UNITED STATES

American International Group Inc could announce as early as Wednesday the sale of its Taiwan Nan Shan Life unit to conglomerate Ruentex Group for up to $2.5 billion, according to Taiwan newspapers.

Stocks pushed modestly higher, buoyed by some better-than-expected earnings results from prominent companies like Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA).

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss found a skeptical audience on Tuesday as they tried to persuade a U.S. appeals court to let them out of a $65 million settlement over the founding of online social network Facebook.

China, one of the largest buyers of energy, and Russia, a leading exporter of it, are quickly cemeting their natural friendship.

Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are calling for new gun-control legislation in the wake of the shootings in Tucson, Arizona last Saturday that left six people dead and 15 injured, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-AZ, who remains in critical condition, as do five other victims.

State-owned Bank of China Ltd has opened trading in the yuan currency to U.S. customers, according to a posting on the bank's website dated December 2010.

Some market observers are extremely concerned about the impact of high-frequency trading upon the overall stock market.

A former technology analyst with Primary Global Research pleaded guilty on Tuesday to leaking confidential company information to hedge funds, part of the U.S. government's broad insider trading probe.

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss found a skeptical audience on Tuesday as they tried to convince a U.S. appeals court to let them out of a $65 million settlement over the founding of online social network Facebook.

Despite a still-fragile U.S. economy and persistently high unemployment, The Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund, the nation's largest donor-advised fund program, said its donors supported charities in record numbers in 2010.

The United States should not press China for an immediate sharp rise in the value of its yuan currency because that could be bad for both countries, the leader of a top U.S. business group said on Tuesday.

China is studying a proposal from the U.S. to begin strategic security talks that would cover nuclear arms, missile defense, space and cyber issues, as the countries seek to improve their military-to-military relations.

The attempted assassination of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-AZ, and the murder of six innocent bystanders, at a “meet and greet” with constituents on Jan. 8, was a shocking and tragic event nationwide. Unfortunately, trying to kill American politicians is neither unique nor new.

Two prominent WikiLeaks supporters in the Netherlands and Iceland are consulting U.S. lawyers about ways to stop the Justice Department getting their Twitter records in a probe into the leak of secret documents.

Verizon Wireless plans to sell Apple Inc's iPhone for as low as $200 starting next month, putting the smartphone at the center of its high-stakes battle with AT&T Inc for wireless customers.

The U.S. Federal Reserve's aggressive bond-buying plan could soon backfire unless the central bank gradually changes course to head off inflation, a top Fed official known for his hawkish stance said on Tuesday.

Directors of Federal Reserve banks in Dallas and Kansas City again requested, unsuccessfully, a 0.25 percent rise in the rate charged to banks for emergency loans, minutes of Fed meetings in November and December showed on Tuesday.

After months of rumors, Verizon subscribers will finally get the iPhone.

Shares of AT&T Inc fell 1.5 percent on Monday as investors bet that sales of an Apple Inc iPhone at its bigger rival Verizon Wireless would take away customers from AT&T.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc took a step toward greater transparency by pledging to disclose more about how it makes money, seeking to rebut criticism that it has been putting its own interest ahead of clients.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange made a brief appearance in a London court on Tuesday and will return next month for a full hearing on Sweden's efforts to extradite him for questioning over alleged sex crimes.