UNITED STATES

Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden claimed responsibility for the December 25 failed bombing of a U.S.-bound plane in an audio tape aired on Sunday, and vowed to continue attacks on the United States.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Sunday that a deal with the United States on a landmark nuclear arms reduction treaty was 95 percent agreed, news agencies reported on Sunday.

Just a year into his presidency and already in need of a political comeback, Barack Obama is trying to regain momentum by focusing on two hot-button problems: joblessness and reining in the Wall Street bankers many blame for the lackluster economy.

China's Communist Party mouthpiece on Sunday accused the United States of mounting a cyber army and a hacker brigade, and of exploiting social media like Twitter or Youtube to foment unrest in Iran.

Switzerland has not yet handed over data on clients of UBS to the U.S. authorities as part of a probe into possible tax evasion among wealthy bank customers, a government spokesman was quoted as saying on Sunday.

President Barack Obama called senators on Saturday to check that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke had enough support for a second term and two key senators said the nomination was on track.

President Barack Obama called on the U.S. Congress on Saturday to create a bipartisan panel that would look at ways to rein in the country's soaring deficits.

General Motors expects it will need to build a new greenfield manufacturing facility in the near future in China to accommodate strong growth in the world's largest auto market, but it will not be building a plant this year, its China president said on Saturday.

Germany will host a meeting of the Group of 20 nations in May to focus efforts on reforming financial regulation in the wake of new U.S. proposals for governing banks, a finance ministry spokesman said.

Citigroup Inc on Friday said it is trying to move to London a New York lawsuit by British private equity firm Terra Firma over that firm's purchase of music business EMI Group.

Haiti mourned its dead on Saturday and hundreds gathered in the ruins of a wrecked Catholic cathedral to honor an archbishop and other victims killed in last week's earthquake as the government ended search-and-rescue operations.

Vice President Joe Biden told Iraqi officials on Saturday the United States backed a ban on Saddam Hussein's Baath party and said he had faith Iraq would resolve a row over the banning of election candidates suspected of links to it.

President Barack Obama launched an extraordinary attack on the Supreme Court on Saturday, saying a ruling on corporate donations to political campaigns this week strikes at democracy itself.

The Financial Stability Board , charged by the G20 to coordinate national regulation in response to the financial crisis, on Saturday welcomed U.S. proposals to limit banks' size and trading activities.

Ben Bernanke's confirmation to a second term as Federal Reserve chairman suddenly appeared in jeopardy on Friday even after U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he would back him.

China needs no lessons about its Internet from the United States, the head of an online media association said through official media on Saturday after the United States rapped Beijing over information freedom.

¨Gold prices will continue to witness an uptrend in 2010 but investors should expect continued high volatility-resembling an amusement park roller coaster ride, according to Jeffrey Nichols, Senior Economic Advisor to Rosland Capital. In his latest commentary on market trends, Jeffrey Nichols said that gold prices won't move up higher without interruption.The two main sources of gold price volatility will continue to be the investment demand for the yellow metal and volatility in dollar's exchan...

A favorite Wall Street measure of investor anxiety surged on Friday as U.S. stocks sank on concerns over the White House's plan to rein in risk-taking by banks indicating more stock market turmoil in weeks ahead.

China hit back at U.S. criticism of Internet censorship and hacking on Friday, warning that relations between the two global heavyweights were being hurt by a feud centered on web giant Google.

Motorola Inc has asked U.S. regulators to bar Research In Motion from the U.S. sale of its products, accusing the BlackBerry maker of infringing on five Motorola technology patents.

New York Federal Reserve officials debated in November 2008 whether the terms of the bailout of American International Group could be kept secret from the public and whether securities regulators would even permit it to do so, according to emails obtained by Reuters on Friday.