IBT Staff Reporter

Canada's CIBC said on Sunday it would sell a major part of its U.S. capital markets business to Oppenheimer Holdings Inc as it focuses on its core operations.

Shares in Citigroup Inc rose 5 percent on their first trading day in Tokyo on Monday, in a new exchange listing designed to boost the U.S. bank's presence in Japan but which coincides with the departure of its CEO.

Gold dipped but held firm above $800 an ounce on Monday because of surging oil and prices and a weak U.S. dollar and dealers said strong fundamentals could help the metal retest a record high of $850 soon.

Asian stocks eased on Monday with financial shares extending their slide as persistent credit worries offset a positive U.S. employment report, which showed twice as many jobs as expected were added last month.

Kurdish rebels on Sunday freed eight Turkish soldiers captured in an ambush last month in northern Iraq, a move which could ease public pressure on Turkey's government to launch a major cross-border incursion.

Condoleezza Rice urged Israel on Sunday to be bold in pursuing peace with the Palestinians after Israeli leaders warned her there could be no deal on a Palestinian state until their own security was guaranteed.

Boeing Co or Airbus may win an order this month worth as much as $3.95 billion from United Arab Emirates-based Air Arabia, which said on Sunday it plans to buy as many as 50 planes.

Shares in PetroChina, which raised $9 billion in the world's biggest initial public offer this year, nearly tripled in their market debut and far exceeded analysts' forecast, buoyed by the company's position in the world's second-biggest energy market.

Thousands of people were plucked from rooftops in southern Mexico on Sunday as water receded after flooding that left 800,000 homeless in Tabasco state, authorities said.

Pakistan braced for protests against emergency rule on Monday, while President Pervez Musharraf faced mounting pressure from the United States to hold parliamentary elections in January.

Competing with video games, Japan's toymakers are targeting adults with toys making use of nostalgia and high-tech.

When Charles Prince replaced Sanford Sandy Weill at the helm of Citigroup Inc, he was given the unenviable task of replacing a legend. Shareholders feared he could never fill Weill's shoes. They may soon be proven right.

Investors banking on more interest-rate cuts may get some clues about what comes next from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who testifies before the Joint Economic Committee of Congress on Thursday.

The union representing U.S. screenwriters called for a strike against film and TV studios starting on Monday in a move giving negotiators one last weekend to reach a contract deal or shatter 20 years of Hollywood labor peace.

Ford Motor Co on Saturday said it had reached a tentative labor deal with the United Auto Workers union, capping a historic round of bargaining between the union and the embattled U.S. auto industry.

With Americans weary of the Iraq war and U.S. elections on the horizon, Congress is struggling over how to get tough on Iran without giving President George W. Bush a blank check for a military strike.

A team of U.S. technicians will on Monday start disabling North Korea's nuclear complex which makes weapons-grade plutonium, a senior U.S. envoy said on Saturday, under a multinational disarmament deal.

Thousands of people fled a Mexican city on Friday after flood waters burst through sandbag barriers in a disaster that left 800,000 people homeless and most of the state of Tabasco under water.

Iraq said on Saturday it was ready to track down and arrest Kurdish guerrilla leaders responsible for cross-border raids into Turkey in an effort to avert a major incursion by the Turkish military.

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has decided to impose emergency rule, state-run television said on Saturday, in a move expected to put off elections due in January.

Travelers with a green lifestyle expect the same from rising numbers of environmental hotels.

The Internet search leader's broad alliance is part of the company's push into a key market.

Major U.S. carriers are profitable for first time after years of financial ruin but their share prices keep dropping.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a leading mobile and telecommunications equipment provider as well's as well as world's biggest memory chipmaker on Wednesday announced that it had bought an Israel non-memory chip developer, Transchip.

Citigroup Inc Chief Executive Charles Prince plans to resign this weekend, the Wall Street Journal said, as the widening subprime mortgage crisis deals a final blow to a reign long under attack. The largest U.S. bank by assets plans to hold an emergency board meeting on Sunday, at which Prince will step down, the newspaper said on Friday, citing people familiar with the situation.

Citigroup Inc's board of directors is holding an emergency meeting this weekend, Dow Jones reported on Friday.

Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), U.S.A., Inc. celebrated on Wednesday its fiftieth year car and truck sales in the United States.

Six world powers agreed on Friday to push ahead with a third round of U.N. sanctions against Iran relating to concerns about its nuclear program.

Mazda Motor Corp., the Japanese affiliate of Ford Motor Co., announced on Friday that its July-September period net profit soared 29 percent to 26.6 billion yen due to strong sales overseas.