GERMANY

Microsoft's Halo 3 has dominated video game headlines this week, but if blasting aliens isn't appealing there is more on offer in other games, including role-playing the composer Frederic Chopin.

Russia is unlikely to support new U.N. sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program until after the U.N. atomic watchdog's latest study of Iran's activities, which may not be completed until December, the French foreign minister said on Thursday.

The United States rejected on Wednesday Iran's claim that its nuclear program is a "closed" matter and said it would keep pushing for fresh U.N. Security Council sanctions that are resisted by China and Russia.

When a Western bank suddenly suspended the account of her family freight firm, Nazila Noebashari revived a financial practice she thought long gone: she sent staff to the Afghan border to collect $50,000 by hand.

The asset manager of Belgian-Dutch financial group Fortis said on Tuesday it would buy a Tokyo-based asset managing firm wholly owned by Germany's Commerzbank to expand its operations in Japan.

The cries of tens of thousands of people led by Buddhist monks, who are staging anti-junta protest rallies in Myanmar at the risk of a government crackdown, has reached the ears of the US President George W. Bush, who is expected to take up the issue in his speech Tuesday to the General Assembly and urge the U.N. to uphold its pledge to fight for freedom and impose new sanctions against the repressive military regime in Myanmar.

Stocks shifted on Monday with gains in the technology sector unable to sustain a broader declining market, which began to rally last week amid the Fed's bold rate cut.

Stocks slipped on Monday as concern about the impact of the housing slump and credit squeeze hurt shares of financial companies.

Deutsche Bank's profit could be hit by up to 1.7 billion euros ($2.4 billion) due to loans that have dwindled in value as a result of the credit market crisis, sources familiar with the situation said.

Deutsche Bank's profit could be hit by up to 1.7 billion euros ($2.4 billion) due to loans that have dwindled in value as a result of the credit market crisis, sources familiar with the situation said.

Oracle Corp, the world's third-largest software maker, reported a 25 percent rise in quarterly profit on Thursday, but forecast slower growth in sales of new software in the current quarter.

SAP AG will unveil on Wednesday a line of business management programs to be delivered over the Web, becoming the first major software company to make a big bet on software as a service.

Deutsche Telekom's mobile phone division, T-Mobile, said on Wednesday it won a deal to sell Apple's iPhone and said the price would be 399 euros ($558), as reported last week by Reuters.

Everything is being done to maintain the stability of the British economy after a bank crisis, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Tuesday.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc's Japanese unit, Seiyu Ltd, boosted its annual loss forecast by 76 percent due to a charge to cut about 7 percent of its work force as it battles sluggish sales.

Commerzbank is bracing itself for a higher-than-predicted loss from investments related to risky U.S. mortgages that is set to knock a hole in profits, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

A U.S. federal judge tossed out a lawsuit by California's attorney general on Monday seeking hundreds of millions of dollars from six automakers for damaging the state with climate-changing greenhouse gases.

Major handset vendors have much more to gain than to lose from the buzz Apple Inc's coveted iPhone will create when it arrives in European stores for the key shopping season ahead of Christmas.

Dutch bank ABN AMRO NV reiterated its 2007 earnings per share target of 2.30 euros ($3.19) on Monday despite current market turmoil and said it has very limited exposure to the subprime market.

Deutsche Telekom mobile phone division T-Mobile USA will use the purchase to expand growth and market presence.

Standing next to piles of exquisitely hand-woven Persian carpets, Hossein Ghaseminia is confident his rugs, which cost up to $50,000, can see off cheaper Asian rivals and ride out threatened U.S. sanctions.