UNITED STATES

American International Group and the U.S. Treasury scaled back plans for a share sale after the insurance company's stock posted a steady decline and closed near an 8-month low on Tuesday, a source familiar with the situation said.

Omar, 30, said he always disagreed with his father over the violent means and had sent numerous messages denouncing them and urging him to “change his ways”. But even the U.S. forces which had killed Osama have violated the international law by killing an unarmed terrorist leader without a trial, he said in statement issued by the Bin Laden family but signed only by him. The statement was the first by the family after Osama's killing.

Toyota Motor Corp reported a 52 percent drop in quarterly operating profit as it suffered from supply disruptions as a result of the March 11 earthquake in Japan. The world's biggest automaker is facing another tough year ahead as a severe shortage of parts caused by Japan's biggest earthquake on record hammers production just as it was putting its recall woes behind it.

HSBC is to streamline its wealth management business, retreat from retail banking in some countries and may sell its U.S. credit cards arm as new CEO Stuart Gulliver attempts to cut $3.5 billion in costs and revive flagging profits.

Stock index futures pointed to a slightly higher open on Wall Street on Wednesday, with futures for the S&P 500, the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq 100 all up 0.1 percent.

World stocks rose for a second straight day on Wednesday thanks to favorable U.S. and European corporate earnings, while the euro slipped on uncertainty over whether debt-laden Greece would need additional financial aid.

HSBC is to streamline its wealth management business, retreat from retail banking in some countries and may sell its U.S. credit cards arm as new CEO Stuart Gulliver attempts to cut $3.5 billion in costs and revive flagging profits.

Pakistan confirmed on Tuesday that the government will give permission to the U.S. to question the captured widows of Osama Bin Laden. Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik also said Bin Laden's three wives and some children will be repatriated to their home countries after the U.S. interrogates them.

HSBC Holdings Plc is reviewing its U.S. cards business and streamlining its wealth management and retail banking operations as it eyes savings of up to $3.5 billion, Europe's biggest bank said on Wednesday.

HSBC Holdings Plc <0005.HK>, Europe's biggest bank, is looking to slash up to $3.5 billion in costs by cutting the scale of its wealth management and retail banking businesses, it said on Wednesday.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Skype CEO Tony Bates jointly announced on Tuesday that the two companies have entered into a deal under which Microsoft will acquire Skype for $8.5 billion. Apart from creating value and emerging as a strategically important player in the voice and chat connectivity segment of the exploding web business, Skype also won real big time suitors like Microsoft, Google and Facebook. Perhaps the rivals' attempt to outbid each other and own Skype resulted in the Estoni...

The impact of AT&T Inc's proposed acquisition of T-Mobile on competition, pricing and consumer choice will be examined at a congressional hearing on Wednesday where top executives are due to appear.

Some U.S. lawmakers are being given the chance to view the gruesome photos of Osama Bin Laden's corpse after he was killed by U.S. forces in northern Pakistan, according to reports.

South Korean Electronic company's latest tablet computer, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 will be release in United States on June 8, 2011.

In what has become a familiar ritual over the past two weeks, jurors in the insider trading trial of hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam told the judge they needed more time to weigh the evidence.

The U.S. got its most wanted criminal when U.S. Special Forces killed Osama bin Laden but the troops left behind a key piece of secret technology they tried to destroy in the frantic, tense minutes when they raided the al-Qaeda leader's northern Pakistan compound: a Stealth Helicopter.

Herman Cain is the new exciting Republican candidate in the 2012 presidential race. He has won several straw polls and the first debate among 2012 Republican candidates.

Walt Disney Co reported a rare results miss after Mars Needs Moms capped a disappointing quarter at the U.S. box office, sending its shares down 3 percent.

Warner Music Group, which is being bought by billionaire Len Blavatnik's Access Industries, reported a narrower-than-expected quarterly loss, helped by a 9 percent jump in digital revenue.

Governments, or nowadays central banks, are traditionally the largest holders of gold. And for most of the past two decades, central banks have been net sellers of gold. But since 2010, central banks are net buyers again, because central banks of emerging market economies are aiming to diversify their ever growing currency reserves and reach a similar level in gold reserves as the club of old industrial economies.

Nasdaq OMX Group Chief Executive Robert Greifeld, unbowed after NYSE Euronext twice rejected his takeover offer, is pressing forward with a hostile bid for the Big Board parent, promising to launch a tender offer within weeks.