IBT Staff Reporter

South Korea has launched a dispute at the World Trade Organization against the United States over U.S. measures to raise prices on imports of steel, a South Korean embassy official said on Thursday.

A U.S. debt that is topping $12 trillion is raising fresh questions about the cost of President Barack Obama's proposed healthcare overhaul, but those concerns are unlikely to sink the legislation.

Debt problems in Dubai hit financial markets across the board on Thursday, sinking global stocks, helping lift safe-haven bonds and taking the dollar up from a 14-year low against the yen.

Sumitomo Trust and Banking has hired Daiwa Securities SMBC and UBS AG to advise on its planned merger with Chuo Mitsui Trust Holdings, three people with knowledge of the matter said.

Dubai struggled to ease fears of debt default on Thursday after its move to delay repayments at two flagship firms shook confidence in the Middle East as a center for investment and a source of capital.

The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade 2009 will be held on Thursday marching through a new route for the first time in 82 years.

LinkedIn, the world's biggest professional social network, will probably pursue an initial public offering some time but not in the near future, co-founder and executive chairman Reid Hoffman told Reuters.

Lloyds Banking Group investors on Thursday overwhelmingly approved the bank's record rights issue but gave executives a grilling for mistakes made during the financial crisis.

The chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) asked judges on Thursday for approval to launch a formal investigation into post-election violence in Kenya last year.

Mumbai held tearful memorials and police staged a show of strength on Thursday as India's financial hub marked the first anniversary of militant raids that killed 166 people and ratcheted up tensions with Pakistan.

The head of the German armed forces Wolfgang Schneiderhan has resigned over reports the military withheld information about a September 4 air strike in Afghanistan believed to have killed dozens of civilians.

Philippine police filed murder charges on Thursday against the main suspect in the massacre of 57 people in the south of the country this week as authorities moved to dismantle his clan's control over the region.

World powers are demanding that Iran immediately mothball a uranium enrichment site it hid for years, heightening fears it is planning to build atom bombs, in a resolution to be voted on by U.N. nuclear watchdog governors.

European banks were hit by concern about potential exposure to debt problems in Dubai on Thursday, while companies where Middle Eastern investors own big stakes also came under pressure.

Share trading on the London Stock Exchange has been halted by technical difficulties, a spokesman for the bourse operator said on Thursday.

Shares in banks, builders and companies part-owned in the Middle East fell around the world on Thursday and investors sought safety in government bonds on worries about Dubai's ability to pay its debts.

The dollar edged up from 14-year lows against the yen on Thursday as renewed risk aversion prompted investors to shed riskier assets, giving pause to broad dollar selling.

News, details on corporate bond issues in the European markets on Thursday:

Abu Dhabi is not going to crow publicly over Dubai's troubles. But it will use the opportunity to assert control over its upstart neighbour. The price for Abu Dhabi's help could be prize assets like airline Emirates. Dubai has little choice but to do what it is told.

Mahindra-Satyam shares fell to a 4-month low on Thursday, before recovering, on concerns over its outlook after Indian investigators filed new charges over accounting fraud that hit Satyam earlier this year.

Some retailers open today; Tightening Credit at Fannie; PCs Windows' Boon

Purse strings are loosening, new bets are being placed, and cautious optimism has caught on in the green technology sector.

China has unveiled its first firm target to curb greenhouse gas emissions, laying out a carbon intensity goal on Thursday that Premier Wen Jiabao will take to looming climate talks as his government's central commitment.

Debt problems in Dubai hit global stocks, helped lift bonds and took the dollar away from a 14-year low against the yen on Thursday.

A dollar bond sale by Saudi-backed Gulf International Bank (GIB) was pulled after Dubai's move to delay repayment on billions of dollars of debt owed by its two flagship firms, sources said on Thursday.

Debt problems in Dubai hit global stocks, helped lift bonds and took the dollar away from a 14-year low against the yen on Thursday.

The dollar rebounded from a 14-year low against the yen on Thursday as traders betting against the dollar seized on the broad risk reduction prompted by Dubai's debt problems to cash in on its recent slide.

Dubai's debt problems shook European banking shares on Thursday despite the emirate's efforts to minimize the impact of a debt restructuring plan at two of its biggest companies that raised fears of default.

Debt problems in Dubai weighed on stocks, helped lift bonds and stirred currency trades on Thursday, as the dollar hit a 14-year low against the yen and gold climbed to a new record high.