Topic: London

The Bank of England voted to inject another 50 billion pounds ($79.3 billion) into the financial system as part of its efforts to shore up a fragile recovery in the economy, which remains at risk of slipping back into recession.

More than a dozen traders and brokers in London and Asia have been fired, suspended or put on leave by their employers as a multinational probe into alleged manipulation of crucial global lending rates accelerates, the Financial Times reports.

Stephen Hester has revealed that the dramatic restructuring of Royal Bank of Scotland has cost 38 billion pounds ($60.5 billion) in a rallying memo to staff days after the embattled chief executive waived a 1 million pounds bonus, the Financial Times reports.

U.S. authorities are stepping up investigations, including an FBI criminal inquiry, into possible violations by employees of Rupert Murdoch's media empire of a U.S. law banning corrupt payments to foreign officials such as police, law enforcement and corporate sources said.

Queen Elizabeth celebrated 60 years on the throne on Monday to become the second British monarch to reach that milestone.

Terrorists combining a cyber attack with physical violence are the biggest security threat facing the 2012 Olympics, a digital forensics expert told CNBC.

London is home to some of the world's most opulent hotels, but with five-star rooms in short supply during the Olympic Games this summer; wealthy visitors are increasingly turning to private homes to meet their accommodation needs.

Britain's dominant services sector expanded at the fastest pace in 10 months in January and firms grew much more optimistic, a survey showed on Friday, crowning a raft of data this week that raised hopes the economy may avoid recession.

Some of Britain's poorest regions are battling each other and neighboring France to boost their local economies by hosting Olympic athletes at training camps before this year's Games.

Four British men pleaded guilty on Wednesday to involvement in an al-Qaida inspired plot to bomb the London Stock Exchange.

London Mayor Boris Johnson urged Olympic dignitaries on Monday to take public transport during this summer's Games rather than chauffeur-driven limousines on specially designated lanes, to help avoid raising the ire of log-jammed Britons.

Hedge fund BlueCrest Capital Management is planning to list its BlueTrend division on the London stock market, as part of plans to develop its business further and attract new investors.

The chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland has decided to waive a bonus worth almost a million pounds ($1.6 million), the bank said on Sunday, after the handout angered Britons bearing the brunt of government austerity measures.

The biggest risk brought on by the euro debt crisis is "Balkanization" – the fragmentation of economic interests according to narrow, mainly national criteria, UK Chancellor George Osborne told CNBC Friday.

London marked a mere six months to the start of its Olympic Games Friday by focusing on the minutiae of putting on the show now that the monumental stage has been built.