UNITED KINGDOM

Republicans and Democrats came together on Friday to honor Senator Edward Kennedy, the standard-bearer for liberal Democrats and patriarch of America's fabled political dynasty, at a private memorial service.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is launching legal actions against media in Italy and abroad, including Britain, France and Spain, for libel in their coverage of his private life, his lawyer said on Friday.

Britain will commit 665 million pounds ($1.08 billion) in aid to help Pakistan stabilize its violent border areas and tackle the underlying causes of extremism, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Friday.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is launching legal actions against media in Italy and abroad, including Britain, France and Spain, for libel in their coverage of his private life, his lawyer said on Friday.

Oil rose above $73 a barrel on Friday, lifted by slightly better than expected GDP and jobs data out of the United States, though traders said it was still rangebound between $70 and $75 for the week.

Superstition, torture, and its effect on the perpetrator are at the heart of historical drama

Want the romance of the railways without the anoraks? We spot the world's best trains

China Mobile is to release the closely-watched 3G Ophone next week, while rival China Unicom is to bring Apple's iPhone to China as soon as Friday, which may add fuel to the flames in the fiercely competitive Chinese market.

Despite more strong local economic data in the form of CAPEX yesterday the Aussie dollar struggled during the majority of the Asian session drifting lower from the days open around 0.8280 to exchange as low as 0.8240.

Kazakh copper producer Kazakhmys Plc posted better-than-expected first-half earnings on Thursday, helped by cost cutting and the sale of stockpiled inventories to China, lifting its shares more than 4 percent.

Men and people of South Asian descent are more likely to have unfavorable perceptions of colon cancer screening, research from the UK shows.

Lloyds Banking Group may sell parts of its business to reduce its reliance on Britain's government-backed asset protection scheme, shareholders familiar with the group's thinking said on Thursday.

Microsoft Corp is slashing the price of its high-end Xbox 360 model by $100 in the United States and 50 euros ($71) in Europe, upping the stakes in the game console fight this holiday season.

Microsoft Corp is slashing the price of its high-end Xbox 360 model by $100 in the United States and 50 euros ($71) in Europe, upping the stakes in the game console fight this holiday season.

Electronic dance music with heavy bass, unknown vocalists and mixed by club disc jockeys regularly tops pop charts in Europe but in America such music has been an underground genre with little mainstream success.

Australian Dollar: Yesterdays stronger than expected Australian economic data provided some level of support for the Aussie dollar at 0.8330 during the local session sending it into early European exchange on its highs pressing against 0.8380. Resistance at these levels proved too strong to overcome and the AUD/USD spent the majority of the offshore session drifting lower. Demand for the Greenback against the majors saw the Aussie move closer to 0.8250 and opens this morning at 0.8275. The loca...

Britain's Channel 4 said on Wednesday it was ditching the once-popular

Rock icon Bob Dylan will sing the old yuletide standards

Channing Tatum, Jamie Bell, Donald Sutherland and Mark Strong are sharpening their swords for director Kevin Macdonald's Roman epic

Tobacco use will kill 6 million people next year from cancer, heart disease, emphysema and a range of other ills, global cancer experts said in a report issued on Tuesday.

G20 finance ministers will discuss next week how to curb excessive bankers' pay but the group of leading nations is not expected to heed a French call to cap and tax bonuses, officials and analysts said.