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TOP STORIES

Olympics helps Britain leap out of recession

LONDON - Olympics spending fuels Britain's strongest quarterly growth in five years, springing the country out of recession in the third quarter, data shows (BRITAIN-ECONOMY/ (UPDATE 2), moved, by Peter Griffiths and Olesya Dmitracova, 600 words)

Euro zone seeks to give Greece more time to cut, find funds

BRUSSELS - Euro zone officials are expected to press ahead with plans to give Athens two more years to meet its budget goals as well as examine ways of closing the yawning gap in Greece's finances (EUROZONE-GREECE/, moved, by Jan Strupczewski, 600 words)

Spain speeds up 2013 funding, will cover regional needs

MADRID - Spain is ready to start funding itself for 2013, including the needs of its indebted regions, after having nearly completed its debt issuance plan for this year, the head of the Spanish Treasury says (SPAIN-TREASURY/(UPDATE 1), moved, pix, tv, 800 words)

Credit Suisse to cut $1 bln more costs as profits fall

ZURICH - Credit Suisse will cut an extra 1 billion Swiss francs of costs, including axing more jobs, a s part of efforts to bolster its profits and capital position (CREDITSUISSE/EARNINGS (UPDATE 3), moved, by Katharina Bart, 650 words)

MARKETS

UK pick up lifts European shares, Wall Street eyes Apple

LONDON - Global shares and commodity markets rise, pulled out of their recent slide by encouraging data from Britain and China and the U.S. Federal Reserve's latest commitment to support growth (MARKETS-GLOBAL (WRAPUP 6), moving shortly, by Marc Jones, 800 words)

ECONOMY

U.S. jobless claims fall, give clearer sign of health

WASHINGTON - The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week, giving a clearer sign that the labour market is healing after wild fluctuations in claims data at the beginning of the month (USA-ECONOMY/JOBS, moved, 300 words)

European parliament rejects Mersch for ECB board

STRASBOURG, France - The European Parliament rejects the nomination of Luxembourg's Yves Mersch to the European Central Bank's executive board on the grounds that insufficient effort has been made to find a suitable woman for the post (EU-PARLIAMENT/MERSCH, UPDATE 1, moved, by Claire Davenport, 430 words)

Strikes in mining sector cost S.Africa $1.1 bln

CAPE TOWN - Strikes hitting South Africa's platinum and gold mines have cost the continent's largest economy just over 10 billion rand ($1.14 billion) so far this year, the National Treasury says (AFRICA-BUDGET/MINING, (UPDATE 1), moving shortly, 400 words)

+ See also:

- ANGLOAMERICAN-RESULTS/ (UPDATE 3), expect by 1500, by Clara Ferreira-Marques, 550 words

China factories eye stronger Q4, external risks remain

BEIJING - China's factory output should grow faster in the last three months of 2012 than in the third quarter, though the recovery remains clouded by uncertainty in export markets, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology says (CHINA-ECONOMY/INDUSTRY (WRAPUP 1), moved, by Aileen Wang and Nick Edwards, 850 words)

COMPANIES

Santander profit dives on property writedowns

MADRID - Santander, the euro zone's biggest bank, says nine-month net profit has plunged two thirds, hit by writedowns on bad property investments stemming from a Spanish real estate crash (SANTANDER/RESULTS (UPDATE 3), by Sonya Dowsett, expect by 1500, 800 words)

Ford axes British van plants to stem Europe losses

LONDON - Ford will stop making vans in Britain next year, with the potential loss of 2,000 jobs, a union leader says, as part of a plan by the U.S. car maker to drag its European operations back into profit (FORD-BRITAIN/(UPDATE 4), expect by 1500, by Rhys Jones, 600 words)

+ See Also

- DAIMLER-RESULTS/ (UPDATE 2), expect by 1400, by Christiaan Hetzner, 600 words

EXCLUSIVE-Huawei partner offered U.S. tech to Iran

LONDON - An Iranian partner of Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, a Chinese company that has denied breaking U.S. sanctions, last year tried to sell embargoed American antenna equipment to an Iranian firm, according to documents and interviews HUAWEI-IRAN/, moved, by Steve Stecklow, 680 words)

Troubles line up for BP outside Russia

LONDON - International oil company BP, focusing on fighting its way free of troubles in the United States and Russia, has some catching up to do on a broader business front (BP-FUTURE/, expect by 1430, by Andrew Callus, 1,400 words)

Procter & Gamble blows past profit expectations

Procter & Gamble Co's profit excluding items rise more than expected and the world's largest household products maker maintains a key forecast for the year, which indicates it is making progress after coming under pressure from activist investor William Ackman (PROCTER-RESULTS/ (UPDATE 1), moved, 300 words)

+ See also:

- COLGATE-RESULTS/ (UPDATE 1), moved, 200 words

AstraZeneca hardest hit by drug patent losses

LONDON - Three of Europe's top drugmakers report falls in third-quarter earnings, hit by patent losses on key drugs, though the common theme hides differing paths ahead for rival groups (PHARMACEUTICALS-EUROPE/ (WRAPUP 1), expect by 1400, by Ben Hirschler, 600 words)

Sprint net loss widens but 2012 outlook brightens

Sprint Nextel Corp post a wider third-quarter loss as it spends heavily on a network upgrade and loses customers from its iDen network, which it is shutting down (SPRINT-EARNINGS/ (UPDATE 2), moved, 330 words)

Coca-Cola Enterprises profit hit by European weakness

Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc reports quarterly earnings that beat analysts' estimates, helped by share buybacks, and says the stronger dollar is less of a drag than previously expected (COCACOLAENTERPRISES-RESULTS/ (UPDATE 1), moved, 240 words)

WPP cuts revenue outlook on Europe, U.S. slowdown

LONDON - WPP, the world's largest advertising group, cuts its revenue outlook for the second time in as many months after a sharp slowdown in September in North America and Continental Europe hit its third quarter (WPP/ (UPDATE 2), moved, by Kate Holton, 500 words)

BASF bolstered by Libyan oil and pesticides

Libyan oil and demand for pesticides will help Germany's BASF meet its target of higher operating profit this year, offsetting a downturn in its main industrial chemicals and plastics business (BASF-RESULTS/ (UPDATE 2), moved, by Ludwig Burger, 460 words)

Unilever sales spruced up by China demand

LONDON - Unilever's quarterly sales growth beats forecasts as demand for cleaning and personal care products in China helps the consumer goods group outshine larger rival Nestle (UNILEVER-RESULTS/ (UPDATE 2), moved, by Sarah Young, 500 words)

Cyclical Consumer Goods