News Headlines - 28 January 2014

▽New figures to show strong growth in UK economy - Mirror Online

New figures out later today are expected to show Britain's economy is growing at its fastest rate since 2007. Data released by the Office for National Statistics are due to show a fourth quarter in a row of economic growth. Gross domestic product is thought to have slowed a little to 0.7 percent quarter-on-quarter in the last three months of last year, compared with 0.8 percent in the third quarter. But this would mean 1.9% growth overall for 2013 compared to just 0.3% in 2012.

▽Apple shares plunge as sales disappoint - Telegraph

Strong demand for iPhones and iPads helped push Apple sales to a record $57.6bn, but the company saw its value slump $40bn as investors remain concerned its growth may be losing steam. The Californian technology giant sold 51m iPhones in the three months to the end of December, more than 3m more than the same period the previous year and a new high for the company.

▽Ukraine crisis: Prime Minister Azarov offers to resign - FT.com

Ukraine’s prime minister, Mykola Azarov, tendered his resignation on Tuesday morning, the latest bid by the administration of President Viktor Yanukovich to defuse an escalating two-month stand-off with anti-government protesters

▽Report claims N. Korea executed relatives of purged uncle

After executing his powerful uncle last month, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un took his purge to an extreme degree by putting to death almost all the uncle's direct relatives, including children, said an unconfirmed report by the South Korean news agency Yonhap.

▽BBC News - Japan reports record annual trade deficit

Its deficit rose to 11.5 trillion yen ($112bn; ￡68bn) in 2013 - a 65% jump from a year ago. Japan has seen its energy imports rise in recent years after it shut all of its nuclear reactors in the aftermath of the tsunami and earthquake in 2011. But it is having to pay more for those imports after a series of aggressive policy moves weakened the yen sharply.