The billionaire Conservative peer Lord Ashcroft is to sign a pledge to give at least half of his estimated £1.2bn fortune to charity, it emerged today.

The Russian tycoon was second in last year's list

In profit...

The world's biggest steelmaker, ArcelorMittal, is slashing the value of its European business by about $4.3bn (£2.6bn) after the eurozone's economic woes hit demand.

The “secret” deal that ended a threat by the French government to nationalise a steel plant in Lorraine has infuriated unions and even some cabinet ministers.

Unlike Chelsea, Evraz's woes can't be solved by Roman Abramovich splashing the cash on new signings. The steel giant, which is controlled by the Russian billionaire, was left near the bottom of the table last night, closing at an all-time low, as doom and gloom continued to swirl around the sector.

Protestors have taken over a large property owned by Olympic Orbit tower designer Anish Kapoor in the first demonstration against the London Games.

It is perhaps not altogether shocking that £15 tickets to go on a rollercoaster that has already crashed don’t appear to have sold that well.

Kenya unveiled its first oil discovery yesterday at an exploratory well by Tullow Oil in the north of the country.

Buyers of homes worth more than £2m are going to be hit with a massive stamp duty rise from today, with a new 7 per cent stamp duty land tax charged. Until yesterday, only a 5 per cent charge was levied on homes sold for overa £1m.

A top hedge fund manager is facing one of the most expensive divorce settlement in British legal history after telling his wife he is gay.

It has been called a waste of money, "Meccano on crack", and hailed by the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, as the "hubble-bubble" tower for its likeness to a shisha pipe.

And what does he do?

The richest person in the world lost about $6.7bn (£4bn) as the world's stock markets endured a precipitous fall last week.