UNITED KINGDOM

U.S. President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron were expected to discuss London-based BP Plc and the Gulf of Mexico oil spill on Saturday as stormy weather raised fears that clean-up operations could be disrupted.

Stieg Larsson copycats take note: The slow rise of electronic books is paving the way for more safe-bet fiction blockbusters and serial-type books, at least in the short term, according to some book experts.

With a storm threatening to disrupt oil-siphoning efforts at BP Plc's blown-out Gulf of Mexico well, the U.S. Coast Guard on Friday said collection efforts would be suspended five days before the forecast onset of gale-force winds.

BP Plc's struggle to contain the Gulf of Mexico oil spill was nearing a potentially important stage on Friday even as worries about the soaring costs of the clean-up sent the company's shares nose-diving to a 14-year-low.

British Airways made a new offer to cabin crew on Friday in a bid to end a long-running dispute over pay and conditions before a ballot on further strikes next Tuesday.

Global merger and acquisition activity in 2010 is off to its worst start in six years, and with economic uncertainty and a sovereign debt crisis in Europe, the second half could be just as disappointing.

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.