UNITED STATES

Fiat SpA's chief executive, facing a two-week deadline to work out a partnership with Chrysler LLC, warned the troubled U.S. carmaker's unions he would ditch the idea unless they agreed to cut labor costs.

World stocks fell on Wednesday, stepping back from the previous session's three-month high, and the low-yielding yen firmed as news of job cuts at Swiss bank UBS and weak U.S. and Chinese data fanned economic concerns. UBS warned of a first-quarter loss of nearly 2 billion Swiss francs and said it would cut a further 8,700 jobs, weighing on other banking shares.

Fiat's chief executive said he was ready to abandon plans to form a partnership with Chrysler LLC if the U.S. car maker's unions refused to accept substantial cost cuts, according to a newspaper.

Calpers, the biggest U.S. public pension fund, is seeking opportunities to buy assets of Citigroup and others tied to a $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program in the United States, Bloomberg reported.

Asian stocks pulled back from six-month highs on Wednesday but held up after the drop on Wall Street overnight, with hopes for more Chinese stimulus spending helping offset reports of weak first-quarter growth.

Blackrock Inc will raise between $5 billion and $7 billion in toxic assets from U.S. financial institutions through a planned government program.

U.S. representative Ed Towns of New York has contacted insurance giant American International Group to express concern about bailout funds being used to fight back against critics of the firm.

Meet the new Goldman Sachs, trying to be the same as the old Goldman Sachs.

AT&T Inc is in talks with Apple Inc to extend its exclusive U.S. agreement to sell the iPhone from 2010 to 2011, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

Yahoo Inc is preparing to lay off several hundred workers in the first round of cuts since Carol Bartz became chief executive in January, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.

The United States on Tuesday held out the chance of attending a U.N. conference on racism in Geneva next week but said the final text must remove what Washington views as restrictions on freedom of speech.

North Korea said on Tuesday it would quit international nuclear disarmament talks and restart a plant that makes bomb-grade plutonium after the United Nations chastised it for launching a long-range rocket.

North Korea ordered U.N. inspectors to leave on Tuesday after saying it would quit international nuclear disarmament talks and restart a plant that makes bomb-grade plutonium, the United Nations said.

The American ship captain held hostage by Somali pirates will return to the United States with his crew Wednesday.

U.S. President Obama said in a speech on economy Tuesday that recent stimulus measures are starting to generate signs of economic progress, but more tough times are ahead.

On Tuesday hopes of the recession coming to an end were dashed sending U.S. stocks down after reports of the economy and banking sector.

The President of the Renewable Fuels Association, Bob Dinneen said on Tuesday that eventually, the U.S. government will allow higher levels of ethanol to be blended into gasoline.

Stocks fell on Tuesday as a surprising drop in retail sales dented hopes the recession was abating and financial shares slid on fears that Goldman Sachs' share offering could prompt others to follow suit.

Hopes of seeing the end to the recession were crushed on Tuesday at the U.S. retail sales saw an unexpected drop of 1.1 percent in March compared to the previous month, the Commerce Department said.

A wealthy Florida yacht broker, caught up in a federal probe of UBS AG , pleaded guilty on Tuesday to using the Swiss bank to hide more than $3 million in assets from the U.S. government.