WORLD FINANCE UPDATE:
The Australian dollar is lower as investors await the outcome of the US Federal Reserve meeting later in the week.
At 0630 AEDT on Monday, the local unit was trading at 95.86 US cents, down from 96.05 cents on Friday.
And the Australian share market looks set to open higher following gains on Wall street driven by better-than-expected earnings from Amazon and Microsoft and solid results from Procter & Gamble and UPS.
At 0650 AEDT on Monday, the December share price index futures contract was up 33 points at 5,418.
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LONDON - The British government is likely to stop short of ordering the break-up of the state-rescued Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) before returning it to the private sector, media reports say.
NEW YORK - The New York Stock Exchange says its test run of Twitter's initial public offering has been a success, as the exchange takes pains to avoid the technical problems that marred Facebook's debut.
NEW YORK - JPMorgan Chase will pay $US5.1 billion ($A5.3 billion) to settle charges it overstated the quality of mortgages and mortgage-backed securities sold to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, US officials say.
BERLIN - Airbus has urged the German government to pay out a promised final loan instalment of 600 million euros ($A866.86 million) for the construction of the A350, after the aircraft manufacturer said it has created German jobs.
DUBAI - The Gulf emirate of Dubai has opened passenger operations at its second airport, Al-Maktoum International, touted to be the world's largest once it is completed.
SYDNEY - Future Fund executive chairman David Gonski is being head-hunted by the ANZ Banking Group to be its next chairman.
CANBERRA - Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has declined to give a specific time frame on when the budget will get back to surplus.
