Tony Fernandes, the boss of Air Asia and Formula One's Team Lotus team principal, has secured nearly £50m of funding to grow the UK franchise of his budget hotel chain.

The pharmaceuticals industry was dealt a fresh blow today after AstraZeneca announced a further 7,300 job cuts amid warnings that its profits will slide this year.

The bus and train operator FirstGroup warned it is seeing a growing North-South divide yesterday, with the economic downturn taking an uneven toll on would-be passengers in harder-hit regions.

The Government has fired the starting gun on its £2bn train-franchising programme, asking operators to bid to run the Thameslink, Great Western and Essex Thameside routes for up to 15 years.

A university lecturer who admitted possessing a hoard of Class A drugs at his house where a schoolgirl died was spared jail today.

The media company which owns the rights to Paddington Bear, Noddy and the Mr Men is on the verge of administration after it failed to find new funds.

Rush-hour overcrowding on trains in London and the South-east is worsening. Passengers for Paddington suffer the most, with an average of 18.5 per cent being forced to stand at morning peak times, and the busiest service is the 6.37am train from Reading. Outside of London, Leeds has the highest number of standard-class passengers without a seat, with 14 per cent standing on arrival at the city centre.

Rush-hour overcrowding on London and south-east England rail routes is worsening.

As the furry TV superstars re-emerge from a 30-year hibernation to play Glastonbury, the man behind their greatest hits relives the pleasures and pitfalls of the glory days – and reveals how he survived 'career suicide'

Audio books can be just as engaging a way into a love of books as bedtime reading. From Paddington to Pooh, here are some of our favourites.

Police must avoid the "temptation" to abuse anti-terrorism laws by using them as a net to round up innocent people – particularly in the run-up to next year's Olympics, the Government's terrorism watchdog has warned.

The hub

A new canal boat hire base has opened on the Grand Union Canal, Paddington Arm, at Willow Tree Marina near Greenford, west London.

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