IBT Staff Reporter

European car markets reported tentative shoots of recovery on Wednesday but Honda moved to further cut U.S. output as General Motors Corp faced a rising bankruptcy risk and Chrysler raced to secure its survival.

Russia and the United States will pursue a new deal to cut nuclear warheads, presidents Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama said on Wednesday, making good on a pledge to rebuild relations from a post-Cold War low.

Fresh speculation has swirled about mining giant BHP Billiton resurrecting a takeover bid for rival Rio Tinto, but such a move is unlikely before Rio repairs its balance sheet.

U.S. President Barack Obama said on Wednesday there was enormous consensus between the world's largest developed and emerging economies on plans to haul the world out of the deepest downturn since the 1930s.

Hewlett-Packard Co is studying uses for Google Inc's Android operating system, but the world's top PC maker stopped short of saying it had decided to adopt the fledgling software in its products.

Taliban insurgents rejected on Wednesday a U.S. offer of honorable reconciliation as a lunatic idea and said the withdrawal of foreign troops was the only way to end the war in Afghanistan.

The Obama administration is seeking to ease General Motors Corp into a controlled bankruptcy by persuading some creditors to agree to a plan that would divide the company into two pieces, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.

World stocks kicked off a new quarter Wednesday with strong gains in Japan and losses in Europe after registering their best monthly performance since December 1999.

Server and data storage products maker Rackable Systems Inc on Wednesday said it agreed to acquire Silicon Graphics Inc, which filed for bankruptcy protection earlier in the day, for about $25 million in cash.

The European Union's executive arm dropped its case against payment network MasterCard's transaction fees on Wednesday in return for a pledge to cut them, enraging retailers who want the fees scrapped altogether.

Fortis was set on Wednesday to postpone a shareholder vote on the sale of its former banking arm to BNP Paribas, casting fresh doubt over whether it can complete the deal.

Australian miner OZ Minerals agreed to sell most of its assets to China's Minmetals for $1.21 billion on Wednesday, securing Australian mining's second big Chinese investment in as many days.

UBS AG's new chief executive hired a former colleague from rival Credit Suisse on Wednesday to lead a cost-cutting drive at the loss-making Swiss bank.

About 250-300 employees at fraud-hit Indian outsourcer Satyam Computer Services are joining Bank of America the Business Standard newspaper said on Wednesday.

U.S. mortgage rates set fresh record lows last week, fostering demand for refinancing that drove home loan applications to the highest level since mid-January, data from the Mortgage Bankers Association showed on Wednesday.

Job losses in the U.S. private sector accelerated in March, more than economists' expectations, according to a report by ADP Employer Services on Wednesday.

The U.S. government, now directing the turnarounds of General Motors Corp and Chrysler, has said bankruptcy for both could be fast, clean and targeted -- like surgery or a quick rinse.

The European Union's executive arm welcomed on Wednesday a new U.S. plan on cutting greenhouse gas emissions, saying the proposal would facilitate a global deal late this year on fighting climate change.

IBM will sell a suite of Web-based collaboration software for businesses, including contact management, instant messaging and file sharing programs, the computing giant's biggest effort to date to sell software as a service.

A malicious software program that has infected millions of computers could enter a more menacing phase on Wednesday, from an outright attack to a quiet mutation that would further its spread.

Activist investors are looking to block the re-election of American International Group Inc director James Orr, chairman of the insurer's board's compensation committee, the Wall Street Journal said.

The International Monetary Fund sees the world economy contracting by between 0.5 and 1 percent in 2009, Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said in an interview published on Wednesday.

Asia's banks are likely to step in with loans and boost their presence across the region as the credit crisis has forced big Western rivals to retreat.

A possible bankruptcy plan being discussed for General Motors includes quickly forming a new company of the automaker's most profitable parts, while a group of other units would remain under bankruptcy protection for a longer period, a source familiar with the plans told Reuters on Tuesday.

Alcoa Inc rebounded on the stock market on Tuesday, a day after tumbling 14 percent and a week before it reports fourth-quarter results, and analysts said an upgrade by Deutsche Bank and a report suggesting Alcoa might be a takeover target of mining group BHP Billiton contributed to the stock boost.

Fiat SpA's CEO was set for talks with Chrysler LLC labor unions and creditors in Detroit after U.S. authorities gave the carmakers 30 days to set up a partnership to save the ailing U.S. group.

South Korean retail giant Lotte Group is ready to return to the fray and raise its initial offer for Oriental Brewery, which its owner Anheuser-Busch InBev (INTB.BR: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) values at more than $2 billion, in a new round of bidding due next week, sources said.

Swiss bank UBS AG appointed former Credit Suisse executive Ulrich Koerner as chief operating officer to oversee a drive to centralize group services, aiming to cut costs and boost profits.

Philadelphia Federal Reserve President Charles Plosser said on Tuesday he is cautiously optimistic that the U.S. economy will start to grow again in the second half of 2009, breaking out of a lengthy recession.