UNITED STATES

Amazon.com Inc is to sell its larger Kindle electronic reader, aimed at students, businesspeople and newspaper readers, in more than 100 countries for $489, following the rollout of its original device last year.

Gold edged higher in Asian trade Wednesday despite a relatively strong dollar. Gold for immediate delivery was seen trading at $1124.42 an ounce at 11.30 a.m Singapore time while U.S. gold futures for February delivery were at $1,123.20 at the same time. Higher rates typically boost the dollar and pressure gold, which is often used as an alternative to the U.S. currency.

The dollar remained weak against the yen early on Wednesday after falling sharply overnight, while Asian stocks managed only modest gains as mixed economic data made investors hesitant about the strength of the U.S. recovery.

The Walt Disney Co on Tuesday unveiled a technology called KeyChest to enable consumers to buy films or television shows from various distributors, store them on remote servers, and play them on multiple platforms ranging from TVs to computers and phones.

Indicted Galleon hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam faces expanded charges of insider trading and allegations that he earned $36 million in illicit profits, double the amount previously alleged, U.S. prosecutors said on Tuesday.

Indicted Galleon hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam faces expanded charges of insider trading and allegations that he earned $36 million in illicit profits, double the amount previously alleged, U.S. prosecutors said on Tuesday.

Global cotton production in 2010/11 is forecast at 24.2 million tons up nearly 10%, according to International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC). The production in China is forecsted at 7.7 mn tonnes in 2010/11, one million tons higher than in the current season. Most of the gain is expected to come from increased area in response to higher domestic prices.

With Israel's polished diamond exports more than doubled to $308.2 million in December 2009, Surat hopes to improve its diamond trade in 2010. Surat's diamond traders expect that the new year will spell a boom for the diamond business in the city, which processes almost every diamond made in the world.

The attempted Christmas Day bombing of a U.S. airliner was a potentially disastrous screw up by the intelligence community, President Barack Obama said on Tuesday as he vowed urgent action to tighten air security.

GMAC Financial Services said on Tuesday that it expects to post a combined fourth-quarter loss of about $5 billion largely on charges related to the auto and home finance company's bid to write down or sell risky mortgage assets.

Calpers, the biggest U.S. public pension fund, said on Tuesday that unofficial election results show Kurato Shimada and Joseph 'J.J.' Jelincic winning member-at-large seats on its board.

President Barack Obama said on Tuesday that U.S. intelligence agencies had enough information to possibly thwart an attempt to destroy a jet bound for Detroit on Christmas day.

ESPN and Discovery Communications Inc both unveiled plans on Tuesday to launch 3-D television networks, reflecting a growing momentum in the entertainment industry to usher 3-D into the home.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq rose on Tuesday as better-than-expected factory orders and a surge in vehicle sales at Ford Motor Co provided more evidence of an economic recovery.

Ford Motor Co posted a 33 percent sales gain for December as U.S. auto sales ended 2009 on an upswing after a tumultuous year that saw GM and Chrysler collapse into bankruptcy and China overtake the United States as the biggest car market.

The Australian Dollar opens largely unchanged against the greenback on Wednesday at 0.9090.

(Corrects to show gain in Honda sales was nearly 25 percent, not 20 percent, in paragraph 6)

Google Inc took the wraps off the first of its smartphones on Tuesday, a device with speech recognition that it hopes can take on Apple's iPhone over time and help shore up the company's dominance in Internet advertising.

Google unveiled the Nexus One smartphone on Tuesday and showed off its many features during a press event, and unveiled its new Web store which will sell the device directly to customers. The Google Nexus comes unlocked to consumers who wish to purchase it online for $529, or $179 with a two-year contract from T-Mobile.

A day after the Tokyo Stock Exchange launched its new high-speed trading system, meant to capture the new need-for-speed in financial markets, U.S. exchanges were quick to tout how swift their systems are.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq rose on Tuesday as better-than-expected factory orders and a surge in vehicle sales at Ford Motor Co provided more evidence of an economic recovery.