UNITED STATES

Mexican telecom billionaire Carlos Slim has overtaken Microsoft founder Bill Gates as the world's wealthiest man with riches of $59 billion, Fortune magazine said on Monday.

Countrywide Financial Corp said on Monday it had access to $186.5 billion of cash as of June 30, as the largest U.S. mortgage lender attempts to assure nervous investors it expects to survive a credit crunch that has claimed dozens of smaller rivals.

Major U.S. airlines are on track for their worst annual record for on-time performance ever with nearly a third of all flights delayed in June, government figures showed on Monday.

Toyota Motor Corp has told its parts makers that it is planning global output of over 10 million vehicles in 2008, up more than 6 percent from its plans this year, the Nikkei business daily reported on Tuesday.

A U.S. judge on Monday threw out a record $1.5 billion verdict against Microsoft Corp, ruling the world's largest software had not infringed on audio technology patents held by France's Alcatel-Lucent.

Banks including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and HSBC might be interested in buying Bear Stearns Cos at the right price, but there would be real obstacles to a deal happening anytime soon, analysts said.

By picking a tough-minded outsider to head Chrysler, the struggling automaker's new owners have put company employees, suppliers and dealers on notice that things will be changing.

American Express Co. agreed to pay $65 million for failing to detect drug-related money transactions laundered through a subsidiary over several years, U.S. authorities said on Monday.

Pfizer Inc said on Monday that U.S. regulators approved its AIDS drug, Selzentry, the first in a new class of oral HIV medicines.

Luminent Mortgage Capital Inc on Monday said it suspended its 32 cents per share quarterly dividend and is exploring options to boost liquidity, becoming the latest casualty of the U.S. housing downturn.

Half of American homeowners do not expect their house to gain in value in the coming year although those who said the value of their property was declining appeared stable, according to a survey.

Gold slipped in afternoon trade in New York on Monday after hitting one-week highs on a weaker dollar, as oil prices plummeted and concerns about credit markets resurfaced.

The yen fell broadly on Monday as the U.S. stock market extended gains and benchmark Treasury yields rose.

Oil prices fell more than 5 percent on Monday, the biggest slide since December 2004, as concern about the U.S. economy rippled through financial and commodity markets.

Robert Nardelli, who was named to head Chrysler LLC on Monday by its new owner Cerberus Capital Management, declined to detail his compensation package, but said it would be tied to the automaker's progress in its turnaround. Nardelli was widely criticized for a pay and severance package seen as excessive during his term as chief executive of retailer Home Depot Inc.

American Home Mortgage Investment Corp., a large home lender catering to people considered good credit risks, completed its rapid descent on Monday when it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Lenovo Group Ltd., the world's No. 3 PC maker, said on Monday it would start selling laptop computers preloaded with Linux software from Novell Inc. instead of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system.

Fears of a global credit squeeze and worries about U.S. economic strength swept across financial markets on Monday, shaking up stocks, knocking the dollar to a 15-year low and straining popular currency trades.

Cerberus Capital Management on Monday named former Home Depot Inc. Chief Executive Robert Nardelli as chairman and chief executive of Chrysler LLC in an executive shake-up just after the private equity firm completed a deal to acquire the struggling No. 3 U.S. automaker.

China is to provide energy-starved North Korea with 50,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil in mid-August as part of a nuclear disarmament deal Pyongyang reached with regional powers in February, Yonhap news agency said on Sunday.

Over-fishing has made Atlantic bluefin tuna a prized delicacy a century after the fish were scorned in Europe as pet food, according to studies on Sunday that urged better international protection.