UNITED KINGDOM

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.

The U.S. Justice Department has launched an investigation into whether hedge funds might have acted together in betting against the euro, a source familiar with the situation said on Wednesday.

Opera Software said on Wednesday it had seen a surge in downloads of its browser after Microsoft started making it easier for Europeans to choose smaller rivals' browsers.

Standard Chartered said it would pay staff $1.1 billion in bonuses in a red hot fight for talent after strong investment banking in its core Asian markets in 2009 helped fuel record profits.

The president of the U.N. Security Council said on Tuesday it was ready to tackle proposals for new sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, while U.S. diplomats worked to persuade China that action is needed.

EU internal market commissioner Michel Barnier was quoted on Wednesday as saying Brussels would conduct an internal investigation into the trading of credit default swaps related to Greece and other countries.

Activision Blizzard Inc is forming a business unit for its blockbuster Call of Duty franchise, following the departure of two senior executives at the studio that developed the video game, the company said on Tuesday.

The U.N. Security Council might take up this month the issue of Iran's nuclear program and Western proposals for a fourth round of sanctions against Tehran, Gabon's U.N. envoy said on Tuesday.

Dubai's police chief plans to seek the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the head of Israel's spy agency over the killing of a Hamas leader in the emirate, Al Jazeera television reported.

The strength of the Australian economy was evident once again yesterday following the release of a much stronger than forecast 1.2% rise in Retail Sales during January adding some support to the AUD/USD in early Asian trade.

Warren Buffett says he worries about all currencies.

Asian banks including DBS Group have been invited to help underwrite Prudential's $20 billion rights issue.

Greece's debt crisis may end up helping Europe in the long run if it pressures governments to start addressing the potentially colossal costs of pensions and healthcare in coming decades.

General Motors has tripled its funding of European arm Opel and cut its request for state aid in a bid to win over European governments and labor.

The pound came under further pressure on Tuesday, battered by political worries and engorged public finances, while global equities stayed relatively buoyant.

Britain's Prudential will buy American International Group's Asian life insurance arm for $35.5 billion in the insurance sector's biggest deal ever, helping the bailed-out U.S. group repay a big chunk of its taxpayer debt.

Carmakers will be keen to show off new green technologies at the Geneva Auto Show, opening this week, as economic uncertainties and waning scrapping schemes make forecasting this year's sales trends difficult.

The U.S. stock market rose on Monday as economic reports continued to signal recovery in key sectors of the economy.