National / International News

The European Commission tables its financial transaction tax proposal, but there are fears it will catch non-participating countries in its net.

How the NHS locks away its secrets

A record amount was spent in the UK by overseas visitors last year, according to the the Office for National Statistics.

The government reveals results of tests for the presence of bute in the food chain.

The Marketplace Tech crew asked listeners leading up to this day of wine and roses to share least romantic or most romantic tweets sent or received. Here are a just a few, you get to judge the romance level.

Someone named NKK, who must have very seductive accounting skills got this one: "I love you so much... can you check line 17 on my state tax form. Call me."

DoloresM got this Valen-tweet: "Love you. Can you cut my toenails tonight?"

GovtCheez tweeted this sure-fire one: "Hey girl.  I donated to NPR in your name." 

Add your own in a comment below or send us a tweet @marketplacetech.

News photos over 24 hours: 14 February

Many think of church as incense, organ music and dog collars. But there are a wave of new churches that look rather different.

A slew of GDP numbers out of Europe and Asia today paint a gory picture of the global economy.

Most shocking has been the sharp downturn in the German economy. Europe’s powerhouse shrank by 0.6 percent in the last quarter of last year. Falling exports did most of the damage. The French economy contracted too, and Portugal fell by an alarming 1.8 percent, dragging down the rest of the eurozone in their wake.

The currency bloc as a whole is now mired in a deepening recession. But the pain is not confined to Europe. Japan also saw its output shrivel in the last quarter. Andrew Hilton of the CSFI think tank says this is a global trend:

“Recessions that take place after financial crises are much, much harder to reverse. There’s a lot of historical evidence for that, and we’re finding it out the hard way," says Hilton.

Meanwhile the U.S. is performing relatively well. Better than expected figures on auto sales, retail sales and on exports may well push America’s GDP for the last quarter into positive territory.

Germany is the latest country to report horsemeat DNA in processed beef, as authorities across the EU are told to conduct tests.

Burmese police fired military-issue white phosphorus grenades to disperse protesters at a controversial copper mine, a new report alleges.

UK troops set for Helmand as mission draws down

The family of a woman who died in a road crash in Fife pay tribute to the "bubbly" auxiliary nurse.

The government's response to the horsemeat scandal has been criticised as "flat-footed" by a group of MPs, who call for greater testing of products.

The number of homes repossessed in the UK fell to its lowest annual level since 2007, lenders say, with 33,900 homes seized last year.

A rural community in Lancashire has decided to fit their own cables for a better broadband connection.

A Good Day to Die Hard, the latest instalment in Bruce Willis's action franchise, receives a largely frosty response from critics as it reaches cinemas in the UK and US.

Labour leader Ed Miliband is expected to set out his battlelines for the Budget in a speech on the economy.

Lydia Ko, 15, cards a 10-under-par 63 in her opening round at the Australian Women's Open in Canberra.

South African Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius is arrested over the fatal shooting of his girlfriend at his home in Pretoria, local media say.

A cross-party letter calls for the report on UK airport expansion to be published well before its scheduled date in 2015.