Hollingsworth Daily Post

• The health of Europe's banks will come under scrutiny again later, when the results of EU-wide bank stress tests are published.Results for a total of 91 banks across Europe will be made public, in a move designed to reassure investors over the health of Europe's financial sectors.
• The UK economy grew by a faster-than-expected 1.1% in the second quarter of the year, according to official data.The figure - a preliminary estimate from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) - was almost double the 0.6% growth rate expected by economists.It was the fastest quarterly expansion since 2006, and marked a sharp pick-up in pace from the 0.3% growth of the first three months of the year.
• Dell has agreed to pay $100m to settle charges that the computer maker used accounting fraud to make it appear it was meeting analysts' profit forecasts.Under the settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Dell's chairman Michael Dell will pay a separate $4m civil penalty.The SEC alleged that Dell did not disclose large payments received from Intel to not use chips made by a rival.
• Microsoft has reported profits of $4.52bn (£2.96bn) for the three months between April and June - up 48% on the same period last year.The software giant said strong sales of its Windows 7 operating system helped to boost profits.The company said 175 million Windows 7 licences had now been sold since its launch last year.
• Vodafone says quarterly service revenues have risen for the first time since the global recession hit.The world's largest mobile operator by revenue saw organic service revenue rise 1.1% to £10.6bn in the April to June quarter, helped by improvements in Germany, Britain and Turkey.
• Kosovo police have arrested the territory's central bank governor Hashim Rexhepi in an anti-corruption investigation.The EU's rule of law mission (Eulex) said the probe concerned suspected bribes, tax evasion, influence-peddling and money laundering.
• The number of fraudulent insurance claims made in the UK rose to a record high in 2009, according to insurers.There were 122,000 detected fraudulent claims, valued at £840m, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) said.This was a 14% rise on the previous year, the figures show.

BBC Business News 23rd July2010