The average daily turnover in the City this year was $1.85 trillion (£1.2 trillion) – or 37pc of global turnover, according to a three-year report into currency dealing by the Bank of International Settlements.
Around $4 trillion changed hands around the world every day in April, up from $3.3 trillion in April 2007.
The report, in which 53 central banks and monetary authorities took part, covers a period of extreme financial turmoil, from the sub-prime crisis to Lehman Brothers’ failure and subsequent massive bank bailouts to stop a collapse of the global …

You are driving along a country road, full of love for humanity but unaware that a 40-ton milk tanker is about to lumber out of a hidden side turning, just around the next corner. Your car knows, though. Sensors have identified its size and shape and predicted its course and speed. On-board computers have calculated an avoidance strategy – a quick burst of acceleration and a directional tweak.
Without any human intervention, the car speeds up slightly, the steering twitches slightly and the lorry pulls out with a couple of inches …

Victoria Azarenka collapsed and had to be taken off the court in a wheelchair Wednesday, an accident that resulted from a concussion she endured after falling and hitting her head while warming up for her U.S. Open match.
The 10th-seeded Belarusian was trailing Gisela Dulko 5-1, 31 minutes into her match on another steamy day at Flushing Meadows, when she stopped running and crumpled to the ground. She was taken to the hospital for tests, diagnosed with a mild concussion.
A scary scene on a day in which the temperature had already …

Scientists are reporting a major advance in diagnosing tuberculosis: A new test can reveal in less than two hours, with very high accuracy, whether someone has the disease and if it’s resistant to the main drug for treating it.
The test could revolutionize TB care and replace the 125-year-old process used now, which is slow and misses more than half of all cases, experts say. A better test would be a powerful tool to curb TB in poor countries, where most people spread the lung disease before they are diagnosed and …

The fear that has been hanging over markets for most of August lifted on Wednesday. For how long remains anyone’s guess.
The stock market started September with a jolt, turning sharply higher after a pair of encouraging reports on manufacturing sent investors seeking out riskier investments. Prices for the safest assets — Treasurys, gold and the dollar — all fell.
With investors suddenly willing to embrace risk, the Dow Jones industrial average added 255 points, its best day since July 7. All 30 stocks in the Dow closed higher. That marked a …

Apple Inc. is refining its plans to annex the living room into its entertainment empire.
On Wednesday, Apple unveiled a smaller, cheaper version of Apple TV, which connects to a high-definition television and can show rented movies and TV shows from Apple’s own service, plus content from Netflix, photos on Flickr, YouTube clips and more.
The new $99 gadget marks a slight improvement over Apple’s first television set-top box, which went on sale in 2007. The original Apple TV had to sync with a computer, a concept most consumers weren’t ready for, …

Is the tea party the new Republican Party?
The grass-roots network of fed-up conservative-libertarian voters displayed its power in its biggest triumph of the election year: the toppling of Sen. Lisa Murkowski in Alaska’s GOP primary. Political novice Joe Miller is the fifth tea party insurgent to win a GOP Senate nominating contest, an upset that few, if any, saw coming.
With the stunning outcome, the fledgling tea party coalition and voters who identify with its anti-tax, anti-spending sentiments proved that democracy is alive and well — within the Republican Party. Don’t …

Struggling to break decades of hostility, President Barack Obama convened an ambitious new round of Mideast peace talks Wednesday and told Israeli and Palestinian leaders they faced a fleeting chance to settle deep differences.
“This moment of opportunity may not soon come again,” Obama said at the White House before hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the first face-to-face peace talks in nearly two years. “They cannot afford to let it slip away.”
Obama sought to temper expectations, noting that it had taken his administration this …

A man who railed against the Discovery Channel’s environmental programming for years burst into the company’s headquarters with at least one explosive device strapped to his body Wednesday and took three people hostage at gunpoint before police shot him to death, officials said.
The hostages — two Discovery Communications employees and a security officer — were unhurt after the hourslong standoff. Montgomery County Police Chief Thomas Manger said tactical officers moved in after officers monitoring Lee on building security cameras saw him pull out his handgun and point it at one …

Silvio Berlusconi’s increasingly close relationship with Col Gaddafi is becoming a source of embarrassment for the Italian prime minister, according to opposition MPs and even members of the government.
On Monday, the Libyan leader recruited the women through a modelling agency to join him and Mr Berlusconi, in viewing a photography exhibition at a Rome cultural institute which traced historical links between the two countries.
T
elling them that Islam was the “ultimate religion”, Gaddafi insisted that “if you want to believe in a single faith then it must be that of Mohammed,” …