UNITED KINGDOM

In a company town where the street lamps are shaped like chocolate Kisses and orphans are cared for with corporate largesse, the prospect that America's biggest chocolate maker may merge with a foreign entity has unnerved some people.

Australian Dollar: Average weekly wages increased by 5.2% in August and 0.9% for the year to date, down from 6.1% the previous month and 1.2% for the year to July. The news was enough to tip the AUD/USD below intraday technical support at 0.9270 to a low of 0.9220 in Asia yesterday. The Aussie dollar followed the Euro lower in early trade to revisit the 0.9130 level before bouncing back in late U.S trade following some relatively upbeat North American economic data. This morning sees the AUD ope...

A taste of Susan Boyle's new album I Dreamed a Dream is available on the British newspaper The Sun, ahead of its official release on November 23.

Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy was on course on Thursday to become the European Union's president and Briton Catherine Ashton to become its foreign affairs chief, EU officials said

Britain's small wind sector is booming despite the recession as many rural homes, farms or small business are putting up turbines in the yard to counter higher energy prices and blackouts.

Britain's Vodafone is looking at new ways of making money from the mobile Internet, such as offering premium services, as the battle for control of an expanding market dominated by search engine Google hots up.

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.