USA and Canada

In a joint statement, the companies said the deal would create "a stronger, more efficient global provider better able to compete in the rapidly changing office solutions industry".

The combined company would have had combined revenues of about $18 billion in 2012, the firms said.

Under the terms of the all-stock deal, Office Depot will issue 2.69 shares for each OfficeMax share. That is equal to about $13.50 per share, based on Office Depot's closing share price on Tuesday of $5.02.

In previous articles, we’ve written about the emerging competitors from China, firms that are beginning to expand their reach from that country’s broad middle market to even the well-established markets of North America and Europe.  We have characterized these companies as Second Mouse firms, drawing upon the saying “The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese” in recognition of their strong fast follower and fast learner competencies.  In fact, it has been the ability of these firms to learn best-in-class manufacturing skills from western firms an

The deal sees Mr Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway company and private equity firm 3G agree to take over the food company, famous for its ketchup and baked beans. While the takeover still needs to be voted on by shareholders, it has been approved by the company’s board. This has seen shares in Heinz soar nearly 20 percent in New York to hit the $72.50 price being offered.

The deal, which had been backed by Canadian authorities yet still required US approval, is worth $15.1 billion and represents China’s largest ever foreign takeover.

Joshua Zive of Bracewell & Guiliani, a Washington-based lobbying firm said the approval for CNOOC's latest deal "is likely to be viewed as a positive development. That, in the current climate, is a moment of significance.”

The service sees credit-card holders post a specific hashtag on Twitter to trigger payments from their accounts. In order to use its purchase-by-tweet facility, Amex members must first link their card to their Twitter account via the financial services firm's app. They then need to go to the firm's Twitter page and select the Favourites section to view which items are on sale and the associated hashtags.

As a result of the boom in mining, the South American nation of Chile today holds a number of important titles. These include being the world’s largest producer of copper, 32 percent of the world’s production to be exact, its only, and therefore leading, producer of natural nitrates and its leading producer of iodine, rhenium and lithium.

They say that in order to get a job done well you have to get your hands dirty from time to time, and a truer statement was perhaps never spoken than when it comes to the mining industry. The sheer scale of the equipment used and the nature of the environments that are being operated in make mining a highly maintenance intensive undertaking. This inevitably results in a large concentration of dirt being produced.

When we last spoke to Roger Amelunxen, owner of Canadian-based Amelunxen Mineral Processing (Aminpro), in March 2012, he spoke about the raft of changes that has occurred in his field of expertise over the previous 15 years. Now, as we enter 2013, he is just as keen to discuss how the business has evolved in little more than 10 months since.

Toyota now forecasts a net profit of $9.3 billion for the financial year to 31 March 2013. This comes on the back of profits being boosting by the yen falling as much as 15 percent against the US dollar since November 2012. A weak yen helps Japanese companies like Toyota which rely heavily on overseas sales.

The company issued the guidance as it posted a 23 percent jump in profit for the September to December quarter. The numbers mean that Toyota's earnings for the April to December period nearly quadrupled from a year earlier.