IN BRIEF

Spain reforms to raise 56.4 billion euros

MADRID: The Spanish government's latest reforms will slash 56.4 billion euros from the public deficit in the next two and a half years, an official document showed on Saturday, leaving a gap to be filled by taxes on energy. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy pledged 65 billion euros of savings from tax hikes and spending cuts on Wednesday in a painful package aimed at convincing the EU and investors his government is serious about reform. Of the 56.4 billion euros of measures laid out so far, about 34.4 billion will come from changes to tax rates and 22 billion from spending cuts until 2014.

RIM hit with US$147m patent payout

OTTAWA: A California jury has ordered BlackBerry maker Research in Motion to pay US$147.2 million in damages for infringing on a patent for remote management of wireless devices, RIM announced on Saturday. "RIM is disappointed by the outcome and is evaluating all legal options," the Canadian company said in a statement. Edison, New Jersey-based software firm Mformation sued RIM in 2008 in US District Court in San Francisco, claiming it had disclosed details of its technology to RIM during licensing discussions.

Greek funding hangs on troika mission

BRUSSELS: It is too early to say how Greece will meet its financing needs and discussions can only begin once a lenders' mission returns to Athens, two EU officials said on Saturday, but a senior policymaker has said there was no cause for concern. Prior to Greece's elections, the previous government said its cash reserves would be exhausted by the end of July, and a report on Saturday suggested the European Central Bank could consider allowing Greece to delay a bond payment in August.

UK committee to

grill regulator

LONDON: Britain's top bank regulator and a former executive in the middle of an interest rate scandal at Barclays face a grilling by British lawmakers today over what they knew about an affair that has drawn in banks, regulators and politicians on both sides of the Atlantic. The House of Commons Treasury Select Committee will question Jerry del Missier two weeks after he quit as chief operating officer of Barclays, the British bank hit by an interest rate manipulation scandal that has blown up into a political storm. He was the trusted investment banking lieutenant of Bob Diamond, the Barclays chief executive who quit the same day. Agencies