Ankara - A high-ranking police officer and a civilian were killed in Istanbul Monday in a shootout between police and three members of a left-wing group that began after a police raided in Turkey's largest city early Monday. Istanbul Governor Muammer Guler said the shootout started shortly after police raided an apartment block in the suburb of Bostanci on the Asian side of the city at about 5:30 am (0230 GMT).

Base Metals floated higher with the equities markets and mostly ended higher than their previous close. Three month LME Copper rose by $150 to end at $4470 and the three month LME Nickel rose by $475 to finish the day at $1150.

Copper futures edged higher on Fridaytracking a fall in LME inventories. Copper stocks on the LME fell by 10,925 tonnes to 429,500 tonnes. Some traders are of the view that China's State Reserves Bureau (SRB), which bought 350,000 tonnes of copper cathode in the first quarter of 2009, could sell around 50,000 tonnes of copper to cash in on recent rallies.

Tokyo - Japanese electronics companies Renesas Technology and NEC Electronics have agreed to merge their business operations by April 2010 to become the nation's largest semiconductor maker and the world's third-largest chipmaker, the companies announced Monday. The move was designed to ensure the companies' survival during the global downturn. They are expected to sign the deal in July.

Renesas, a joint venture between Hitachi Ltd and Mitsubishi Electric, is the country's second-largest chipmaker after market leader Toshiba.

Stockholm - Swedish heavy-vehicle maker Scania saw almost all its pre-tax profits vanish in the first-quarter 2009, the group said Monday, citing lower deliveries and shrinking demand. Pre-tax income was 164 million kronor (20 million dollars), down 95 per cent compared to 2.5 billion kronor in the corresponding business period 2008.

Year-on-year sales in the quarter declined 28 per cent to 15.8 billion kronor, while operating income fell 86 per cent to 506 million kronor.

Kathmandu, Apr 27 : Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has urged CPN (UML) chairman Jhala Nath Khanal to support the government''s decision to sack Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Rookmangad Katawal.

The move came after Khanal met Dahal at his residence on Monday morning to propose an option acceptable to both the Maoists and the Nepali Congress (NC).

Defense Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa ''Badal'' was also present.

Berlin - German consumer confidence is holding steady, a survey released Monday said, helped by hopes of an improving outlook for Europe's biggest economy and rising income expectations. The Nuremberg-based GfK marketing group said its forward-looking consumer confidence index for May came in at 2.5 points - compared to an upwardly revised April reading which was also 2.5 points.