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By Katie Allen LONDON (Reuters) - Interest rates look set to stay at 4.5 percent at the Bank of England's final meeting of the year as policymakers monitor the crucial Christmas shopping season and watch for signs of inflationary pressures from wages. All 45 analysts polled by Reuters last week said the central bank's Monetary Policy Committee would keep interest rates on hold at 4.5 percent for ...

By Jim Loney MIAMI (Reuters) - U.S. air marshals on Wednesday shot and killed an American Airlines passenger who claimed to be carrying a bomb, as he tried to escape into the terminal at Miami International Airport after arriving from Colombia. Federal officials said the 44-year-old American indicated he had a bomb in his carry-on bag during a flight from the Colombian city of Medellin, where airport security is generally considered tight. He was confronted by two air marshals upon landing in ...

By Trevor Huggins LISBON (Reuters) - Benfica swept into the Champions League knockout stages with a 2-1 win over Manchester United on Wednesday that ended the English club's season in Europe. Benfica's deserved victory at the Stadium of Light lifted the twice former European Cup winners from bottom spot to second behind Group D winners Villarreal, who beat Lille 1-0 in Spain. The French club drop into the UEFA Cup while United finished in an embarrassing last place in the group. Midfielder P ...

LONDON (Reuters) - An Iraqi group holding four Westerners extended by 48 hours on Wednesday a deadline to kill them unless Iraqi detainees are freed, as a jailed cleric made an appeal from his prison cell for the hostages' release. The militant group had threatened to kill the hostages on Thursday but extended the deadline until December 10, Al Jazeera television reported on Wednesday. The channel showed brief video footage of two men it said were British hostage Norman Kember and an American  ...

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Mel Gibson is stirring passions again with his latest project -- a nonfiction TV movie set against the backdrop of the Holocaust. Gibson's Con Artist Productions is developing "Flory" for ABC, based on the true story of a Dutch Jew named Flory Van Beek and her non-Jewish boyfriend who sheltered her from the Nazis, The New York Times and Variety reported in Wednesd ...

LONDON (Reuters) - Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was admitted to hospital on Wednesday after complaining of feeling faint. Thatcher, 80, who held office from 1979 to 1990 as Britain's first female prime minister, will stay in a London hospital overnight for tests, a spokeswoman for Conservative Party said. "She was taken into hospital this afternoon after feeling faint," the spokeswoman said. "She is having tests."

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal air marshals shot and killed a 44-year-old U.S. citizen on Wednesday after he indicated he had a bomb on a flight from Colombia and tried to flee into Miami International Airport, a Homeland Security official said.

MIAMI (Reuters) - An American Airlines passenger who claimed to be carrying a bomb was shot by an air marshal on a jetway ramp while trying to flee a plane arriving from Medellin, Colombia, at Miami International Airport on Wednesday, a U.S. official said. CNN, citing information from law enforcement sources, said the passenger had died. "Shots were fired as the team attempted to subdue the subject," the U.S. Homeland Security spokesman said. The incident took place as American Airlines fligh ...

DENVER, Colorado (AP) -- Bitterly cold air poured southward across the nation's midsection Wednesday, dropping temperatures to record lows from Montana to Illinois. The mercury dived to a record 45 below at West Yellowstone, Mont., the frequently cold spot at the west entrance to Yellowstone National Park, the National Weather Service said. The old record for December 7 was 39 below, set in 1927. The cold even extended south to the Texas Panhandle, where Lubbock shivered at a record low 6 abov ...

By Mitch Phillips LONDON (Reuters) - Harry Redknapp was reappointed manager of Portsmouth on Wednesday, one year after he quit the Premier League club for bitter south coast rivals Southampton. Redknapp, 58, resigned from second division Southampton on Saturday saying it had been the worst year of his life. He replaces Frenchman Alain Perrin, sacked last week after Portsmouth's poor run of form, and faces a tough job to keep them up as they have collected just 10 points from 15 games. At a n ...