UNITED KINGDOM

Britain's HSBC is set to announce a share sale of up to $18 billion, two sources familiar with the situation said on Saturday, in what could become the country's biggest-ever rights issue.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called for more rigorous supervision of the global banking system on Saturday, a day before EU leaders meet to thrash out ways to tackle the financial crisis.

HSBC , Europe's biggest bank, plans to raise more than 12 billion pounds ($17 billion) in a share sale aimed at propping up its capital base during the global economic crisis, the Financial Times reported on Saturday.

HSBC , Europe's biggest bank, plans to raise more than 12 billion pounds ($17 billion) in a share sale aimed at propping up its capital base during the global economic crisis, the Financial Times reported on Saturday.

HSBC, Europe's biggest bank, plans to raise more than 12 billion pounds ($17 billion) in a share sale aimed at propping up its capital base in order to cope with the economic crisis, the Financial Times reported on Saturday.

Offshore financial centers which have thrived under a veil of bank secrecy will have to embrace transparency to survive a global crackdown on tax cheats that is menacing the private banking sector in Switzerland and beyond.

The European unit of U.S. carmaker General Motors said it planned to spin off its German arm Opel and needed 3.3 billion euros ($4.2 billion) in state aid to avert job cuts and site closures.

Accused swindler Bernard Madoff moved $164 million from his firm in Britain to New York in the weeks before he was arrested on a charge of running the largest Ponzi scheme in Wall Street history, according to court papers.

The European unit of U.S. carmaker General Motors said it planned to spin off its German arm Opel and needed 3.3 billion euros ($4.2 billion) in state aid to avert job cuts and site closures.

General Motors' German unit Opel agreed to a restructuring plan that aims to save as many jobs and factories as possible but needs 3.3 billion euros ($4.18 billion) in state aid, GM officials said.

Governments on both sides of the Atlantic moved to tighten their grip over banks on Friday to stem a financial crisis that has pushed the U.S. economy into its deepest contraction in more than a quarter century.

Part-nationalized Lloyds Banking Group unveiled a 10 billion pound ($14.28 billion) loss for 2008 and said it had not finalized a plan to put billions of pounds of assets into a UK government-backed insurance scheme.

The U.S. government will commit to holding a common equity stake of up to 30-40 percent in Citigroup in a deal that will see most of the group's board replaced, a person familiar with the transaction said on Friday.

France, Germany and Britain are proposing extra EU sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, the Financial Times reported Thursday but France said no such measures would be passed any time soon.

but the target and the damage were transatlantic. MILITARY NETWORKS McKinnon is accused of causing the entire U.S. Army's Military District of Washington network of more than 2,000 computers to be shut down for 24 hours. He has told Reuters he was just a computer nerd who wanted to find out whether aliens really existed and became obsessed with trawling large military networks for proof. At the...

Stocks headed for a higher open on Thursday as investors searched for beaten-down shares, with financial shares set to rebound following reassuring news from Europe on bolstering the banking sector. The government released more bleak news on the economy, however, as one report showed the number of U.S. workers continuing to claim jobless benefits notched a fresh record in the second week of Februa...

Royal Bank of Scotland reported the biggest loss in British history on Thursday and said the government's stake could rise as high as 95 percent after it stumped up billions to insure risky bank assets.

Royal Bank of Scotland reported the biggest loss in British history on Thursday and said the government's stake could rise as high as 95 percent after it stumped up billions to insure the bank's risky assets. RBS also unveiled plans to cut 2.5 billion pounds ($3.56 billion) in costs as part of a restructuring plan which will see it exit or reduce its presence in 36 of the 54 countries it operate...

The Australian Dollar opens a shade weaker today at 0.6468 but remains entrenched in its recent broad range between 0.6350 and 0.6550. The Aussie hit an overnight high of 0.6554 – a level which is proving a tough one to break. Despite further poor economic data out of the United States last night, this time in the form of a 12-year low in existing home sales, the Aussie was caught up in moves lower by the Euro and Yen.

Three potential bidders are still looking at buying a large stake in American International Group's key Asian life insurance unit, people close to the matter said on Wednesday.

Chocolate eating is on the rise in the current economic slowdown, while chewing gum is suffering, according to British confectionery giant Cadbury Plc.