UNITED STATES

Hundreds of millions of euros in German state aid planned for carmaker Opel is earmarked for operations in Russia, an Opel trustee with reservations about the project was quoted as saying in a newspaper interview.

U.S. health-care firm Johnson & Johnson is in talks to cut the price of a $1.5 billion deal with Irish drugmaker Elan Corp, a source familiar with the negotiations said on Sunday.

The former deputy Governor of the Bank of England said he was astounded the U.S. government let Lehman Brothers go under, and that the bank's collapse marked a clear moment when people lost confidence in the markets.

Central clearing of privately traded derivatives contracts won't be enough to make the $600 trillion sector safe, while clearing of some bespoke trades may not be desirable, the Bank of International Settlements said.

China's commerce ministry said on Sunday it had launched an anti-dumping investigation into imports of U.S. chicken products and vehicles, as the foreign ministry slammed the United States for protectionism.

Israeli President Shimon Peres was discharged from hospital on Sunday with a clean bill of health, a day after the 86-year-old Nobel peace laureate passed out briefly at a ceremony.

Iran will not negotiate about its nuclear rights, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday, after the United States said it would focus on the Islamic state's atomic activities in upcoming talks with Tehran.

The health of the terminally ill Libyan convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing has deteriorated markedly in the past day, his brother and doctors said on Saturday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday there were still gaps to bridge in talks with a visiting U.S. envoy seeking a settlement freeze and the revival of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

President Barack Obama warned Americans on Saturday not to be tricked by scare tactics he accused his opponents of using as he went on the road to rally support for his drive to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system.

American Airlines is in talks to take a minority stake in Japan Airlines and form a joint venture with the struggling airline, a source said, pitting it against a rival bid from Delta Airlines .

Efforts by private equity firms to sell stakes in portfolio companies through initial public offerings continued late this week as two North American companies took steps toward coming to market.

A community watchdog group expressed outrage and Wells Fargo said it was launching an investigation after a newspaper reported that a senior exec threw lavish parties at a beachfront Malibu house owned by the bank.

It is the action hero dream team. Sylvester Stallone will shoot a scene with Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger soon for his upcoming adventure The Expendables, due to hit theatres in 2010.

Hard-hitting Israeli war movie Lebanon won the Golden Lion for best picture at the Venice film festival on Saturday.

Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell said on Saturday he is ready to veto a bipartisan budget plan proposed by lawmakers to end a 10-week deadlock because it is out of balance and contains cuts to education and healthcare spending.

The parent company of American Airlines is in talks to set up a broad venture with Japan Airlines Corp in a deal that could see the U.S. carrier investing hundreds of millions of dollars in JAL, The Wall Street Journal cited sources as saying on Saturday.

Financier Danny Pang, who was accused by U.S. securities regulators of perpetrating a massive Ponzi scheme on mainly Taiwanese investors, has died, a family spokesman said on Saturday.

British carmaker Bentley, owned by Volkswagen, is seeing some signs of revival in the super luxury vehicle segment and expects sales of premium cars to improve next year, one of its top executives said on Friday.

Cadbury turned up the heat in its defence against a takeover from Kraft as its Chairman Roger Carr said it was an unappealing prospect being absorbed into Kraft's low growth conglomerate business model.