UNITED STATES

Investors already bruised by the Japan disaster now confront military air strikes on Libya and the prospect of rising oil prices, making it likely they will postpone any bold investment decisions.

U.S. companies with big sales in Japan like Aflac and Tiffany may see sales pinched in the wake of the country's massive earthquake, but the yen's recent sudden strength could offset those losses.

British, French and American jets conducted bombing and attack operations over Libya on Sunday to enforce a no-fly zone over the country meant to stop leader Muammar Gaddafi's forces from killing civilians as the Arab League criticized the assault, saying casualties among civilians had occurred nonetheless.

In response to airstrikes on his country by a coalition of western nations, Col. Moammar Gaddafi has threatened that Libya will fight a long war.

Oil prices may rise again on Monday as traders ratchet up the risk premium for crude after Western forces bombed Libya's air defenses in a United Nations-backed intervention against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Saudi Arabia's economy is reasonably insulated from the regional turmoil and the central bank has seen no abnormal capital outflows, its governor Muhammad al-Jasser said on Sunday.

UN-sanctioned aerial and naval attacks on Libyan air defense and ground forces at the weekend are likely to see oil prices vault higher this week, overcoming demand-side jitters stemming from Japan's earthquake and Chinese monetary tightening.

In one the first studies of its kind, ecologists in Indianapolis have used 70-year-old dried plant specimen to track the impact of increasing urbanization on plants.

General Motors Co has suspended all nonessential spending and global travel while the automaker assesses the impact of the crisis in Japan on the company, a GM spokesman said on Saturday.

Julius Baer Chairman Raymond Baer called for Switzerland to resolve a banking-related tax row with the United States, in comments reported by Le Temps.

French fighter jets have bombed and destroyed a Libyan military target, marking the first act of enforcement of the United Nations mandate to impose a no-fly zone over Libya

Yemen clash death toll rises to 47

Drugmaker Eli Lilly , which faces plunging sales due to competition and lapsing patents, will not merge with another peer to ride out any rough times ahead, chief executive John Lechleitr said on Saturday.

South Korea's auto major Hyundai Motor Co is recalling 190,000 Elantra sedans to fix faulty air bag sensors that could cause the front air bag to malfunction.

A former Goldman Sachs Group Inc computer programer was sentenced to eight years in prison on Friday for stealing secret code used in the Wall Street bank's valuable high-frequency trading system.

A U.S. judge rejected a preliminary class-action settlement with Securities America, a broker accused of failing to vet fraudulent companies properly, in a ruling that gave a lift to state regulators trying to stop the deal.

A former Goldman Sachs Group Inc computer programer was sentenced to eight years in prison on Friday for stealing secret code used in the Wall Street bank's valuable high-frequency trading system.

Samsung SDI Co Ltd <006400.KS> has agreed to plead guilty and pay a $32 million criminal fine for its role in a scheme to fix prices of color display tubes, the U.S. Justice Department said on Friday.

Procter & Gamble Co will raise detergent prices by 4.5 percent in June as the world's largest household products maker starts to respond to rising costs for materials, packaging and transportation.

Stocks gained after a week of heightened volatility on Friday, but investors were reluctant to make big bets due to turmoil in the Middle East and Japan's nuclear crisis.

U.S. regulators gave major banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co the green light on Friday to boost dividends, loosening the reins on the industry 2-1/2 years after the government bailed out the financial system.