IBT Staff Reporter

Israel's prime minister said on Monday he was ready to begin Israeli-Palestinian peace talks immediately but he made no reference to a Palestinian state, an omission that has dismayed Arab, European and U.S. officials.

Mexico was flying home dozens of its citizens on Tuesday quarantined in China over fears of a new flu virus and announced plans to revive its economy hit by the deadly epidemic, which showed signs of easing.

The new H1N1 flu virus is expected to surge in coming months in the southern hemisphere when the winter season begins, health experts said, calling for continued vigilance even if the virus appears to be mild.

GMAC LLC on Tuesday reported a first-quarter loss that was 15 percent larger than a year earlier. reflecting an increase in soured loans as the economy weakens.

Opponents of Afghan President Hamid Karzai are scrambling to unite behind a single leader in a last-minute bid to field a unified team for the August 20 election, the brother of one of the main hopefuls said on Tuesday.

A man was stoned to death in Iran for adultery but the woman involved in the case repented, the judiciary said on Tuesday, suggesting her life was spared.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has dropped plans to attend a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council this month in protest at NATO's expulsion of Russian diplomats, Russia's NATO envoy said on Tuesday.

Masked men armed with assault rifles and grenades killed 44 people at a wedding party in southeast Turkey in a blood feud between families over who should marry the bride, authorities and residents said.

China's People's Liberation Army will hold a big training drill later this year to hone the modernizing force's skills in complex, high-tech warfare, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday.

The United States will persist for now with diplomatic overtures to Iran despite the lack of a positive response from Tehran, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Tuesday.

The U.S. economy is on track for a recovery later this year, but the pickup is likely to be sluggish and the jobless rate is likely to rise further, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Tuesday.

President Barack Obama chose a former South Carolina education superintendent to lead the Consumer Product Safety Commission and announced plans to increase the number of its commissioners, the White House said on Tuesday.

The United States intends to work toward reducing emissions of potent greenhouse gases found in refrigerators and air conditioning systems but has not yet decided which international venue to use to advance the issue, U.S. officials said on Monday.

Negotiations in the U.S. House of Representatives on how to cut industrial pollutants that cause global warming reach a critical stage this week as President Barack Obama huddles with key lawmakers on Tuesday and Republicans ready for a fight.

Microsoft's latest operating system, Windows 7, became available late Monday to the general public.

While stocks rose in March, the market for complex instruments is still shut down, UBS said on Tuesday. The Swiss bank, which today reported a first quarter loss of 1.975 billion Swiss Francs ($2.34 billion) today, said it remained “cautious on the immediate outlook for UBS” as the markets continue to be unsettled.

Oil edged up toward $55 a barrel on Tuesday, reaching the highest price of 2009, as rising equities and hopes for an economic recovery countered swelling oil inventories and falling demand.

Kraft Foods Inc posted a higher first-quarter profit helped by price increases and cost cutting measures.

Days away from its U.S. opening, 10 percent of Star Trek fans planning to see the movie say in a survey that they plan to show up to theaters in costume, online ticket seller Fandango.com said on Tuesday.

Comedian Jimmy Fallon, who put his act through a test drive on the Internet before unveiling his late-night talk show on television, won a Webby Award on Tuesday as the Internet's Person of the Year.

About 10 of the 19 largest U.S. banks being stress tested will be instructed by regulators to raise more capital, according to a source familiar with official talks.

Amazon.com Inc's Kindle electronic reader was supposed to revolutionize publishing by freeing people from having to carry books around. Now the Web retailer may super-size it for newspaper readers.

Oil fell to around $54 a barrel on Tuesday as forecasts that U.S. crude inventories probably rose from their highest level in almost two decades countered optimism about economic recovery.

Wall Street indexes pointed to a lower open on Tuesday with investors set to book profits a day after the S&P 500 turned positive for the year, while financials were in focus as the market awaits stress tests results from the government.

S&P stock index futures pointed to a slightly lower open on Tuesday with investors set to take profits after a recent runup while the results of government stress tests on the financial sector remained a focus.

The BlackBerry Curve has managed to outsell the Apple iPhone in the first quarter of 2009 according to Research in Motion Ltd.

A systemic regulator needs a global reach to address a financial firm's multinational operations and increased use of derivatives around the world or risk being ineffective, a top Federal Reserve policy maker said on Tuesday.

Four months into her fix-it job at Yahoo Inc, Chief Executive Carol Bartz has worked through an impressive checklist.

Stock futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Tuesday, after the previous session's strong rally, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.1 percent, Dow Jones futures flat and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.2 percent at 5 a.m. EDT.