UNITED KINGDOM

Any bid for UK confectioner Cadbury by Italian chocolate maker Ferrero would have to be friendly, an Italian source close to the matter told Reuters on Thursday.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is beefing up in Europe by buying the half of Cazenove it does not already own in a deal valuing the 190-year old UK stockbroker at 2 billion pounds ($3.4 billion).

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is beefing up in Europe by buying the half of Cazenove it does not already own in a deal valuing the 190-year old UK stockbroker at 2 billion pounds ($3.36 billion).

Veteran Afghan leader Hamid Karzai was sworn in as president on Thursday, pledging to fight graft and take control of his country's security before his five-year term ends, after a fraud-marred election left his image in ruins.

Spain's Santander, the banking group which owns Britain's Abbey, Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley, will next year launch a no-fees current account, with no charges for overdraft use or access to foreign ATMs.

LONDON - Oil explorer Premier Oil Plc cut its production guidance for 2009 following a temporary loss of output at the Kakap field in Indonesia and maintenance work at its UK producing fields.

Oscar organizers joined the MTV generation on Wednesday, naming Hamish Hamilton as director of March's movie awards ceremony, and they also unveiled their shortlist of films vying for a best documentary nomination.

Bon Jovi claimed its fourth No. 1 album on the U.S. pop chart Wednesday, despite a sharp drop in sales.

Britain's top share index was down 0.6 percent mid-session on Thursday, dragged lower by heavyweight commodity and banking stocks, which offset gains made by defensive stocks as risk appetite waned.

European shares were down on Thursday, set to fall for a third consecutive session, as banking stocks weighed, while food producers also fell after Danone (DANO.PA) cut its sales growth target.

The world's key central banks will not need to start raising policy interest rates until late 2010 due to low inflation and economic slack, and can then proceed gradually, the OECD said in a report published on Thursday.

The Japanese yen rises broadly in Asia today on risk aversion as Japanese Nikkei led Asian stocks lower in general. Nikkei dropped another -1.32% today to close at 9549 and is now farther away from previously mentioned head and shoulder top neckline.

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Thursday, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.61 percent, Dow Jones futures down 0.51 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.44 percent at 1030 GMT (5:30 a.m. EST).

Neemia Tialata and Cory Jane can expect a talking to from All Blacks coach Graham Henry after revealing on the social networking site Twitter they had been left out of the New Zealand to play England this weekend.

The U.S. Congress edged closer on Wednesday to creating new government powers to break up giant financial firms, which Europe is already doing, while a U.S. derivatives market crackdown got more complicated.

Thanks to Ferrero and Hershey, Cadbury may finally have a bargaining position.

Third quarter Wage Cost Index data came in right on expectations increasing by 0.7% for the quarter and 3.6% on an annualised basis keeping the Aussie between 0.9290 and 0.9320 during morning trade. A story on Bloomberg quoting Chinese Central Bank adviser Fan Gang, who also heads the National Institute of Economic Research, as saying double digit growth in China would not be good as it poses a risk of promoting a property and commodity market bubble put a dampener on the AUD. With Chinese eco...

U.S. bank JPMorgan Chase & Co is likely to seal its purchase of the half of Cazenove it does not own for just under 1 billion pounds ($1.7 billion) on Thursday, people familiar with the matter said.

Russian oil company TNK-BP is looking at acquisitions or joint ventures as a means of growing in the oil refining sector, a senior company executive said on Wednesday.

Cadbury Plc on Wednesday said it will give proper attention to any offer that gives a full value for the company, but until that happens it has nothing to comment upon further.

It's that time of year: a cold chill in the area, short days with longer nights, and steaming mugs of hot chocolate making a more frequent appearance. Here's some inspiration to brighten up those dark