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The British currency was at 123.62 yen GBPJPYR, down 1percent though off the low of 122.94 yen on Wednesday,according to Reuters data. Data on Wednesday showed a sharp deterioration in Britain'spublic finances and a rise in joblessness, but such data andthe release of minutes from the latest Bank of England policymeeting were overshadowed by banking sector woes.ID:nLL446707 BoE minutes showed the BoE's Monetary Policy Committeevoted 8-1 to cut interest rates by 50 basis points to a recordlow of 1.5 percent this month, with arch-dove DavidBlanchflower calling for a 100 bps reduction. But theynoted that if there were indications perhaps from lower giltprices that a weakening exchange rate reflected a loss ofcredibility in UK policy, then that would be bad news for themedium-term outlook. The euro was firmer across the board and rose more than 1percent to 94.20 pence at its peak, according to Reuters datain New York, its strongest since the start of the month andcloser to a record high of 98.05 pence hit last month.EURGBPD4 Speaking before parliament, European Central Bank PresidentJean-Claude Trichet played down the threat of deflation, whilerebuffing talk that some euro-zone member states would leavethe union given the financial crisis.

ID:nLL367087 He added that all global currencies were under pressure. The dollar rose 0.2 percent against the yen at 89.97 yenJPY. The dollar and the yen are still strong in thisrisk-averse environment," said Marcus Hettinger, globalcurrency strategist at Credit Suisse in Zurich. "With other central banks cutting rates down to the levelof the U.S. WASHINGTON, Jan 21 (Reuters) - The top Republican on theSenate Finance Committee said on Wednesday he did not believethere was a drive in the U.S. Senate to block the confirmationof Timothy Geithner as Treasury secretary Bonds Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican, told Reuters hewould not decide whether to support Geithner before Wednesday'sFinance Committee confirmation hearing, where the nominee isexpected to face questions on his failure to pay certain taxesas well as the current financial bailout program.

"At this point I have not come to any conclusion thatthere's a massive drive within the Senate to keep him frombeing confirmed," Grassley told Reuters, adding that theTreasury post needed to be filled quickly. "One way or the other either he is our secretary ofTreasury or he isn't he or somebody else needs to be inthere very quickly," Grassley said. Bonds. Last week UFC 106 was headlined by the heavyweight title fight between Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin, and this was a very big deal. Also on the card, Tito Ortiz would be rematching Forrest Griffin. Not bad, but not enough to make your head explode either. Only with Lesnar out due to illness and the fight tentatively rescheduled for January, Ortiz/Griffin II just got a bump up in status on UFC . Does the UFC really believe that a fight between Griffin (who's coming off two straight losses) and Ortiz (who has a loss, a draw, and another loss in his last three outings) is main event caliber, or is this just a temporary fixAfter taking a look at the rest of the confirmed card for UFC 106, let's hope it's the latter. Right now, the best undercard match-ups the card has going for it are Dustin Hazelett vs Karo Parisyan, Amir Sadollah vs Phil Baroni, Ben Saunders vs Marcus Davis, and probably Luis Cane vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. There's also reason to expect Paulo Thiago vs. Jacob Volkmann, but unless the UFC adds something big (perhaps that all-ninja tournament we've been hoping for) they could face a real pay-per-view letdown. If ever there was a time for Ortiz to prove to the UFC what a huge draw he still is, whether he has any meaningful wins in his recent past or not, it would be now. This article is also featured on CagePotato . NEW ORLEANS(Business Wire)McMoRan Exploration Co.

(NYSE: MMR): HIGHLIGHTS Continued active development of the Flatrock field on OCS 310 at South MarshIsland Block 212. Since announcing the initial discovery well in July 2007,McMoRan drilled five additional successful wells in 2008: Logged significant pay in a total of six wells, with additional wells beingplanned. Established production on four wells during 2008, with two additional wells tocommence in 2009. Independent reservoir engineers estimates of proved reserves at Flatrock ofover 350 Billion cubic feet of natural gas equivalents gross (66 Bcfe net toMcMoRan). McMoRan believes there is additional reserve potential in the Flatrock fieldfrom the No. 6 well currently being drilled and from anticipated futuredrilling. Confirmed the potential for the significant accumulation of hydrocarbons below30,000 feet on the Shelf of the Gulf of Mexico through the deepening of theSouth Timbalier Block 168 ultra-deep No 1 well Testing of the No. 1 well isbeing planned and additional drilling activities of ultra-deep prospects on theShelf of the Gulf of Mexico are anticipated. In-progress deep exploration drilling currently includes: Tom Sauk on LA State Lease 340 Gladstone East on LA State Lease 340 (located 5 miles east of Flatrock) Ammazzo Fourth-quarter 2008 production averaged 162 Million cubic feet of natural gasequivalents (MMcfe/d) net to McMoRan. Production continues to be impacted byshut-ins associated with the September 2008 hurricanes. An estimated 60 MMcfe/dis currently restricted by the availability of third party pipelines. Potential toincrease production with further success at Flatrock and other explorationprospects. Operating cash flows totaled $623.4 million for the twelve-months of 2008.Cash flows used in operations totaled $12.8 million, after $24.4 million inworking capital uses, for fourth-quarter 2008. Capital expenditures for 2008 totaled $236 million and 2009 expenditures arecurrently estimated to approximate $230 million.