UNITED STATES

A former Goldman Sachs Group Inc computer programmer accused of stealing secret trading codes from the financial firm has been released from federal custody after posting bail, authorities said Monday.

Asian stocks edged up slightly on Tuesday but struggled after a slide the previous day, while the yen held gains against higher-yielding currencies as investors doubt the speed of the global economy's recovery.

Oil edged up above $64 a barrel on Tuesday, after four consecutive days of falls on worries about the economy that have brought the stock market rally to a halt and pushed the dollar higher.

Dell Inc., the world's second-largest PC maker, will devote more resources to the small-and medium-sized business (SMB) market in China as it considers the segment will be the first to climb out of the recession, said a senior company executive.

The U.S. Justice Department has begun looking at big telecom companies such as AT&T Inc and Verizon Communications to try to determine if they have abused their market power, the Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition on Monday.

The U.N. Security Council on Monday condemned North Korea's latest ballistic missile launches as a violation of council resolutions and a threat to regional and international security.

President Barack Obama and Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev on Monday agreed a target of cutting vast Cold War arsenals of deployed nuclear warheads by around a third from current levels to 1,500-1,675 each.

Former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara died on Monday aged 93. He will be remembered most as the leading architect of America's involvement in the Vietnam War.

A restructured General Motors Corp will get the remaining $20 billion in government bankruptcy financing over the rest of this year and could be ready to launch an initial public stock offering in early 2010, a senior U.S. official said on Monday.

Mortgages Warning, Unfriendly Skies, New GM near reality

U.S. tax authorities have discovered far fewer than the 52,000 accounts with Swiss bank UBS AG suspected of being used by Americans to avoid taxes, the U.S. government said in a court filing on Monday.

Discover Financial Services said on Monday it will offer $500 million of common stock and use the proceeds to help repay $1.2 billion the credit card issuer received in government bailout funds.

Less profitable skies as airlines report dropping June traffic, Judge approves sale to New GM, Rio Tinto sells food packaging division for $1.2 billion

Standard & Poor's on Monday boosted its expectations for losses on risky loans backing U.S. mortgage securities to as much as 40 percent, suggesting a darkened outlook for the troubled housing market.

The New York-New Jersey Port Authority on Monday said the World Trade Center developer, Larry Silverstein, had stopped negotiating over his demand for the agency to guarantee his loans for two office towers.

Visiting President Barack Obama and Kremlin leader Dmitry Medvedev agreed a target for cuts in nuclear arms and a deal to let U.S. troops fly across Russia at the start of a trip intended to mend strained ties.

A former Goldman Sachs Group Inc computer programer accused of stealing secret trading codes from the financial firm has been released from federal custody after posting bail, authorities said on Monday.

Michael Jackson crossed swords with a lot of people when he was alive, but perhaps none more important than Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

The United States on Monday condemned violence against protesters in Honduras and called for President Manuel Zelaya's reinstatement as the Central American country faced growing isolation over last week's coup.

Audi AG, a German subsidiary of Volkswagen AG, said on Monday it sold 67,000 cars in the January-June period, the best first-half result ever in the country.

U.S. tax authorities have discovered far fewer than the 52,000 accounts with Swiss bank UBS AG suspected of being used by Americans to avoid taxes, the U.S. government said in a court filing on Monday.