UNITED KINGDOM

Traditional all-weather raincoats, designed for the working masses almost 200 years ago, joined the ranks of upmarket London fashion on Wednesday, when Mackintosh opened its first standalone store.

A Labour Party MP is seeking to amend the laws of royal succession to the British throne to remove the supremacy of male heirs over females, ahead of the scheduled April wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Rafa Nadal returns to action at the Australian Open on Thursday, with American qualifier Ryan Sweeting handed the Herculean task of ending the Mallorcan's march toward a fourth consecutive grand slam title in the second round.

The number of unemployed people in the UK rose by 49,000 to 2.5 million during three months to November, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said on Wednesday.

Swiss drug maker Roche said its investigational drug for advanced skin cancer - RG7204 - showed significant survival benefit in a late stage study.

The content draws parental concern although advertisers are targeting the show fully

U.K. real estate investement trust Land Securities said it has maintained high levels of activity across its London and Retail portfolios with the continued success on lettings on a number of projects that will drive both valuation surpluses and income growth.

Scientists are trying to clone the woolly mammoth by 2016.

Ghana's stock exchange expects at least four new listings this year, including a local float by oil group Tullow Plc, and predicts that inflows of new pension funds will boost trading volumes.

Talks to end Ivory Coast's post-election standoff remain in deadlock, with no sign Laurent Gbagbo will agree to step down as president and his rival unwilling to meet him until he does, mediators said on Tuesday.

German precious metals refinery group Heraeus reports massive demand for bars and coins, even as ETF trust funds and Comex futures contracts saw considerable profit-taking driven liquidations by institutional traders.

It was a thrilling second day of the Australian Open with the second batch of players progressing into the next round. There were twists and turns, some surprise wins but mostly routine victories, all adding to a scintillating day of tennis.

World’s number one mobile phone maker, Nokia will end bundling of free music downloads with cellphones in 27 countries but will continue to sell phones free music downloads in China, India, Indonesia, Brazil, Turkey and South Africa.

British credit information group Experian Plc said total revenue rose 12 percent in the third quarter, with organic revenue up 8 percent, as it returned to positive growth across all regions and principal activities.

A former Swiss private banker handed over data on hundreds of offshore bank account holders to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Monday, saying he wanted to draw attention to financial abuses.

GlaxoSmithKline will record a legal charge of 2.2 billion pounds ($3.4 billion) for the fourth quarter, effectively wiping out its profit, as it settles further claims related to Avandia and sales practices.

A former Swiss private banker says he plans to hand over data on hundreds of offshore bank account holders to the WikiLeaks website at a London news conference on Monday.

Ed Miliband, leader of Britain’s Labour Party, has joined a growing chorus of critics expressing reservations over BP plc’s (NYSE: BP) joint venture with Russian energy giant Rosneft to explore potentially massive oil and gas deposits on the Arctic shelf – BP’s first major deal since last year’s Deepwater Horizon catastrophe.

Rudolf Elmer, a former Swiss banker, has handed over two data discs containing sensitive details of the accounts of 2,000 prominent people to Julian Assange, the boss of Wikileaks.

Britain launched a public consultation Monday to help authorities decide whether people who donate eggs and sperm to fertility clinics should be paid cash compensation, and if so how much.

The world's top cellphone maker, Nokia, is ending its bundling of free music downloads with cellphones in 27 countries, where it has gained little traction since its 2008 launch.