UNITED KINGDOM

Slumdog Millionaire secured 11 nominations Thursday for the British Academy film awards, the Britain's version of the Oscars.

Royal Bank Scotland Plc confirmed in a statement on Wednesday it sold its stake in Bank of China Ltd.sending shares of the Chinese bank up in Hong Kong.

Australian Dollar: In what was a very volatile session in Asia yesterday the Aussie dollar climbed back from its open near 66 cents to post a late afternoon high slightly above the

World governing body FIFA has revealed their latest football world rankings, with the top 14 positions remaining unchanged.

Australian Dollar: After opening the week above 70 cents the Aussie dollar swiftly retreated in early morning trade as investors remained nervous following Friday's U.S employment report.

Job losses in U.K. are expected to escalate sharply in the first months of 2009 as the recession deepens and the credit crunch continues, a Confederation of British Industry survey showed Monday.

Australian Dollar: The Aussie dollar drifted lower in local trade on Friday after posting a high of 0.7130 in early morning trade.

Bernard Madoff ordered the transfer of £100 Million ($150M)from his UK company to his US firm weeks before he confessed of a $50 billion fraud.

The Australian Dollar opens little-changed from this time yesterday at 0.7120 but has experienced another wide 24-hour range.

Bankrupt department store chain Woolworths, a stalwart of British retailing for 100 years, turned out the lights at the final 200 of its 807 shops on Tuesday.

Australian Dollar: The Australian Dollar opens sharply lower this morning at US71 cents. The Aussie moved to an overnight high of 0.7268 during European trade, however

John Atta-Mills was sworn in as the new president of Ghana on Wednesday following a peaceful but tense election that secured the country's status as one of the continent's few stable democracies.

Australian Dollar: The Australian Dollar opens at a 3-month high against its U.S. counterpart at 0.7250 as commodity prices continue their recent run higher. Positive sentiment

London based Waterford Wedgwood PLC, the maker of classic china and crystal, filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday after running out of money and failing to find a buyer.

Australian Dollar: The Australian Dollar opens higher today at 0.7149 and in the last 24 hours has been more up and down than the wicket at the Sydney Cricket Ground. In local

Going through ones belongings after death can bring about all sorts of surprises; the relatives of Dr. Harold Carr were ones who received such surprise.

Anyone with a taste for boutique hotels with charm, originality and set in scenic beauty spots or striking urban placements, should certainly dig into the Domus Selecta catalogue.

Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Monday the country will freeze assets of Iran's largest bank in a further move to discourage the country from developing nuclear weapons, after which he also announced additional troops for Afghanistan.

The FTSE 100 share index rose early on Thursday. By 9:18 am the index had risen 0.6 per cent by 34.7 points to 5,758.9.

US coffee chain Starbucks has announced its intentions to open 150 new outlets in Britain, France and Germany in the next three years in a deal with SSP. SSP is a UK group which runs Burger King and Pizza Hut stores.

Home Retail Group, owner of Homebase and Argos, said on Thursday that like for like sales in Homebase stores fell 12 per cent in the 13 weeks to 31 May to £440 million.