Russia cuts interest rates from 17% to 15%

Russia has cut its main interest rate from 17% to 15% because inflation "is stabilising".

The rouble fell by more than 2% against the dollar following the central bank announcement.

Russia's economy has been suffering for a range of reasons, including economic sanctions by the West over its involvement in the crisis in Ukraine.

This week the government said it would put measures in place to try to stave off an economic crisis.

The measures included investing at least 2.34 trillion roubles ($35bn, £23bn) in the economy, following a collapse in oil prices and the rouble.

Rouble trouble

The Bank of Russia said the interest rate could be cut "due to the shift in the balance of risks of accelerated consumer price growth and cooling economy."

The rouble fell around 2.4% against the dollar on the news, leaving the dollar worth more than 70 roubles.

Against the pound, the rouble was trading around 3% lower.

Honda cuts annual profit forecast after recall

The Japanese carmaker Honda has cut its profit forecast and seen third quarter earnings drop sharply following a vehicle recall linked to airbags.

Honda, whose products include Civics and Accords, is forecasting full year net profits of 545bn yen ($4.6bn, £3bn) 3.5% less than it previously hoped.

Third quarter net income was down 15% at 136.5bn yen.

Honda has had to recall millions of vehicles amid an exploding airbag crisis in which five people died.

Honda has already been fined $70m by the US authorities, a record civil penalty for a carmaker, for not telling regulators about 1,700 complaints about deaths and injuries caused by its vehicles, and for not reporting warranty claims.

The airbags are supplied by fellow Japanese company, Takata.

Aside from that crisis, sales in its home market were dented by a recently introduced sales tax.

Overall, though, sales for the past nine months were up by 6.3%.

The weak yen flattered repatriated profits for the whole nine-month period, leaving net profits for the period 5.3% higher.

The move will help it set aside more cash to pay for an expanded recall of its cars to replace potentially faulty air bags made by supplier Takata.

Amazon posts modest profits despite healthy sales

The online retail giant Amazon has reported weaker profits for the busy Christmas period, but a 15% rise in sales has cheered investors.

The company made a net profit of $214m (£142m) for the last three months of 2014, which is a drop of $25m on the same period in 2013.

However, it was an improvement on the previous quarter, in which Amazon made a net loss of $437m.

The company's shares rose by nearly 8% in after-hours trading.

But despite net sales of $89bn, Amazon made a loss of $241m for 2014 as a whole.

The firm also warned that its finances were "inherently unpredictable".

It sounded a note of caution for the next few months, saying it could make an operating loss of up to $450m.

The web giant added that profits may be "materially affected by many factors, such as fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, changes in global economic conditions and consumer spending, world events, the rate of growth of the Internet and online commerce".

Google profits up but revenue misses expectations

Internet giant Google reported fourth-quarter profits of $4.76bn (£3.16bn), up nearly 30% from the same period a year before, but revenue missed Wall Street expectations.

The company's revenue increased by 15% to $18bn - nearly the same amount as Apple's profit last quarter.

Google, like other US firms, was hurt by the strength of the US dollar.

It said revenues would have been $541m higher had foreign exchange rates been more favourable.

The cost-per-click - or the amount Google can charge advertisers for placing ads on its network - decreased by 3% over the quarter, indicating that Google is still having difficulty raising the price it charges for mobile ads.

The metric is closely watched by investors, who worry that the firm's mobile ad business is not as strong as its desktop search business - which is troubling, given that consumers are increasingly switching to accessing the internet on their smartphones and mobile devices.

Google shares dipped nearly 2% in trading after markets had closed, but recovered later in the evening.

Amazon Japan 'co-operating' with police after raid

Japanese police raided Amazon's Tokyo offices as part of an investigation into alleged sales of images of child sexual abuse.

Amazon said it was "co-operating fully" with police after the raid.

The raid is part of a continuing operation against people believed to be selling books featuring abuse images via Amazon's Japanese store.

The operation began in September 2013 with the arrest of two men selling illegal photo books via the site.

The raid on 23 January was the second mounted against Amazon in Japan. A separate distribution centre in Kanagawa was raided in November last year as part of the same operation.

The crackdown by police follows a change to Japanese laws enacted in June last year that criminalised the possession of real images of child sexual abuse. The creation and distribution of such images has been illegal since 1999.

The latest raid targeted Amazon's head office in Tokyo and one of the firm's distribution centres outside the city. It was mounted after police discovered more people attempting to sell books of illegal images via Amazon, local newspapers reported.

"We take this investigation seriously and we are co-operating fully with the authorities," Amazon said in a statement.

"We don't permit illegal items on our site, and we have systems and processes designed to prevent and remove illegal items from being listed," it added.

Microsoft profits fall on reorganisation charge

Microsoft profits fell more than 10% in the three months to the end of December, from a year earlier.

The software giant reported a net income of $5.86bn, down 10.6% on the same quarter in 2013.

The results included a $243m charge for reorganising the firm partly due to purchase of Nokia's phone business, which it bought in September 2013.

At $26.5bn, Microsoft sales for the quarter were better than financial analysts had expected.

Microsoft was helped by strong sales of its Xbox games console over the holiday season.

The company sold 6.6 million consoles during the quarter.

Microsoft is hoping the latest version of its Windows computer operating software will boost its software division.

Revenue from the licensing of Windows fell 13% in the quarter compared to the previous year.

"We are taking bold steps forward across our business, and specifically with Windows 10, to deliver new experiences, new categories and new opportunities to our customers," chief executive Satya Nadella said.

Windows 10 will work on smartphones, tablet computers and desktop machines.

Microsoft MVP tweets support for Windows 10 from Mac!

A Microsoft worker tweeted his excitement about the company's new operating system Windows 10 from a Mac made by rival Apple

                             

A Microsoft employee tweeted his excitement at the launch of new operating system Windows 10 - from a Mac.

Dan Ardelean, MVP for client development, sent the tweet from an Apple Mac in the run up to Microsoft's announcement on Wednesday, which also saw the unveiling of augmented reality headset HoloLens.

Mr Ardelean's mishap comes weeks after BlackBerry's official Twitter feed was caught tweeting from an iPhone instead of one of their own handsets. Former global creative director of BlackBerry Alicia Keys also tweeted from an Apple device while working for the company.

Windows 10 will be available as a free upgrade for Windows 7, 8, 8.1 and Windows Phone customers in the first year the software is available, and has been designed to work across all Microsoft platforms, including Windows phones, desktops, laptops, tablets and Xbox One.

The company chose to skip using the name Windows 9 to mark a departure from the much-maligned previous system, which was much criticised for its tablet-optimised interface.

Microsoft placed great emphasis on both privacy and personalisation during the event in Redmond, Washington. The integration of digital assistant Cortana into PC and tablets has been designed to personalise basic functions such as search as much as possible, while speeding up the process.