Business

Germany's highest court said Internet service providers could be made responsible for blocking websites offering illegal music downloads, but only if copyright holders showed they had first made reasonable attempts to thwart such piracy by other means.

Britain's financial watchdog has fined Barclays (BARC.L) 72 million pounds ($109 million) for cutting corners in checking wealthy customers involved in a huge transaction described by one senior manager as potentially the "deal of the century."

General Motors Co (GM.N) and its law firm need not turn over privileged documents to drivers hoping to show that the automaker intended to commit a crime or fraud by concealing defective ignition switches in their vehicles, a Manhattan federal judge ruled on Wednesday.