BBC World Business News (Business)

Reports suggest Microsoft is ready to pay Rupert Murdoch for an exclusive deal to carry news on the internet - is this the beginning of the end for free news online?

An American businessman who's banned from entering Russia, claims the authorities there refused medical treatment to his lawyer, who later died, because he refused to sign a false confession to fraud... Bill Browder, of Hermitage Capital, once Russia's leading foreign investor, has told the BBC that the country has turned into a "criminal state".

Oprah Winfrey is to end her show after 25 years. She was responsible for encouraging millions of people to read books and publishers are disappointed to be losing her valuable support.

In this edition... the growing controversy that's buffeting the Wall Street bank Goldman Sachs. And... is Twitter better than ice cream?

An independent watchdog says regulators made serious mistakes in the way they handled the rescue of the American insurance company AIG. A former AIG executive says he agrees. And is inflation the next big threat for the world economy?

Gazprom criticises the EU for not doing enough to head off another gas crisis this winter. And why one of the most famous Hollywood studios of them all is looking for a buyer.

A showpiece development in the heart of London, intended to provide 170 new luxury hotel beds, has been mothballed. We hear how here, as in so many cities around the world, the lack of bank credit means building sites have fallen silent. Plus Iraq's stockmarket plans to go electronic as it enjoys an investment boom.

The Czech prime minister has condemned US President Barack Obama's economic recovery plans as "a way to hell". And we investigate the boiling row between Ethiopian coffee producers and their government.

How will the economic slowdown affect Africa? The International Monetary Fund has predicted severe economic repercussions for the continent; yet will some areas of African life remain immune from global trends?

America's richest hedge fund managers have been called before Congress to explain their role in the financial crisis. Will a Democrat White House force through new laws to make them less secretive and pay more tax?