UNITED KINGDOM

Intraday support at 0.9030 held firm in local exchange yesterday with strong Chinese Trade data giving the Aussie another boost towards 91 cents. Offshore investors took the AUD/USD to a high around 0.9150 with optimism on the global recovery, following higher than forecast U.S Retail Sales data, continuing to drive sentiment on commodities and commodity based currencies like the AUD. Underlying support for the currency is expected to continue whilst the Greenback remains weak with today's trade...

Lazard Ltd Chief Executive Bruce Wasserstein, a legendary dealmaker for more than 30 years, has died, ending an era at one of Wall Street's best-known investment banks.

The role of Porgy, the crippled beggar in Porgy and Bess, has always been hard to pull off as he changes from grump to lover, but a Cape Town Opera version opening in Britain this month sets him a Herculean challenge:

Al Martino, a crooner who had several pop hits spanning more than 20 years and played Johnny Fontane in the 1970s Godfather movies, died Tuesday at his childhood home in Springfield, Pa. He was 82.

British home shopping company N Brown said it could enter the potentially lucrative United States market next year as it posted record first-half results and a positive outlook, sending its shares higher.

Royal Bank of Scotland is considering a plan which could result in the sale of just over 10 percent of its British branches in a move to ease EU concerns over state aid, a source familiar with the matter said.

The Unite trade union said on Tuesday it had struck a deal to secure the future of GM Opel car plants in Britain after the planned sale of the carmaker, which makes Vauxhall cars in the UK, to Canada's Magna (MGa.TO).

Britain will raise troop numbers in Afghanistan to 9,500, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Wednesday, an increase of 500, providing key conditions were met.

Agreement between Magna and a UK labour union on Tuesday brought closer a final deal for General Motors [GM.UL] to sell a majority stake in its European carmaking arm Opel to a Canadian-Russian consortium.

Luxury goods group Burberry beat second-quarter revenue forecasts, helped by demand for handbags, leather goods and snoods, adding to signs of a consumer recovery and lifting its shares to a 21-month high.

British luxury goods group Burberry beat second-quarter revenue forecasts, helped by demand for handbags and leather goods, and signaled an improvement in some second-half revenue trends.

A softer than expected result in the NAB business confidence survey did little to curb enthusiasm for the Aussie dollar in Asia yesterday as it held on to intraday support at 0.9050. During the offshore session the AUD momentarily jumped above the 91 cent mark following a rally in the Euro only to pull back to exchange at 0.9050 this morning ahead of the release of Westpac's Consumer Confidence survey.

The world needs to build 100 major projects for capturing and burying greenhouse gases by 2020 and thousands more by 2050 to help combat climate change, the head of the International Energy Agency said on Tuesday.

Afghan politicians on Tuesday expressed frustration over delays to the outcome of the August presidential election, held up by elaborate efforts to wipe clean the widespread fraud that marred the vote.

A post mortem carried out on Boyzone singer Stephen Gately on the Spanish island of Majorca revealed on Tuesday that he died of fluid on the lungs, a court official said on Tuesday.

More than a quarter of the staff at the Singapore office of private bank RBS Coutts have quit in a mass resignation and some are joining Swiss rival BSI.

Britain's leading shares were 0.3 percent lower early on Tuesday, retreating from a 12-month high set the previous session with investors staying on the sidelines ahead of UK inflation data and upcoming U.S. corporate earnings.

The Aussie dollar traded in a narrow range during Asia yesterday bouncing between 0.9020 and 0.9060 for the majority of the session.

Comeback pop singer, Whitney Houston, will tour Europe next year making it her first tour in eleven years.

Buoyed by a substantial first-place U.K. debut, the Pixar cartoon Up reclaimed the No. 1 spot on the foreign box office during the weekend.

Britain froze business ties with an Iranian bank and state-run shipping firm Monday, citing fears that they were involved in helping the Islamic Republic to develop nuclear weapons.