UNITED STATES

Pakistani soldiers are closing in on the main town in the Taliban bastion of Swat, the army said on Saturday, in an offensive that has driven more than a million people from their homes.

Switzerland's largest bank, UBS , is losing key staff in important areas to competitors, chairman Kaspar Villiger was reported as saying on Saturday.

Barack Obama will visit Africa for the first time since being sworn in as the first black U.S. president when he travels to Ghana in July, a trip many Africans hope will herald powerful help for their poor continent.

U.S. President Barack Obama on Saturday named Utah Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. to be the next U.S. ambassador to China, a pivotal post in relations between the United States and a major emerging economic power.

Venture-capital investments have been falling in a depressed economy but this is not necessarily stifling technology start-ups, as it becomes easier to get firms off the ground without outside investment, Microsoft says.

A money manager owned by Canada's Manulife Financial Corp is seeking to fire one of the largest subprime mortgage companies in the United States, claiming that Carrington Mortgage Services is unfairly tarnishing some bonds.

U.S. stocks stumbled on Friday as energy shares dropped along with oil prices on worries about weak demand, overshadowing fresh reassuring economic data.

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama on Friday renewed U.S. sanctions against Myanmar's military government, saying its actions and policies continued to pose a serious threat to U.S. interests.

General Motors Corp said it would drop about 1,600 U.S. dealers as it struggles to slash billions of dollars in operating costs and debt ahead of an anticipated bankruptcy filing by the end of the month.

House speaker Nancy Pelosi backed U.S. energy policy being proposed by the House Energy and Commerce committee, saying it will help grow the economy and create jobs.

Major League Baseball has won a patent for technology that blocked certain fans from viewing local games online, and it may open the door for the U.S. sports league to profit by licensing it to media companies.

A former partner at accounting firm Ernst & Young LLP was guilty of securities fraud for an insider trading scheme but not guilty of conspiracy charges, a U.S. jury ruled on Friday.

Hewlett-Packard Co. is voluntarily recalling lithium-ion batteries used in HP Pavilion, Compaq Presario, HP, and HP Compaq because of fire hazard, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced Thursday.

Hedge fund and traditional money management firms hard hit by last year's market meltdown are poised for a surge of mergers and acquisitions to bolster depleted assets and widen sources of revenue.

General Motors has quietly roped off a bit of virtual real estate with an address similar to one used by Chrysler, that could serve as an information clearinghouse if GM seeks bankruptcy protection.

Regulators are looking at ways to protect investors from losing funds backing their derivatives trades in the event of a Lehman-style bank failure.

Hmmmmmm... how interesting. I've just been contacted by a firm who says the UK Telegraph story yesterday misquoted Mark Patterson and that the newspaper pulled down its piece. Considering it was the #1 viewed story on the Telegraph yesterday that is quite interesting. The story has now disappeared into the Error 404 ether on the Telegraph website. I won't speculate on the role of the Invisible Hand reaching out to certain parties ... but a grassy knoll type of person could connect so...

U.S. stocks stumbled on Friday as energy shares dropped along with oil prices on worries about weak demand, overshadowing fresh reassuring economic data.

A U.S. jury found a former partner at accounting firm Ernst & Young LLP guilty of a securities fraud charge on Friday, according to a court document.

Authorities have warned people about a huge emergency-response drill set for New York City's World Trade Center on Sunday, seeking to avoid panic like one caused by an unannounced flyover by a U.S. presidential plane.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy told his Pakistani counterpart he wanted the Muslim country to have a wide-ranging deal to buy nuclear equipment like the one obtained by its rival India, Pakistan said on Friday.