UNITED KINGDOM

The chief executives of HSBC Holdings , Europe's biggest bank, and Asia-focused rival Standard Chartered are set to give their bonuses to charity, newspapers reported on Sunday, following a high-profile row over the sums paid to bankers.

Friday's private sector credit data out of Australia gave the Aussie dollar a boost from 0.8880 to send it above the 89 cent level heading into the European session.

Icelandic negotiators may return home on Monday from London if no new meetings are called with British officials over the Icesave debt crisis, Icelandic Radio quoted a finance ministry spokesman as saying.

Prudential's bid to buy American International Group's Asian life unit is a bet against Asian stock markets as falling share prices across the region would make the alternative of listing the business in Hong Kong less attractive.

Michael Geoghegan, the chief executive of Europe's biggest bank HSBC Holdings , is set to give his bonus to charity, newspapers have reported, following a high-profile row over the sums paid to bankers.

Prudential , Britain's largest insurer, is in advanced talks to buy the Asian arm of American International Group in a deal worth about $35.5 billion, sources familiar with the matter said on Saturday.

Officials from Britain and Iceland met on Saturday in a renewed attempt to reach a deal on repayment of more than $5 billion lost by overseas savers when Iceland's banks collapsed, Icelandic media reported.

Prudential , Britain's largest insurer, is in advanced talks to buy the Asian arm of U.S. giant AIG , in what could be one of the largest overseas deals to date for a UK firm, sources familiar with the discussions said on Saturday.

Hawaii prepared to start evacuations ahead of a tsunami generated by a massive earthquake in Chile, a civil defence official on the U.S. island said on Saturday.

Prudential , Britain's largest insurer, is in advanced talks to buy the Asian operations of bailed-out insurance giant AIG , sources familiar with the discussions told Reuters on Saturday.

Myanmar's Supreme Court on Friday rejected an appeal by pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi against her house arrest, a ruling diplomats said would cast further doubt on the legitimacy of this year's election.

General Electric Co has seen interest from several banks to buy its stake in Garanti Bank but tough new rules for bank minority stakes might dampen appetite.

The U.S. stock market is trading slightly down in early Friday trading, showing little enthusiasm over the revised Gross Domestic Product (GDP) report.

Lloyds , Britain's largest retail bank, suffered another big loss last year as it took a 24 billion pounds ($37 billion) hit from loans that soured, mostly assets inherited from its controversial takeover of rival HBOS.

Lloyds , Britain's largest retail bank, shrank its losses in 2009, despite a 24 billion pound ($37 billion) hit from loans that soured, mostly assets inherited from last year's takeover of rival HBOS.

Lloyds , Britain's largest retail bank, shrank its losses in 2009, despite a 24 billion pounds ($37 billion) hit from loans that soured, mostly assets inherited from rival HBOS, which it bought last year.

Lloyds Banking Group , Britain's largest retail bank, posted a 6.3 billion pounds ($9.66 billion) loss in 2009, as the part-nationalised British bank lost 24 billion pounds on loans that soured, mostly from old HBOS assets.

Asian stocks rose on Friday as investors tried to shake off weak economic data in the United States and Europe, but lingering caution about riskier assets supported the safe-haven yen.

The euro languished near one-year lows against the yen on Friday, while commodities and Asian stocks struggled in tepid trade as worries about Greece and the health of the world economy took hold.

The stock market ended down on Thursday as market participants were reminded of two key issues that hinder the global economic recovery.

Virgin said it will roll out 100 megabit-per-second broadband connections to homes in the UK.