TOP NEWS: Greek Supreme Court To Rule On Legality Of Referendum

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Friday.
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COMPANIES
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The Royal Bank of Scotland Group could face a penalty of as much as USD13 billion depending on the outcome of a US mortgage securities lawsuit, Bloomberg News reported. According to the report the US Federal Housing Finance Agency, which is suing on behalf of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, estimated that amount in a court filing in a related case.
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Anglo-Dutch consumer goods giant Unilever said it has agreed to buy US skincare company Murad. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Founded in 1989 in Los Angeles, Murad, which had a turnover of USD115 million in 2014, will be incorporated into Unilever's Prestige division. The Murad deal follows Unilever's recent acquisitions of Dermalogica, Kate Somerville and REN.
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Ofcom has fined mobile operator EE GBP1 million for failing to comply with rules on handling customer complaints, the UK media and communications regulator said. EE is currently in the process of being acquired by telecoms company BT Group. The Ofcom investigation found EE did not provide certain customers with accurate or adequate information about their right to take their complaint to an alternative dispute resolution during the period under review, which covered July 22, 2011 to April 8, 2014.
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GlaxoSmithKline's ViiV Healthcare signed a strategic manufacturing agreement with Desano Pharmaceuticals on Thursday for the manufacturing of dolutegravir, ViiV's HIV medicine. The agreement will offer an additional source of the dolutegravir active pharmaceutical ingredient and will allow ViiV to offer a competitive supply of the finished product, marketed under the name Tivicay, for China and a number of developing countries, subject to national approvals.
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Ferrexpo said pellet production rose in the second quarter and in the first half as the company continues to produce more high-quality pellets. The iron ore miner operating in Ukraine said total pellet production in the second quarter experienced a small lift to 2.9 million tonnes, bringing total first half production to 5.8 million tonnes, which is up 8.3% from 5.4 million tonnes a year earlier.
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MARKETS
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London shares are mostly lower mid-morning, trading in a narrow range with the US stock market closed and ahead of the Greek referendum on its bailout provisions on Sunday.
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FTSE 100: down 0.3% at 6,610.30
FTSE 250: down 0.4% at 17,625.08
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.5% at 765.41
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The pound was higher against the dollar after UK Markit services Purchasing Manager's Index, the day's only domestic economic data, came in ahead of expectations.
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GBP: up at USD1.5632
EUR: up at USD1.1113

GOLD: up at USD1168.20 per ounce
OIL (Brent): down at USD61.69 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Greek officials were braced for a decision by the country's supreme administrative court on the legality of the bailout referendum ahead of rival campaign rallies in central Athens. According to the Council of Europe, a democracy watchdog, Sunday's referendum will not meet international standards, as voters have not been given enough time to prepare and the question posed is too vague. But Triantafyllia Lina Papadopoulou, a professor of constitutional law at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, says the referendum is unlikely to be challenged. "Even if they go into the substance, I think it will be too late to annul the referendum," she told dpa.
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Greece requires at least EUR36 billion from Eurozone over the coming three years on concessional terms to maintain its finances sustainable, the International Monetary Fund said in a report. In a preliminary draft of its Greek debt sustainability analysis, the IMF said the funding requirement is projected to reach around EUR50 billion from October 2015 to end 2018, requiring at least EUR36 billion from European creditors on highly concessional terms.
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The UK service sector logged strong growth in June following a temporary lull in May linked to the recent election. The headline Markit/Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 58.5 in June from a five-month low of 56.5 in May. It was forecast to rise to 57.5. Data suggests that the second quarter of 2015 was the strongest on average since the third quarter of 2014.
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Ireland's service sector expanded at the fastest pace in almost nine years in June, driven by continued gains from improvements in economic conditions, survey figures from Markit Economics and Investec showed. The Investec services Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 63.3 in June from 61.4 in the previous month. A reading above 50 indicates expansion in the sector. The services activity increased at the strongest pace since September 2006.
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China's securities market regulator said that it has opened an investigation into suspected market manipulation. The China Securities Regulatory Commission said it has set up a team to look for "clues of illegal manipulation across markets" and irregularities between securities and futures trading."Those suspected of a crime will be resolutely transferred to the police for investigation," spokesman Zhang Xiaojun said in comments on the regulator's official microblog Thursday.
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The services sector in China continued to expand in June, but at a slower pace, the latest PMI from HSBC Bank showed, with a PMI score of 51.8. That's down from 53.5 in May, although it remains above the line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. The composite index came in at 50.6, down from 51.2 in the previous month and touching a 13-month low.
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Iran sent mixed messages on whether it is ready to accept intrusive nuclear inspections foreseen in a deal with six world powers, following a visit by International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano in Tehran. Amano was expected to report back Friday in Vienna to the group of six, which are negotiating with Iran on scaling back the Islamic republic's nuclear programme and allow deep scrutiny by IAEA inspectors, in return for sanctions relief.
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An airstrike has killed a leading Islamic State fighter in Syria, the Pentagon said. Tunisian militant Tarik bin Tahar al-Awni al-Harzi was killed in Syria near the border with Iraq on June 16. His death would make it harder for Islamic State to move weapons and fighters in and out of Iraq and Syria, Pentagon spokesman Jeff Davis said in a statement.
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Syrian opposition rebels launched a large-scale attack on regime strongholds in the northern province of Aleppo, killing and wounding some 80 people, a monitoring group said. "This is the heaviest attack by rebel forces Aleppo has witnessed since two years, as more than 400 shells fell on regime-held areas in Aleppo," Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told dpa.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com; @ArvindBhunjun

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