UNITED KINGDOM

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke was the center focus for global market participants on Wednesday as he testified before the House Financial Services Committee about the state of the U.S. economy and the Fed's monetary policy.

HSBC has this week launched the 2 billion pound ($3.1 billion) sale of its UK rolling stock leasing company as it builds its balance sheet by shedding non-core assets.

Switzerland will ask parliament to turn a deal with Washington that got bank UBS off the hook in a tax evasion case into binding law, plugging a legal hole that is stopping Berne from honoring the agreement.

The only time the U.S. dollar ever took a serious shellacking in the marketplace, the wounds were almost entirely self-inflicted.

Europe and U.S. stock indices edged up cautiously ahead of Fed Chairman Bernanke's semi-annual testimony on monetary policy and the state of the economy at 10:00 am EST.

Asia shares fell on Wednesday as surprise declines in U.S. consumer confidence and German business sentiment fueled fears about the strength of the global economic recovery and boosted the safe-haven yen.

Critical infrastructure and other technology dependent on global positioning satellites are increasingly threatened by attack from widely available equipment, technology experts are warning.

The European Commission is considering complaints from three online companies regarding Google Inc's practices including its search rankings, the company said on Tuesday.

Over 6500 authors have asked to be excluded from the digital books agreement that Google reached with the publishing industry bestselling authors Jeffrey Archer and Louis de Bernières and critical favorites Thomas Pynchon, Zadie Smith.

The European Commission is looking into complaints from three online companies that Google Inc's search functions penalized their businesses, The Daily Telegraph reported in its Wednesday edition.

The Australian Dollar opens sharply lower on Wednesday just under US89 cents after weaker than expected U.S. consumer confidence data released overnight took the wind out of the sails of higher yielding currencies and riskier assets.

Airbus parent EADS faced crucial decisions on transalantic defense projects worth $60 billion on Tuesday, as its shares rose on hopes its troubled efforts to diversify from jetliners would finally be unblocked.

Futures on U.S. stock indices are lower Tuesday morning as global investors sentiments are dampened by discouraging developments from the Europe.

The euro turned lower against the dollar on Tuesday after a weak German survey raised concerns about the outlook for the euro zone economy. Early demand for euros fizzled after data showed Germany's Ifo business sentiment index unexpectedly fell this month, while Italian confidence data and consumer spending numbers from France were also below forecast.

As the saying goes, money isn't everything, but it certainly means more to people now than before the global financial crisis, and especially in China, Japan and South Korea.

Sterling fell broadly on Tuesday, as Bank of England Governor Mervyn King said risks to the bank's central view of a gradual recovery remained to the downside and further quantitative easing may be needed.

Iran seized a Sunni Muslim rebel leader on Tuesday behind a bombing which killed dozens of people last year, and who Tehran says has links to al Qaeda and support from Pakistan, Britain and the United States.

A U.S. Navy warship prevented an attack on a Tanzanian ship and apprehended eight suspected pirates in the process, the U.S. Embassy in Tanzania said on Tuesday.

Most Asian stock markets recouped early losses on Tuesday while the dollar was trapped in a tight range as investors waited for Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to shed light on how soon key U.S. interest rates may start to rise.

When it comes to getting the word out about the state capital's most famous avian couple, what could be more appropriate than Twitter?

The Australian Dollar opens steady today a shade under the US90 cent level.