UNITED KINGDOM

Churches across the world are able to sing the Lord's praises online after the launch of the first major digital hymn book on Thursday.

Debenhams Plc, the department stores group, has reported that total sales for the Christmas period rose 4.4 per cent more than the previous year.

Apple on Wednesday announced its move to reduce prices for music on its U.K. iTunes store so as to match the pricing in other European countries after an inquiry by a European Union on a pricing complaint from a British consumer group.

British music fans will pay less for downloads from Apple's online iTunes store after Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs reached a deal with the European Commission.

President Mwai Kibaki's government accused rival Raila Odinga's party of unleashing genocide in Kenya on Wednesday as the death toll from tribal violence over a disputed election passed 300.

A mob torched a Kenyan church on Tuesday, killing villagers cowering inside, as the death toll from ethnic riots triggered by President Mwai Kibaki's disputed re-election soared to nearly 200.

Nokia has again pushed back the launch of its gaming service N-gage due to delays in software testing, a spokesman said on Thursday, in the latest blow to the Internet services ambitions of the world's top cell phone maker.

Oil rose to a one-month high above $96 a barrel on Wednesday ahead of a U.S. government report expected to show crude inventories in the world's top consumer fell for a sixth straight week.

The dollar continued to firm against the sterling following weak UK economic data, rising to its highest level in 4-months at 1.9813. However, the greenback was slightly softer against the yen and euro following the weak Philadelphia Fed survey.

Three British residents held at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp for suspected terrorists arrived in Britain on Wednesday after more than four years in captivity and two were promptly arrested, police said.

In a bid to ease the effects of the credit crunch and high borrowing costs, the Bank of England has lent £10 billion to financial institutions and banks. Different borrowers bid for the cash in an auction.Those who bid at the minimum rate of 5.36% received 75% of the amount they requested. The total amount of money bid was £850 million over the £10 billion promised by the Bank.The average i...

The European Commission has received a complaint that a disputed levy on electronic gadgets to compensate for private copying of music distorts the EU's internal market, a top official at the bloc's executive said.

The British government deepened its involvement in Northern Rock on Tuesday, offering to guarantee more of the stricken mortgage bank's liabilities as it battles to find a private-sector buyer. Facing growing speculation it could be forced to nationalize the country's fifth-largest mortgage lender, the government extended its guarantees to include virtually all Northern Rock's se...

Ford Motor Co. is set to choose a frontrunner to buy European brands Jaguar and Land Rover around the end of this week as it moves towards a sale early in 2008, said a person close to the matter on Monday.

Asian share markets, already ragged after five months of turmoil, fell deeper on Monday as rising U.S. inflation and high oil prices fanned concerns the Federal Reserve may be unable to make deeper rate cuts to prevent a possible recession.

Top European central bankers expressed concern on Friday about the success of a concerted action plan to grease the wheels of seized-up money markets, as U.S. banking giant Citigroup faced fresh strife. One official said he was disappointed money market rates remained at 4.8 to 4.9 percent despite a planned liquidity injection by the world's major central banks.

Europe toned down a clash with the United States over 2020 climate goals on the final day of U.N. talks in Bali on Friday, raising hopes of a deal to start negotiations on a new global warming treaty.

Microsoft Corp said Wednesday it has acquired Multimap, one of Britain's top online mapping companies, for an undisclosed sum in attempt to offer better targeted advertising.

Corp. on Wednesday completed the acquisition of Multimap, one of U.K.'s top online mapping companies at undisclosed amount, in a move to boost its advertising business.

Close to one billion people will never receive a formal education because governments around the world are not living up to pledges to provide free primary schooling for all by 2015, aid groups said on Wednesday.

Forty people were killed and more than 125 wounded when three car bombs exploded in quick succession in the Shi'ite city of Amara in southern Iraq on Wednesday, police said.