LONDON (AFP) - The euro fell against the dollar on Thursday after the European Central Bank held its rates steady and appeared to raise the chances of interest cuts later this year, according to analysts.

PARIS (AFP) - French judges have placed the head of Warner Music, Edgar Bronfman Jr, under formal investigation as part of a probe into French media giant Vivendi Universal, legal sources told AFP on Thursday.

The following substantial shareholder notices were made to the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) yesterday.

Telecom NZ has reported a 12.6 per cent first half fall in net profit after tax to & #36;397 million.

BERLIN (AFP) - Some 10,000 German metal workers walked off the job on Thursday as a strike for higher wages gained momentum and shut down several production plants, unions said.

WELLINGTON, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Telecom Corp Ltd TEL.NZ of New Zealand, which is being forced to split into three business units, posted a 25 percent drop in quarterly profit and reiterated its previous guidance for full-year profit.

MOSCOW (AFP) - Russian gas monopoly Gazprom said Thursday it could cut some of Ukraine's supplies from next Monday if Kiev did not resolve its gas debts by then, but stressed that deliveries to western Europe would not be affected.

Japanese brewer Kirin forecast 10 per cent growth in profit, with price hikes and the acquisition of Australia's National Foods offsetting raw material costs.

Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan will meet financial regulators today hoping to make it easier for home mortgage borrowers to switch between lenders.

Tokyo, Japan, Feb 7, 2008 - (JCN Newswire) - Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) announced today that its Brake Assist, which helps apply proper braking power, can now - as a world's first[1] - coordinate with a vehicle's navigation system.

The Papua New Guinea Government says it supports Australia's push to have the Kokoda Track world heritage listed to protect it from a proposed copper mine.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Pharmaceutical giant Merck & amp; Co.

LONDON (AFP) - Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline said Thursday that net profits fell in 2007 due to disappointing sales of the diabetes drug Avandia and increased competition from generic drugs makers.

BERLIN (AFP) - German industrial orders in December fell a larger-than-expected 1.

The Federal Opposition is moving its attention to the Industrial Relations debate as the Government prepares to introduce its transition bill next week.

LONDON (AFP) - Oil prices steadied Thursday amid fresh supply concerns as energy giant Shell said it would not be able to honour export contracts from Nigeria owing to unrest in Africa's biggest exporter of crude.

Tokyo, Japan, Feb 7, 2008 - (JCN Newswire) - Fujitsu Limited today announced the launch of the world's smallest radio frequency(RF) module for mobile devices, which supports all of the RF circuitry necessary for Mobile WiMAX[1], the highly anticipated next-generation

LONDON (AFP) - European aircraft maker Airbus said Thursday that the global aircraft market would be worth 2.8 trillion dollars (1.9 trillion euros) by 2026, with total production at 24,300 planes.

TOKYO (AFP) - Japan's Softbank Corp. said Thursday that its net profit more than quadrupled in the nine months to December as customers flocked to its mobile phones and its affiliate Alibaba.com listed in Hong Kong.

LONDON (AFP) - British telecoms operator BT Group on Thursday said net profits slumped 75 percent during its third quarter, skewed by an exceptional tax gain made the previous fiscal year.