UNITED KINGDOM

The dollar hit its lowest in almost five months and Asian stocks slipped on Thursday after news that the Federal Reserve lowered its forecasts for U.S. economic growth for the next three years.

Australian Dollar: The Australian Dollar took a bit of a hit in Asian trade yesterday falling from a seven and half month high of 0.7783

A recovery in cellphone demand will not happen until well into 2010, researcher Gartner said on Wednesday, while Reuters data showed the industry could suffer its worst quarter ever in April-June.

Gartner corrects Q1 market fall to 8.6 percent from 9.4 percent in paragraph 2

A recovery in cell phone demand will not happen until well into 2010, researcher Gartner said on Wednesday, while Reuters data showed the industry could suffer its worst quarter ever in April-June.

Army-ruled Myanmar opened the trial of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday in an apparent bid to calm growing international outrage at the regime and its latest crackdown on the Nobel Peace laureate.

Reformists called for a fundamental shakeup of Britain's political system on Wednesday, saying the first ousting of a parliamentary speaker in 300 years was not enough to still public anger over an expenses scandal.

India said on Wednesday it has given Pakistan new information relating to the November attack on Mumbai, seeking to push investigation into an assault that New Delhi says was carried out by Pakistan-based militants.

Cash-strapped General Motors said it expects at least three offers for German unit Opel by Wednesday's deadline, with Italy's Fiat eyeing plans to form Europe's biggest automaker.

Last summer Charity Challenge was approached by Gary Barlow about staging a Kilimanjaro climb for Comic Relief. By December we were working almost seven days a week on planning the event.

The Speaker of Britain's lower house said Tuesday he would step down in June after criticism of his handling of a scandal over lawmakers' expenses that has badly tarnished the reputation of the Mother of Parliaments.

Britain has held talks with investors to gauge their interest in buying its stakes in part-nationalized lenders, and could begin selling its holdings within a year, according to a person briefed on the matter.

World stocks rose for a third day running on Tuesday with banking stocks leading the gains in Europe, while oil hit a six-month peak.

EU ministers agreed Monday to impose more sanctions on Myanmar in order to release the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The Aussie dollar followed local equity markets lower in early trade yesterday to test critical technical support ahead of 0.7450.

Tamils and their supporters demonstrating outside Britain's parliament on Monday refused to believe that Sri Lanka's long civil war was over or that separatist Tamil Tiger rebels were defeated.

An eight-month pregnant 66-year-old businesswoman, Elizabeth Adeney, is on her way to become the Britain’s oldest mom.

The highly anticipated Wolfram Alpha computational knowledge engine underwent public testing over the weekend to see how well it will respond to a mainstream audience.

The wireless chip firms ARM and ST-Ericsson said they expect market to improve in the second quarter, helped by clients restocking, but said the rest of 2009 looked uncertain.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called for root and branch reform on Monday to defuse an expenses scandal that has damaged the main political parties and put pressure on parliament's most senior figure to quit.

The new flu strain is spreading widely in the United States and Japan and is likely to circulate worldwide, health officials said on Monday.