UNITED KINGDOM

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.

The immediate crisis may be over but G20 policymakers meeting next week must still find a way to rebalance the global economy if the world is not to be doomed to repeat the past.

Edward Kennedy dies at 77; Exit Strategy a Must; Toyota retreats

G20 countries should ensure they have plans to withdraw the huge stimuli put into their economies but are clear the fiscal and monetary boosts remain in place for now, a UK government source told Reuters on Wednesday.

G20 countries should ensure they have plans to withdraw the huge stimuli put into their economies but are clear they must remain in place for now, a UK government source told Reuters on Wednesday.

Toyota Motor Corp , the world's largest automaker, said it would halt a production line in Japan as it looks to cut excess capacity to return to profitability amid an industrywide sales slump.

Toyota Motor Corp will cut its global production capacity to match lower sales, a company source with direct knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday, with potential annual cuts of at least 700,000 vehicles identified.

The Aussie dollar experienced little in the way of volatility during yesterday's local trading day bouncing between 0.8350 and 0.8375 for the majority of the Asian session.

The Aussie dollar experienced little in the way of volatility during yesterday's local trading day bouncing between 0.8350 and 0.8375 for the majority of the Asian session.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday he was seeking a formula to enable renewed talks with the Palestinians while permitting Jewish settlers to live normal lives.

Britain's Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY.L), 43 percent owned by the UK government, will cut 200 jobs in its general insurance division by the end of January in a shake-up of back office functions, the bank said on Tuesday.

Actor Robin Williams may portray singer Susan Boyle from Britain's Got Talent in a film about her life and how she became famous around the world.