QUANDARY: The British government faces a tough choice as bidders for the troubled mortgage lender are not willing to refinance the entire sum lent by the Bank of England
Northern Rock, the troubled regional mortgage lender, said on Monday that it had received a number of disappointing takeover proposals, increasing the pressure on the British government to either find a solution or consider nationalizing the bank.

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Vodafone said on Monday it had won a court order requiring its rival, Deutsche Telekom, to sell the Apple iPhone in Germany without a mandatory calling plan.

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The world's steel industry on Monday declared its opposition to BHP Billiton's ambitious proposal for a US$150 billion takeover of mining rival Rio Tinto.

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EXPANDING LOSSES: Shares of the US banking titan took a beating after a Goldman Sachs report that Citigroup could be forced to absorb bigger writeoffs
Shares of Citigroup fell 5.9 percent to US$32 yesterday, the lowest in four years, after Goldman Sachs Group Inc downgraded the stock to "sell" from "neutral" on Monday, predicting the bank could write off up to US$15 billion in soured investments, including mortgage losses, in coming months.

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South Korea has fully recovered from the devastating 1997 economic crisis, the government said yesterday on the eve of its anniversary, but commentators said crucial reforms were still not in place.

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■ TECHNOLOGY

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