UNITED KINGDOM

Britain's Prudential Plc may quit some countries in Asia should it seal a $35.5 billion buy of American International Group's AIA.

Iceland's economy grew briskly in the latest quarter, its best performance since the country's financial system nearly collapsed in 2008 and a rare dose of positive news ahead of a referendum over foreign debts.

Icelanders are set to reject the terms for repaying Anglo-Dutch debts in a referendum on Saturday, forcing new negotiations with creditors and delaying financial aid the country needs to fix its shattered economy.

A tax question holding up American International Group Inc's sale of its foreign life insurance unit to MetLife Inc is expected to be resolved favorably, clearing the way for a roughly $15 billion deal, sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

A much larger than forecast narrowing in Australia's trade deficit added some support to the Aussie dollar in local trade yesterday however resistance above 0.9050 saw it slide lower in afternoon exchange.

Skype and Nokia have released a new Skype client for the Symbian mobile OS.

The debate about fixing the financial crisis seems to be missing a key factor -- a broad ethical discussion of what is the right and wrong thing to do in a modern economy.

The U.S. stock market erased morning gains to trade negative for the day, despite declining unemployment claims, better than expected sales from retailers, and Greece's successful auction of its 10-year bonds.

Members of the UK government struck down part of its controversial Digital Economy Bill on Wednesday, but opted for legislation which may be equally contentious.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Thursday Western powers were trying to widen differences between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims to divert attention from the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

The Bank of England held fire on both interest rates and quantitative easing on Thursday as it paused to assess the impact of the massive stimulus it has already injected into the economy.

The defining technology trade show of the '80's and '90's is making a return this November, revived as an online-only event.

Futures on U.S. stock indices traded higher before the open as declining unemployment claims, combined with Wednesday's better than expected ADP employment data, eased investor sentiment ahead of Friday's unemployment rate report.

Iceland can get by without more cash from the International Monetary Fund until it needs to refinance debt in 2011, although any big delay will hit its economy, a central banker said on Thursday.

The chief executives of Britain's Prudential Plc and American International Group met employees of the two firms in Southeast Asia on Thursday, in a bid to address concerns about the insurance industry's record M&A deal unveiled earlier this week.

The United States, France and other Western powers are preparing a plan for a fourth round of U.N. sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program and hope to persuade Russia and China to back it.

Starbucks Corp said that its cafes in UK and Japan will soon sell its Via instant coffee, which helped boost same-store sales at U.S. outlets in the latest quarter.

Iceland has made a last-ditch compensation offer to Britain and the Netherlands in talks over $5 billion lost in Icesave accounts, ahead of a Saturday referendum which is expected to nullify the current deal.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton failed to win Brazil's support on Wednesday for more sanctions against Iran and said Tehran would not talk seriously about its nuclear program until the United Nations took new action.

The Australian Dollar opens higher today at 0.9045. The unit was bolstered during yesterday's domestic session hitting an intraday high of 0.9060 after fourth-quarter national accounts revealed a 0.9 per cent increase in economic growth for an annualised pace of 2.7 per cent.

Italy has arrested seven people Wednesday on suspicion of trafficking arms to Iran -- two Iranians they believe are secret agents and five Italians, police said Wednesday.