UNITED STATES

Almost all U.S. cities are cutting spending to compensate for declining revenues, but the worst may be yet to come, according to a report released Tuesday by the National League of Cities.

China's vast manufacturing sector kept up its steady recovery last month, ignoring the gloom engulfing the Shanghai stock market, a pair of surveys showed on Tuesday.

Futures for the Dow Jones industrial average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 fall 0.5-0.6 percent, pointing to a weaker start for Wall Street on Tuesday.

Chinese shares bucked up on Tuesday after Monday's rout, helped by upbeat economic data, but the Aussie dollar fell after the central bank dashed expectations it would shift to a tighter policy bias.

A key gauge of U.S. manufacturing activity likely rose in August, which would bring the index into positive territory for the first time since the recession began, according to a Reuters' poll of economists.

Nokia has delayed to next year the launch of its music service in the United States, the world's largest music market, Forbes magazine reported online on Monday, quoting a Nokia spokeswoman.

U.S. retailers are likely to get an incomplete mark for the key back-to-school season when they report August sales this week, as a later Labor Day is expected to pull some sales into September, pressuring August results.

The U.S. pay czar has begun reviewing the appropriateness of the richest pay packages proposed by firms that received billions of dollars in government aid.

Walt Disney Co on Monday agreed to buy Marvel Entertainment Inc for $4 billion in the year's biggest media deal, banking on Marvel's pantheon of superheroes to broaden its lineup of movie franchises that appeal to boys.

Disney's Big Get; One Stop Oil Shop; AIG Takes a Hit

Drugmaker Schering-Plough Corp lost a bid for a refund of taxes paid on $690 million in profits earned offshore and repatriated, when a U.S. court sided with the Internal Revenue Service.

Nokia has delayed to next year the launch of its music service in the United States, the world's largest music market, Forbes magazine reported online on Monday, quoting a Nokia spokeswoman.

China Mobile CEO Wang Jianzhou said on Monday that the nation's biggest mobile provider is still in talk with Apple on iPhone, echoing Apple China's statement that its three-year agreement with China Unicom is not exclusive to the carrier.

A U.S. judge on Monday ruled against American International Group in the giant insurer's legal battle with Starr International Co, affirming a July jury verdict that Starr did not breach a trust.

Canada's public broadcaster broke television regulations when it aired a New Year's Eve skit that joked about the possible assassination of U.S. President Barack Obama, the country's broadcasting regulator said on Monday.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates threw his support behind Lockheed Martin Corp's F-35 on Monday amid mounting speculation the new fighter could face cuts as part of future Pentagon belt-tightening.

The United States and its allies must change strategy and boost cooperation to turn around the war in Afghanistan, the top U.S. and NATO commander there said on Monday, wrapping up a much-anticipated review.

U.S. regulators warned broker-dealer firms about creating incentives that may lead their brokers to engage in questionable conduct such as recommending unsuitable investment products, the Securities and Exchange Commission said on Monday.

Chinese regulators could decide whether to approve a domestic firm's bid for General Motors' GM.UL Hummer brand based on commercial, not political, factors, a government academic with one of the regulators said at the China Investment Summit on Monday.

WASHINGTON- U.S. Senate Democrats on Monday said they will delay introducing a climate change bill for a few weeks and set a goal of unveiling legislation later in September.