UNITED KINGDOM

Banks who lent over $30 billion to Dubai World, the debt-laden state investment group, plan to appoint auditors KPMG to represent them in talks over recovering their money, the Independent on Sunday newspaper reported.

Lawmakers urged Iran's government on Sunday to prepare a plan on reducing cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), after the U.N. body rebuked Tehran for secretly building a uranium enrichment plant.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called on Pakistan to take tougher action against al Qaeda and step up its efforts to track down the group's leader Osama bin Laden.

News Corp's satellite pay-TV unit Sky Italia sees enormous scope to grow its business and rejected talk of a war with its main rival, its chief executive said in a newspaper interview on Sunday.

A major international conference on Afghanistan, to be held in London in January, will aim to set the conditions for a gradual transfer of security responsibilities to Afghan control, Britain said on Saturday.

Violence and theft. Not words one would normally associate with Leona Lewis, the squeaky-clean winner of The X Factor, who went on to stunning worldwide success with her debut album, Spirit.

Abu Dhabi, wealthy capital of the United Arab Emirates, will pick and choose how to assist debt-laden neighbor Dubai, a senior official said on Saturday, after fears of a Dubai default sent global markets reeling.

World leaders expressed confidence in the global economic recovery on Friday despite fears about a debt default by Gulf emirate Dubai, while major banks played down their exposure to the debt.

Iraq aims to install four new floating oil terminals and three new undersea oil pipelines that will boost export capacity to 8 million barrels per day from a current 1.9 million bpd, a top oil official said.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called Friday for the creation of a $10 billion a year fund to help developing countries battle climate change.

British banks have far greater exposure to potential problem debts in the United Arab Emirates than rivals in France, the United States, Japan or anywhere else, loans data show, as worries mount about the region.

The world is losing patience with Iran's behavior over its nuclear program and Tehran will be responsible for the consequences if it fails to meet its obligations, the White House said on Friday.

Mother of 14 children, Nadya Suleman, made headlines this year when she gave birth to octuplets told Good Morning America she is open to having more kids in the future.

Activision Blizzard Inc said on Friday its Call of Duty video game franchise pushed past the $3 billion mark in global retail sales.

Holidaybreak Plc posted full-year results ahead of market view, sending its shares up almost 3 percent, but the British specialist holiday firm said sales intake in the current year to date was down 3 percent.

Tamiflu resistance in some H1N1 patients with badly weakened immune systems does not seem to reflect a major change in the virus' susceptibility to the frontline drug, the World Health Organization said on Thursday.

Hollywood wild child Lindsay Lohan is staying on as artistic adviser at fashion house Emanuel Ungaro despite her debut collection being panned by critics, President and Chief Executive Mounir Moufarrige said on Tuesday.

Singer Bob Dylan reminisces about Christmas past, turkey dinners and his favorite holiday songs in a rare interview in a magazine for homeless people.

The United States followed its own military timetable for the 2003 invasion of Iraq rather than allowing diplomacy to run its full course, the former British ambassador to the United Nations said on Friday.

U.N. nuclear watchdog governors voted on Friday to rebuke Iran for building a uranium enrichment plant in secret but Tehran dismissed the move as intimidation which would poison its negotiations with world powers.

Britain's leading share index was 0.2 percent lower by midsession on Friday, falling for a second session with banks pressured by persisting anxiety over Dubai's debt default and oil majors weak with the crude price.