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LONDON (Alliance News) - Pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline has confirmed that is investigating allegations of improper conduct in its Iraq business.

The Wall Street Journal had cited a person familiar with the matter saying that Glaxo was violating US and UK anti bribery laws by hiring government employed physicians and pharmacist in Iraq as paid sales representatives to boost the use of its products.

"We have zero tolerance for unethical or illegal behaviour," a spokesperson said in a statement, noting that the company employs less than 60 people in its Iraq pharmaceuticals operation, and the allegations related to a small number of individuals in the country. The investigations are ongoing.

Glaxo introduced changes to its sales and marketing practices in December, dropping individual targets for its sales representatives. The changes are expected to be rolled out worldwide by 2016, brought in to "further align the company's activities with the interests of patients."

"We believe these changes will eliminate any perception of conflict of interest and ensure incentives for our employees are aligned with the best interests of patients," the spokesperson said Monday.

The biggest corporate news of the day is in Europe, where Swiss cement maker Holcim Ltd and French peer Lafarge have announced an all share merger of equals to create LafargeHolcim, with nearly EUR32 billion in sales.

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FTSE 100: down 0.7% at 6,647.32
FTSE 250: down 0.6% at 16,333.66
AIM ALL-SHARE: down 0.2% at 851.65
GBP-USD: up at 1.6582
EUR-USD: up at 1.3726
GOLD: down at USD1,298.79 an ounce
OIL (Brent): down at USD105.52 a barrel

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Key UK Corporate News

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FTSE 100: BG Group has moved the centre of its global liquefied natural gas and oil marketing business to Singapore from its head office in the UK. Tullow Oil has refinanced its revolving credit facility, increasing it by 50% to USD750.0 million, and extending it to April 2017. IMI said all outstanding B Shares issued under the deferred capital option of its recent shareholder payout will be redeemed at 200 pence each with immediate effect. It said there were nearly 5.5 million B shares to be redeemed under the deferred capital option.

FTSE 250: Kentz Corporation has been awarded a USD570 million services contract for the Ichthys Project Onshore LNG Facilities in Darwin, Australia. Cranswick confirmed a robust year of trading, as total sales for the year just ended rose 13%, driven by strong sales growth and increasing demand for its fresh pork, bacon and cooked meat. Foxtons Group's Chief Executive Michael Brown will be taking compassionate leave, with Chairman Garry Watts working with Chief Operating Officer Nic Budden and Chief Financial Officer Gerard Nieslony to ensure the smooth running of the business while he is off. Unite Group said its Oasis Capital joint venture has exchanged contracts to sell its three assets for GBP174 million, and it will use its GBP18 million share of the net proceeds to raises its stake in another joint venture with GIC to 50%.

AIM: Sunkar Resources is a big gainer after the company said it has raised USD1.3 million by issuing 1.2 million convertible loan notes to its biggest shareholder, Sun Avenue Partners Corp, a move that will help it solve its immediate financial difficulties. Sierra Rutile is up after its first quarter production rose strongly and its cash costs fell. Pires Investments has jumped after its convertible loan note was converted into about 3.0 million new shares in Rame Energy, which it said would realise GBP547,000 at Rame's initial public offering price of 18 pence. Graphene NanoChem is doing well after it signed a profit-boosting joint venture deal and neared an agreement on another. Antrim Energy is another gainer after it said its special resolution to approve the sale of its Causeway, Kerloch, and Cormorant East assets in the North Sea was passed at its recent shareholders meeting, helping to offset some of its financial difficulties. Grafenia is up after it said it expects its results for the financial year that just ended to be in line with its own expectations, after trading continued in a similar vein to the positive update it gave back in mid-January. Red Leopard Holdings is a big faller after it said it hopes to finalise plans to reopen the Idora Tunnel for the purposes of exploration on its mining claims in the vicinity of Shoshone County, Idaho, during the spring. API Group is trading lower after the foils and packaging materials producer warned that it expects its results for its last financial year to be at the lower end of expectations, after a recovery in the second half of the year proved not enough to offset the weak performance in the first-half of the year.

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Top Economics And General

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Ukraine's Acting Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said the Kremlin was behind pro-Russian protesters who occupied key government buildings in the east at the weekend, adding that the tactic could be a preamble for a Russian military incursion. "Everybody understands that this is the realisation of an anti-Ukrainian plan...to destabilize the situation so that foreign troops cross the border and occupy territory," Yatsenyuk told parliament, according to the Interfax Ukraine news agency. Russia's takeover of Crimea started with similar protests by ethnic Russians on the Black Sea peninsula, which last month voted for secession from Ukraine.
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Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban late Sunday declared victory for himself and his Fidesz party, telling thousands of supporters: "All doubts, all worries are vanquished - we have won." With 90.2% of the votes counted, Orban's conservative Fidesz party had received 44.5% of the votes, the national election commission reported. Projections indicated this would give Fidesz 132 of the 199 seats in parliament - or a two-thirds majority, similar to the results four years ago.
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Voters in India's remote north-eastern states of Assam and Tripura were casting their ballots Monday in the first phase of the country's mammoth general elections. Polls were taking place in five of Assam's 14 constituencies and one of two constituencies in Tripura, in the first of nine phases of voting. About 815 million Indians are eligible to vote in the five-week elections to choose lawmakers to the 543-member Lok Sabha or lower house of parliament. The drawn-out exercise is scheduled to end May 12. Votes for all phases are to be counted on May 16, and results expected to be known the same day.
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East Asia will remain the world's fastest-growing region in 2014, with a collective expansion of 7.1%, the World Bank said. Myanmar's fast-reforming economy is expected to grow 7.8%, the fastest in the region, with China achieving 7.6% growth, down slightly from 7.7% in 2013, according to the bank's East Asia Pacific Economic Update.
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An Australian ship picked up the electronic pulse matching that of a plane's black-box flight recorder for over two hours, search officials looking for a missing Malaysian airliner said. The acoustic signals picked up by the Ocean Shield are in a different part of the Indian Ocean from those reportedly monitored by a Chinese ship last week.
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Defence authorities in Pyongyang hit back at the test firing of a ballistic missile by South Korea last month, calling it a "grave provocation," media reports said. South Korea on March 23 held several tests of a new rocket with a range of 500 kilometres. North Korea threatened to "wipe out the enemy's strongholds" if any missiles landed on its territory, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported, citing Pyongyang's official news agency KCNA.
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Eight-month-old Prince George watched from a window as his parents the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were welcomed to New Zealand with a traditional Maori war dance at Government House in Wellington on Monday. The family will be in New Zealand from April 7 to April 16 and then in Australia until April 25.
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Afternoon Watchlist (all times British Summer Time)

20:00 US Consumer Credit Change

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Tuesday's Key UK Corporate Events

Netplay TV Full Year Results
Ferrexpo Q1 Results
Somero Enterprises Full Year Results
Rethink Group Full Year Results
UK Mail Group Trading Statement
Victrex Trading Statement
InternetQ Full Year Results

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Tuesday's Key Economic Events (all times British Summer Time)

00:50 Japan Current Account
04:00 Japan BoJ Interest Rate Decision
04:00 Japan BoJ Monetary Policy Statement
07:30 Japan BoJ Press Conference
07:45 France Budget
07:45 France Trade Balance
09:30 UK Industrial Production
09:30 UK Manufacturing Production
12:30 US NFIB Business Optimism Index
13:55 US Redbook index
15:00 UK NIESR GDP Estimate
18:30 US Fed Minneapolis's Narayana Kocherlakota speech

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By Alice Attwood; aliceattwood@alliancenews.com; @AliceAtAlliance

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