UNITED STATES

Google Inc is considering shutting down its China operations and website after hackers in China coordinated a highly sophisticated cyber-attack on the Internet search giant in December and targeted at least a score of other major corporations, it said on Tuesday.

Consumers will soon have more protection from various unfair practices from credit card issuers, as the Federal Reserve today approved several mandates to further regulate the credit card industry.

Bank of America Corp said on Tuesday it would shift its chief financial officer to a job running its retail operations and seek a replacement CFO, one of several moves by new Chief Executive Brian Moynihan to put his imprint on the bank.

Google, Inc executives in the U.S. have ordered a review of the search giant's operations in China and are considering shutting its local site and offices there if talks with the Chinese government about having an unfiltered search engine within the law fall through.

A major earthquake hit the impoverished country of Haiti on Tuesday, collapsing buildings in the capital Port-au-Prince and burying residents under rubble, a Reuters reporter in the city said.

Galleon hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam will plead not guilty to any new government charges of insider trading, his lawyer told a judge on Tuesday, as prosecutors raised the amount of his alleged illegal profits to $41 million.

Bank of America Corp on Tuesday announced a reshuffled executive management team under new Chief Executive Brian Moynihan.

Galleon hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam, accused of fraud and conspiracy in a complex insider trading case, attacked the U.S. government's wiretap evidence on Tuesday, as he won approval to stay free on bail.

U.S. stocks slid in a broad selloff on Tuesday as investors pummeled financials on concerns about a potential government levy on banks, while Alcoa Inc's disappointing results tempered optimism about the economic recovery.

U.S. bank stocks fell on Tuesday after reports that the Obama administration might charge banks more than $100 billion made investors worry about the sector's profits.

The Australian Dollar opens lower today at 0.9210 after failing to hang onto its recent gains above US93 cents.

U.S. President Barack Obama, who failed to attract much bipartisan support in his first year in office, has agreed to meet with U.S. Republican lawmakers as he starts his second year, a party leader said on Tuesday.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada failed to reach a deal on Tuesday on a dispute over a U.S. military base, but pledged not to let it derail the broader relationship.

U.S. stocks slid in a broad selloff on Tuesday as investors pummeled financials on concerns about a potential government levy on banks, while Alcoa Inc's disappointing results tempered optimism about the economic recovery.

The Federal Reserve paid a record $46.1 billion to the U.S. Treasury last year as aggressive bond purchases and lending to fight the financial crisis swelled its net income by 46.8 percent.

U.S. banks whose compensation plans encourage excessive risk-taking would have to pay more for deposit insurance under a proposal floated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp on Tuesday.

The U.S. trade deficit ballooned in November, as the price of imported oil jumped more than $5 per barrel and revived consumer and manufacturer demand pushed imports to their highest in nearly a year.

Some Wall Street executives in line for fat bonuses are akin to mad scientists whose brilliance justifies the size of their pay packages, the head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said on Tuesday.

The president of the world's largest money manager, BlackRock Inc , said on Tuesday that emerging markets are a bright spot for investment and warned U.S. real estate prices are likely to fall further.

Italy's Ferrero has decided not to bid for Cadbury Plc

The Securities and Exchange Commission sued Bank of America Corp for a second time over its takeover of Merrill Lynch & Co, accusing the bank of failing to disclose huge losses at Merrill before shareholders voted on the merger.