CHINA

Investors fled the U.S. stock market on Tuesday and the S&P 500 tumbled to its lowest level in eight months in a sell-off triggered by a wave of increasing alarm over the global economic outlook.

General Motors has revamped the way it operates, with sharply lower costs, stronger brands and gains in key emerging markets like China, Chief Executive Ed Whitacre said in a pitch for the company's planned IPO.

Investors fled the U.S. stock market on Tuesday and the S&P 500 tumbled to its lowest level in eight months in a sell-off triggered by a wave of increasing alarm over the global economic outlook.

(Corrects paragraph 2 to delete reference to worst day since May 6)

General Motors , in the year since emerging from bankruptcy, has revamped the way it operates, with sharply lower costs, stronger brands and gains in key emerging markets like China, Chief Executive Ed Whitacre told potential investors on Tuesday.

Google Inc is tweaking its China website in a last-ditch effort to save its search business in the world's largest Internet market after butting heads with Beijing over Web censorship.

The planned initial public offering of General Motors Co is likely to leave the U.S. government with a minority stake while also raising new funds for the automaker

Stocks tumbled on Tuesday after a sharp drop in consumer confidence and on fresh concerns over euro-zone fiscal problems ahead of massive bank repayments to the European Central Bank this week.

A toxic combination of European banking concerns, a downward revision to Chinese growth and poor U.S. economic data battered Latin American currencies on Tuesday. Brazil's real was hit the hardest, plunging to its weakest level in about two weeks, as investors fled higher-risk assets worldwide.

Stocks tumbled on Tuesday after a sharp decline in consumer confidence and on fresh concerns over euro zone fiscal problems ahead of massive bank repayments to the European Central Bank this week.

Google Inc said on Tuesday it will stop automatically rerouting users in China to an uncensored search page, a move that aims to preserve its operating license and signals a fight to save the firm's Chinese business.

Google Inc said it will stop automatically redirecting Web searchers in China to an uncensored portal in Hong Kong as it hopes to convince Beijing to renew its operating license in the world's largest Internet market.

The yuan CNY=CFXS weakened slightly against the dollar in the onshore spot market and offshore forwards on Tuesday as investors saw little opportunity for the Chinese currency to appreciate sharply in the near term after the end of the G20 summit over the weekend.

Internet giant Google Inc said it plans to stop automatically redirecting users of its Google.cn site to its Hong Kong page, in a bid to secure renewal of the company's China operating license.

World stocks hit a 2-1/2 week low on Tuesday while oil and the euro also slipped as investors grew nervous over the funding situation of banks about to repay 442 billion euros ($545.5 billion) to the European Central Bank.

Stock index futures pointed to a sharply lower open on Wall Street on Tuesday, with futures for the S&P 500 down 1.4 percent, Dow Jones futures down 1.1 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures down 1.4 percent at 0930 GMT.

Asian stocks fell on Tuesday and were on course for their worst quarterly performance since the end of 2008, while funding concerns in the euro zone sent the single currency tumbling to a record low against the Swiss franc.

The yuan was little changed against the dollar in the onshore spot market and offshore forwards on Tuesday as investors saw little opportunity for the Chinese currency to appreciate sharply in the near term after the end of the G20 summit over the weekend.

Baidu Inc, China's leading search engine, will start hiring software engineers directly from the United States early next month, as it seeks to expand its technological capabilities and raise its global profile.

To get an idea of how some U.S. textile mills can compete with developing-world rivals who pay far lower wages, roll a bowling ball down one of the production lines at Parkdale Mills' Walnut Cove yarn plant.

At a time when Chinese power plants are notorious polluters, Yingli Green Energy, a Chinese solar panel maker, has become an completely integrated manufacturer selling green energy worldwide.