UNITED KINGDOM

Swiss central bank head Philipp Hildebrand came under pressure on Wednesday following revelations of sensitively timed currency trades by his wife and the sacking of a whistleblower who passed details to the lawyer of a political adversary.

Greece, deeply mired in its own financial crisis, has been highly dependent on Iranian oil because Teheran has offered debt-ridden nations attractive credit terms.

British police have launched a murder investigation after a woman's body was discovered on Queen Elizabeth's Sandringham country estate in eastern England.

Manufacturing grew at its fastest pace in six months in December, capping a late-year upswing, but a European slump and rising oil prices posed threats to the U.S. economy in the new year.

Manufacturing grew at its fastest pace in six months in December, capping a late-year upswing, but a European slump and rising oil prices posed threats to the U.S. economy in the new year.

Gold rose by nearly 2 percent on Tuesday, fueled by a recovery in the euro against the dollar, after the bullion price neared six-month lows last week in a flurry of year-end selling.

The tiny central African nation of Rwanda elected the world's first women-dominated legislature.

Manufacturing activity picked up nationwide in December, with new orders and employment improving, according to a national survey of purchasing managers.

Manufacturing grew at the fastest pace in six months in December, capping a late-year rally in the sector, while a rise in new orders suggested good momentum in 2012, an industry report showed on Tuesday.

Meryl Streep's latest movie The Iron Lady, a biopic on the UK's first female prime minister Margaret Thatcher, saw positive sales during the first weekend of its limited release.

There are only hours left for Iowans to choose their Republican presidential nominee. The top two candidates seem set for a dead heat finish, while a third is trying to make the best use of a last minute and surprising surge forward in polls.

European stocks were higher early Tuesday afternoon, hitting a two-month high on sharp gains in cyclical mining shares, while simmering concerns over the Eurozone crisis sent French and Spanish markets lower.

French champagne sales managed to weather the economic crisis in 2011, expecting to show 3.5 percent growth thanks to exports to the United States and emerging countries, but a slowdown is in sight, the champagne trade association said on Monday.

Food prices may ease in 2012 due to a slowing global economy, though no drastic drop from high levels is expected, the new director-general of the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organisation said on Tuesday.

He had a year plagued by scandal at News Corp. in 2011, and he was accused of working too hard to avoid public comment. But Rupert Murdoch is starting 2012 off in a different way -- he's opened a Twitter account and apparently isn't afraid to tweet.

ICE February Brent crude futures rose $2.97 to $110.35 a barrel in trading, while U.S. crude futures were up $2.70 to $101.53 a barrel. U.S. crude futures were up as much as $101.68 in the trading day.

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch has rung in the New Year with a new Twitter account that includes praise for Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum and opinions on President Barack Obama's policies and the Steve Jobs biography.

Luxury cosmetics brand, Lancôme has released the images for their latest campaign featuring Harry Potter starlet Emma Watson looking every bit elegant and stylish.

American shareholders are suing Britain's Lloyds Banking Group and the bank's former executives, saying they were misled over its rescue of fellow lender HBOS in the depths of the financial crisis in 2008.

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron said on Monday he would clamp down on excess pay in London's financial sector as part of what he said should be bold measures to boost the country's fortunes.

The media mogul's Twitter handle is rupertmurdoch. And in the first day of tweets he had almost 50,000 followers. He didn't let them down, either, delivering tweets with perspective on the New Year and more. A spokesperson for News International confirmed that the user rupertmurdoch wasn't a fake -- it is really Murdoch.