Apple Inc will unveil its updated laptops on October 14 and they may cost less, but analysts say the company's drooping stock has already taken any change into account. "I think it's already factored into the stock. People have been expecting this announcement for well over a month," said Andy Hargreaves of Pacific Crest Securities

Apple has swept the board at Britain's T3 technology magazine's annual awards, winning four top prizes, including gadget of the year for its iPod Touch. The touch-screen music and video player beat the Asus Eee Pc budget laptop, TomTom's GO 920 car navigation system, Sony's HDR-TG3 compact camcorder and six other devices. T3 Editor Michael

Warren Buffett has overtaken Bill Gates to become the richest American in the Forbes 400 list, Bloomberg said, citing a recalculated list to be published later this month. The magazine, in its October 27 issue, recalculates the effect of September's financial news on the wealthiest Americans, those who make up its Forbes 400 list, the

Culture fans thousands of miles from Beijing can now visit its famous Forbidden City, through a three dimensional recreation of the vast palace that also allows them to dress up as an imperial eunuch and meet a courtesan. One of the jewels in China's cultural crown, the sprawling complex in the heart of the capital

European stocks tumbled nearly 7 percent early on Friday, swept into a global panic sell-off as investors feared world governments' efforts to thaw credit markets would fail to ward off a global recession. Fragile banks led the decline, with Barclays off 9.6 percent and Santander down 7.1 percent. HBOS, a standout faller in Europe, dropped

Russia's lower house of parliament, the Duma, on Friday approved two anti-crisis packages worth a total of $86 billion at the third and final reading. The packages include making available $50 billion of state money to banks and companies who need to refinance foreign debt, and giving 950 billion roubles ($36.31 billion) to Russia's key

Alan Sugar, the millionaire founder of Amstrad computers and host of BBC television's The Apprentice, has purchased a near 4 percent stake in Woolworths Group Plc, an industry source said on Friday. Shares in British sweets-to-DVD retailer Woolworths have lost 83 percent of their value over the last year. At 0812 GMT they were up

Moody's Investors Service has downgraded the bank financial strength rating (BFSR) of Prominvestbank to E from E+, its long-term local currency and foreign currency bank deposit ratings to Caa2 from Ba2 and B2, respectively, and its National Scale Rating (NSR) to B3.ua from Aa1.ua. Long-term deposit ratings have been placed on review with direction uncertain.

Moody's Investors Services has downgraded the Baseline Credit Assessment of Gulf Investment Corporation (GIC) from 10 to 11 (on a scale of 1 to 21, where 1 reflects the lowest level of risk), reflecting the enduring pressures on its performance in light of the prevailing international market conditions. At the same time, Moody's downgraded to