A bid by Malaysian low-cost carrier, AirAsia, to set up an airline in India has won approval from the Indian government. It would be the first foreign company to try to capture the rising demand in India’s aviation sector.

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Samsung Electronics has agreed a deal to buy a 3% stake in struggling Japanese electronics maker Sharp for 10.4bn yen ($110m; £75m). Sharp has been trying to restructure its operations amid mounting losses. However, it has found it tough to raise money after its credit rating was cut to “junk” status last year.

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US carmaker General Motors (GM) has said its fourth quarter earnings rose despite $700m of losses at its European operations. It said that net income rose to $900m in the quarter, up from $500m in the same period last year. For the full-year, it made a profit of $4.9bn.

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Prime Minister David Cameron has backed the UK helicopter firm AgustaWestland despite it being implicated in a bribery probe in India. He said the issue of whether bribes were paid to win a contract was a matter for India and Westland’s owner, the Italian company Finmeccanica.

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Switzerland’s oldest bank is to close permanently after pleading guilty in a New York court to helping Americans evade their taxes. Wegelin, which was established in 1741, has also agreed to pay $57.8m (£36m; 44m euros) in fines to US authorities.

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U.S. government could exhaust its ability to meet all its financial obligations as early as Feb. 15, according to a new analysis by the Bipartisan Policy Center. The Center estimates a window from Feb. 15 to March 1 as the time that the “extraordinary measures” the Treasury Department is taking to stave off the debt [...]

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White House is seeking $1.6 trillion in tax increases up front, as well as $50 billion in additional stimulus spending, as part of any “fiscal cliff” deal, Republican aides said Thursday, as talks aimed at averting the economy-rattling cliff turned testy. President Barack Obama also wants a permanent increase in the

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Yahoo says it has been ordered to pay $2.7bn (£1.68bn) by a Mexican court. The reported ruling follows a lawsuit stemming from allegations of breach of contract and lost profits related to a yellow pages listing service. Yahoo said it “believes the plaintiffs’ claims are without merit and will vigorously pursue all appeals”.

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Moody’s has cut the triple-A rating of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) euro rescue fund by one notch and given it a negative outlook. It follows a downgrade earlier this month of key ESM-backer France.

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Apple paid less than 2% corporation tax on its profits outside the US, its filing with US regulators has shown. The company paid $713m (£445m) in the year to 29 September on foreign pre-tax profits of $36.8bn, a rate of 1.9%.

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