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¥167,000 +¥7,000 Scotsman says BUY

SCOTTISH Widows Investment Partnership (Swip) has been appointed by Russell Investments to manage a £20 million equities portfolio in accordance with Shariah principl

'If all the year were playing holidays," wrote Shakespeare, "to sport would be as tedious as to work." Len Friend, a 61-year-old who retired from Thames Water on Christmas Eve last year and a few months later joined B&Q as a customer adviser - not because he needed the money but because he was bored - makes a similar point. "I found that once we'd decorated the whole house through, you were running out of things to do."

Gordon Brown yesterday gave his strongest signal yet he is going to abandon the 2p-a-litre increase in fuel duty within weeks, as oil prices hit yet another record high.

It was once a fish deemed fit only for the cat. Now, though, it is a favourite of celebrity chefs, who trill the value of fresh specimens caught by handline off south-west England. The big food processors are getting in on the act too, importing Alaskan fish from stocks with reassuringly environmentally friendly credentials.

The dollar held steady but took no new ground against major rivals in Friday's Asian trading, with major currency pairs expected to remain range-bound since U.S. markets are closed for a holiday.

Corn futures prices may rise to as high as $10 a bushel in the second half of the year if bad weather continues and if Midwest floods take a big toll on the crop.

European shares lost ground on Friday as financials gave back recent gains, as worries mounted about potential fund raising even as UBS said it didn't need to raise any fresh cash in the second quarter.

The profits of large U.S. companies are poised for their fourth straight year-over-year drop, with the housing market collapse and high energy prices accounting for much of the second quarter's pain.

The new mayor of Philadelphia, Michael Nutter, thinks the city is going places and wants people to get on board. He's set an ambitious goal to reverse the population loss and get more jobs back in the historic city.