UNITED KINGDOM

BP Plc stock hit a 14-year low on Friday and its credit weakened sharply on talk it needs extra cash to fund the clean-up and compensation bill for the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

Increased demand from investors and steady depletion of Russian state stockpiles are likely to bring the palladium market into balance in 2010. According to UK investment bank Barclays, despite an expected increase in supply, strong growth in investment demand, coupled with the possible exhaustion of Russian state supplies has the potential to balance the market in 2010, and even drive it into deficit.

With a distinct lack of any local economic data the Aussie dollar traded within a narrow band bouncing between 0.8670 and 0.8770 over the last 24 hours.

The United States said on Thursday world leaders must work to keep economic growth on track but Europe dug in its heels ahead of a G20 summit, insisting that now was the time to work on cutting costs.

Britain could force internet service providers such as BT, Virgin Media and TalkTalk to reveal whether they restrict access to some websites at peak times while favoring others, regulator Ofcom said.

The Supreme Court on Thursday set aside some convictions of former Enron Corp Chief Executive Jeffrey Skilling and former media baron Conrad Black, a setback for the U.S. Justice Department in some of its biggest corporate fraud prosecutions of the last decade.

The U.S. Supreme Court set aside on Thursday the convictions of former media baron Conrad Black and two ex-colleagues for defrauding shareholders of one-time newspaper publishing giant Hollinger International Inc.

The 10-year-old Human Genome Project has only just begun to bring to fruition its promise to transform medicine, its founders said on Thursday.

Wall Street was set to open lower on Thursday as investors fretted about the pace of the economic recovery, though a better-than-expected drop in initial jobless claims provided comfort.

Stock index futures slipped on Thursday as the Federal Reserve underscored worries the recovery was not as robust as hoped and ahead of weekly initial jobless claims data.

The dollar pared losses and the yen rose on Thursday, as the Federal Reserve's less optimistic outlook for growth dented risk sentiment, while the euro was hampered by Greek debt markets.

Hundreds of fans flocked to stores in Tokyo to be the first buyers of Apple's iPhone 4 and some lined up in San Francisco as the red-hot smartphone rolls out on Thursday in five of the world's six largest economies.

Fans stormed Apple Inc's store in Japan and operator Softbank Corp's outlets as the company launched a slim new version of its wildly popular iPhone.

Fans stormed Apple Inc's flagship store in Japan and operator Softbank Corp's outlets as the company launched a slim new version of its wildly popular iPhone.

The Aussie opens today lower at 0.8700 against the Greenback as mixed signals on the US housing front overnight cast shadows over the US economy in the lead up to the U.S. Federal Reserve's latest announcements tonight.

Apple Inc has run out of white iPhone 4s on the eve of the launch of the hot-selling next-generation smartphone, the latest hiccup in the gadget's closely watched global roll-out.

The dollar was lower against the euro ahead of a decision on interest rates from the U.S. Federal Reserve, while sterling rose sharply as investors continued to view the UK budget positively.

Asian stocks slid on Wednesday and European markets were expected to follow suit as poor U.S. home sales added to fears about the global economic recovery and optimism over China's new flexible yuan policy faded.

Apple Inc's hot-selling next-generation iPhone sports chips from Samsung Electronics, Micron Technology and STMicroelectronics, according to an early teardown, or disassembly analysis by technology firm iFixit.

The euro held steady on Wednesday but remained vulnerable as a recent risk rally appeared to have run its course and on concerns about the euro zone banking system. A sharp fall in U.S. stocks .SPX the previous day and a subsequent drop in the Nikkei .N225 helped support the dollar and the yen, which are favoured when risk aversion spikes and doubts over the health of the global economy emerge.

British scientists who conducted the largest study yet into cell phone masts and childhood cancers say that living close to a mast does not increase the risk of a pregnant woman's baby developing cancer.