Global business
A feud at the top of Volkswagen's management opened up. Ferdinand Piëch, the German carmaker's chairman, told Der Spiegel he was "at a distance" from Martin Winterkorn, the chief executive. But Wolfgang Porsche, another powerful member of VW's supervisory board, said that Piëch, his cousin, was speaking only for himself. The feud is not good news at a time when the firm's volume-car business is struggling.
Nokia announced that it has a deal to buy Alcatel-Lucent. The Finnish firm's decision to bid for the assets of its Franco-American rival suggests that it wants to expand again, after the sale of its handset business to Microsoft last year. Alcatel-Lucent shareholders will own 33.5 percent of the combined firm, and Nokia's the remaining 66.5 percent.
Encouraged by the abolition of milk quotas by the European Union last month, Euronext has launched a new set of dairy futures for butter, skimmed-milk powder and whey powder. Euronext's head of business development for commodities, Nicholas Kennedy, has said that he hoped the change would cause a "revolution in European dairy."
BlaBlaCar, the world's largest online ride-sharing service, announced that it had bought two rivals, Carpooling.com and AutoHop. The latest acquisitions will raise the number of BlaBlaCar users to 20 million, up from 6 million a year ago.
The European Commission formally accused Google of illegally using its dominance in the Internet-search market to encourage European consumers to use its in-house shopping services. Margrethe Vestager, the European commissioner for competition, also said she will investigate Google's Android mobile platform amid allegations that it forces handset-makers into uncompetitive contracts to use its software. Google has denied that its operations have reduced competition.
Political economy
Britain's Office for National Statistics announced that the country's inflation rate remained at 0 percent for the second consecutive month in March. Although economists expect Britain to go into deflation over the next few months, the Bank of England has said that it is unlikely to reduce interest rates any further.
The European Central Bank announced that it is keeping its main interest rate at a record low of 0.05 percent. At a news conference, Mario Draghi, the bank's president, was interrupted by a female protester who showered him with confetti while screaming, "End ECB dictatorship."
The Turkish lira fell to a record low, losing 14 percent against the dollar this year. Worries about whether the central bank would cut interest rates have contributed to the slide.
Results of the Sudan presidential election will not be announced until April 27, but most believe President Omar Hassan al-Bashir will remain in office. Opposition groups boycotted the poll, but Bashir, indicted on a charge of genocide by the International Criminal Court, has never looked stronger.
Russia has lifted a self-imposed ban on the sale to Iran of the S-300 advanced air-defense system, a move criticized by the countries involved in talks to limit Tehran's nuclear program. The United States and Israel said the move would make any airstrikes on Iran's nuclear facilities harder and upset the region's balance of military power.
A court in Japan blocked the reopening of a nuclear power plant in Fukui on the main island's West Coast. The Takahama plant had already obtained approval from Japan's nuclear regulator. Nuclear power generated 30 percent of Japan's electricity before the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, after which the country's nuclear power stations were shut down.
In response to protests in Hong Kong against mainland Chinese who buy goods in bulk to resell, China limited residents of Shenzhen, across the border from Hong Kong, to visiting the territory just once a week.
India relaxed the last of the restrictions on the production of goods, including pickles and chutneys, that are "reserved" exclusively for small businesses.
The British election creaked into third gear with the launch of the parties' manifestos. With the polls still too tight to call, the Conservatives promised more free child care and subsidies for social-housing tenants. Labour vowed to avoid further borrowing and keep cutting the deficit.
