volkswagen says it will recall 384,181 vehicles in China to replace a part of their gearboxes, its largest recall in the country to date.

Our daily morning business round-up looks at the main stories in Europe and Asia.

David Reid looks at how companies are working on removing the annoyance of email

The BBC's Yogita Limaye and Laura Trevelyan report from Mumbai and New York on the differing costs of childcare around the world

Peter McNamara, a former head of personal banking at Lloyds TSB: Banking "is very dependent on confidence'