IBT Staff Reporter

China is not afraid of the Internet, its Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday, even as access to the popular video sharing site YouTube appeared to be blocked.

Seeking to avoid another financial crisis similar to the potential failure of AIG last September, leaders of the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve urged lawmakers to give them additional authority to supervise the financial system, including the ability to close out struggling non-bank financial institutions.

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Williams-Sonoma Inc reported a 90 percent drop in quarterly profit on Tuesday and said it does not expect to earn a profit until the 2009 holiday shopping season, sending its shares down.

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Thirty-five nations vote on Thursday for a new International Atomic Energy Agency chief at a time of mounting challenges to the nuclear non-proliferation regime, but it was unclear if a winner would emerge.

(Corrects reference to securities laws in paragraph 6)

Stocks fell on Tuesday, with financial shares giving up some of the previous day's surge as investors assessed government plans to shore up the economy and resource shares fell alongside commodity prices.

Oil fell below $53 on Tuesday, giving away some of the previous sessions gains, pressured by a stronger U.S. dollar and losses on European and U.S. stock markets.

The U.S. economy should start growing by the end of this year and unemployment, expected to peak at around 9 percent, will begin to decline in 2010, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans said on Tuesday.

The following are prepared remarks by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who was set to testify in Washington today about the Fed’s involvement in the bailout of insurance giant American International Group Inc.

The top three U.S. exchanges want regulators to adopt a modified uptick rule and a circuit breaker to curb abusive short selling, a trading strategy that profits from declining stocks.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Tuesday joined the Federal Reserve in calling for authority to wind down failing non-bank financial firms that threaten the financial system.

Retailer Williams-Sonoma Inc reported a sharply lower quarterly profit on Tuesday as the recession and slumping housing market curbed sales of its home goods and said it could post a loss for the current year.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc hopes to pay back the $10 billion it took from the U.S. government's $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program within a month, The New York Times said on Tuesday, citing people involved in the process.

Wall Street was poised for a lower open on Tuesday the day after markets surged, as investors assessed a raft of recent moves to shore up the struggling economy and soft oil prices weighed on energy shares.

World airlines are set to lose $4.7 billion this year as a result of the global recession that has shrunk passenger and cargo demand, industry body IATA said.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will face tough questions from lawmakers on Tuesday as he spells out the basics of the Obama administration's plans to reshape financial regulation at a high-profile congressional hearing.

Governments broadly support tough 2050 goals for cuts in greenhouse gas emissions but are split on how to share out the reductions, according to a new guide to negotiators of a new U.N. climate pact.

China's steel industry should face fees on its exports into the United States if Washington adopts greenhouse gas cuts and Beijing does not, U.S. steel industry officials and advocates said.

Japan will adopt greener climate policies if the opposition, ahead in voter polls, wins an election this year and sticks to promises for greater use of renewable energy and bold cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.

A federal judge has transferred Citigroup Inc's $60 billion lawsuit against Wells Fargo & Co over the acquisition of Wachovia Corp back to the New York state court where it began, citing a lack of jurisdiction.

German industrial company Siemens expects fiscal stimulus programs around the world to support sales of its green products, chief executive Peter Loescher told the Financial Times newspaper.

Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Tuesday the day after markets surged, as investors assessed a raft of recent moves to shore up the struggling economy, while lower oil prices weighed on energy shares.

The Federal Reserve could expand its already vast efforts to restore normal functioning in financial markets, and its actions ultimately will help restore global economic growth, a top Fed policy-maker said on Tuesday.

Facing anger over corporate bonuses and skepticism about his massive budget, President Barack Obama holds a news conference on Tuesday to explain his economic strategy to a recession-weary public.

Oil edged down toward $53 on Tuesday, as investors took profits after a 3 percent rise in the previous session that was supported by a surge on global stock markets on a new U.S. banking rescue plan.

Fifteen of 20 American International Group leading bonus recipients have agreed to give them back in full, said New York's top legal officer who is probing into $165 million in executive pay at the troubled company bailed out by the U.S. government.

Lloyd's of London, the specialist insurance market, said its profit halved in 2008 because of hefty hurricane losses and weaker investment returns.