U.S.

Chinese mainland's purchase of US Treasury bonds fell for the first time in 11 months to $763.5 billion in April, latest US government data showed on Monday.

Honda Motor Co (7267.T) plans to periodically issue asset-backed securities in the United States to accommodate the expected recovery in car sales and longer-term funding needs, the Nikkei business daily said.

In the wake of the latest economic crisis, President Obama’s top economic officials today issued five proposals for improving the U.S. financial system that would expand the government’s authority to regulate financial companies and their products.

Three Saudi nationals were transferred from the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Department of Justice announced Friday.

Two Japanese citizens carrying $134 billion worth of U.S. bonds were detained last week by Italy's financial police at Chiasso (40km from Milan) on the border between Italy and Switzerland, an Italian daily said Wednesday.

The Federal Reserve must work to keep 30-year fixed mortgage rates at historically low levels for the next year or the economy will remain in recession, according to a group of chief executive officers from leading U.S. companies.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Wednesday the Obama administration wants to give the Securities and Exchange Commission power to give shareholders a stronger say over executive pay.

As the financial crisis continues to dampen the global economy, a popular online microlender to third world countries, Kiva.org, has now begun to offer loans to low-income entrepreneurs in the U.S.

The U.S. job market strengthened in May for the first time in 16 months, indicating that while job loss figures remain deep in the woods a recovery, albeit slow, is in sight, a research group said on Monday.

Fitch Ratings on Monday said it expects to keep its top rating on the most senior commercial mortgage-backed securities for the

U.S. lawmakers expect to introduce legislation next week that would reverse a Bush era law exempting a controversial drilling practice from federal oversight, possibly driving up costs and curtailing the development of vast amounts of unconventional energy.

Interest rates on U.S. 30-year fixed-rate mortgages surged 0.38 percentage point in the latest week, reaching its highest level since the week ending Dec. 11, 2008, according to a survey released on Thursday by home funding company Freddie Mac (FRE.N).

The U.S. Senate could vote as early as Tuesday on a proposal to spur auto sales by underwriting some of the cost to consumers of buying fuel-efficient cars.

The Agricultural Bank of China is set to open in New York and London, building a round-the-clock commodity trading team and taking global Beijing's ambition to be a major force on commodity markets.

Despite the well-known benefits of physical activity, eating a diet high in fruits and vegetables, maintaining a healthy weight, moderate alcohol use and not smoking, only a small proportion of adults follow this healthy lifestyle pattern, and in fact, the numbers are declining, according to a study by Dana King, M.D., and colleagues at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC).

Aventis Pharmaceutical Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of sanofi-aventis U.S. LLC, has agreed to pay the United States $95.5 million to settle allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by misreporting drug prices in order to reduce its Medicaid Drug Rebate obligations, the Justice Department announced today.

White House budget director Peter Orszag said Friday reforming healthcare through higher costs is not the administration’s aim.

The European Commission will organise a meeting of European Union industry ministers to discuss the sale of carmaker Opel, a spokesman for the EU executive said on Wednesday.

US EQUITIES rallied back from the long opening weekend of summer. Initial pressures from escalating geo-political tensions

Mexico's peso reversed losses to firm on Tuesday and stocks jumped after U.S. consumer confidence soared in May to its highest level in eight months, boding well for Mexico's exports.

Industry should play its part in the fight against climate change by persuading governments to aid carbon cuts rather than lobbying against them, the U.N. Secretary-General told a business conference on Sunday.