UNITED STATES

U.S. fund manager BlackRock gained European Union regulatory approval on Wednesday for its acquisition of a Barclays investment unit for $13.5 billion in cash and shares.

The European Union unveiled its blueprint for an overhaul of the way banks and financial markets are policed, a central plank in new rules designed to prevent a repeat of the global economic crisis.

The number of mass layoffs by U.S. employers rose by 533 in August from July, with the manufacturing sector the hardest hit, Labor Department data showed on Wednesday.

While Asia's economy has recovered from the lows hit a year ago, a bumpy road is ahead, with companies needing to shed debt burdens and increase capital bases, according to Nomura's Asia Pacific investment banking head.

Large drug companies have inherent advantages -- including cash to conduct expensive drug studies and to assure survival when trials fail -- that will be increasingly important in coming years, senior executives of Wyeth and Merck and Co said on Tuesday.

The United States is still working toward an agreement with G20 partners to phase out subsidies for fossil fuels, a top White House adviser said ahead of this week's G20 summit.

U.S. stocks were little changed in early trading on Wednesday as investors cooled their heels ahead of a Federal Reserve policy statement.

The most anticipated climate meeting in years will be held in the Danish capital in December. Out of those talks a broader climate pact to replace the Kyoto Protocol is expected to emerge.

Apparently healthy people with normal or even low cholesterol levels might benefit as much from taking statin drugs as people with high cholesterol, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.

U.S. oil and gas exploration and production firm SandRidge Energy Inc has struck a deal to buy bankrupt rival, Crusader Energy Group, for $230 million, in a cash and stock deal that would give it additional acreage in the Anadarko and Permian basins.

Warner Chilcott Plc said privately held Leo Pharma would re-acquire the U.S. rights to its topical psoriasis treatments for about $1 billion, sending the specialty pharmaceutical company's shares up 4 percent.

U.S. mortgage applications jumped last week to their highest since late May as interest rates tumbled below 5 percent, data from an industry group showed on Wednesday.

Democrats pushed on Tuesday to make insurance reforms more affordable for workers and Republicans decried what they called a rush to judgment, as a key Senate panel began debate on a sweeping healthcare overhaul.

Wall Street was set for a slightly higher open on Wednesday ahead of a Federal Reserve policy statement and following results by food company General Mills Inc, which beat profit estimates.

Al Qaeda's number two Ayman al-Zawahri appeared on Wednesday in a new video marking the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks, attacking Arab leaders and Barack Obama for their policies on Israel.

Scientists offered new hope in the fight against a difficult-to-treat skin cancer on Wednesday as an early-stage clinical trial showed an experimental drug dramatically shrank tumors.

General Mills Inc posted a higher-than-expected quarterly profit, helped by strong sales in the United States and lower commodity costs.

Fighting in Somalia's capital Mogadishu killed at least 12 people and wounded 17 others after Islamist insurgents attacked government forces and African Union (AU) peacekeepers, witnesses said on Wednesday.

Working Mother magazine on Tuesday named the best U.S. companies for working mothers, citing those that have kept or expanded family-friendly programs and policies amid the pressures of recession.

When the National Day parade rolls down Beijing's streets next week, foreign observers will look beyond the goose-stepping soldiers for signs that China is developing a new missile able to threaten U.S. aircraft carriers.

More than a year and a half into America's worst housing crisis since the Great Depression, rising unemployment is pushing ever more homeowners in rural Ohio toward foreclosure.