Latest Headlines

AP - European Union countries will discuss a possible levy on banks and a tax on financial transactions to better control market forces and protect public finances from the costs of bailouts, as they gather Tuesday in an atmosphere more benign than when they last met in July.

Reuters - Luxury car maker Jaguar has cut its sponsorship of star Australia swimmer Stephanie Rice, a triple Olympic gold medalist, after she sent a tweet using an anti-gay slur.

AP - Sales of passenger cars in China — the world's biggest market — rose 18 percent in August from a year earlier, a report said Tuesday, as government subsidies and price cuts by dealers helped spur demand.

Reuters - World stocks edged down from the previous day's one-month high on Tuesday while the euro fell broadly as renewed concerns about Europe's banking sector encouraged investors to pause after a recent rally.

AP - Oracle Corp. has hired former Hewlett-Packard Co. CEO Mark Hurd to help lead the database software maker in a pivotal moment in Oracle's 33-year history as it tries to muscle in on more of HP's turf.

AFP - Hundreds of enterprising New Zealand students have turned to Facebook to organise themselves into relief squads helping residents in the earthquake-hit city of Christchurch.

Reuters - British bank Barclays has appointed Bob Diamond, the head of its investment and wealth management business Barclays Capital, as its new group chief executive to replace current head John Varley next year.

AP - The top executive at Kia Motors has resigned after the company recalled more than 100,000 vehicles worldwide over defective wiring, the automaker said Tuesday.

Reuters - Silicon Valley technology giant Oracle Corp has hired Mark Hurd, the former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard Co who resigned amid a scandal, as president.

Reuters - The U.S. Justice department is looking into Google Inc's takeover of airline ticketing software firm ITA Software Inc, to determine whether the deal would exert too much influence on the online travel industry, the Wall Street Journal said.

Reuters - The U.S. Justice department is looking into Google Inc's takeover of airline ticketing software firm ITA Software Inc, to determine whether the deal would exert too much influence on the online travel industry, the Wall Street Journal said.

AFP - The head of South Korea's second-largest automaker Kia Motors has resigned to take responsibility for the recall of tens of thousands of cars over faulty electrical wiring, the company said Tuesday.

Reuters - China must resist external pressure for yuan appreciation because a stronger exchange rate would take a big bite out of economic growth, according to a pair of senior government researchers.

AP - An imam who has become the public face of a proposed Islamic community center and mosque near ground zero has returned to the United States following a taxpayer-funded tour of the Middle East, his wife said Monday.

AFP - The Roma minority are targets of a security crackdown in France, but an EU-funded project has given two dozen members of the community new jobs and new hope at a troubled time for gypsies.

AP - AOL is adding talk show host Ellen DeGeneres to its family of Web properties as it looks for ways to draw more people to its sites.

AFP - Deadly protests that paralysed Mozambique's capital last week were spurred by a text message that went viral on Maputo's cell phones, signalling the power of new technology in the hands of the poor.

Mashable - A strong earthquake that hit Christchurch, New Zealand on September 4 was one of the worst to hit New Zealand in 80 years. No deaths have been reported, but the earthquake caused devastation throughout the region of Canterbury.

Macworld.com - Mac users who’ve demanded the ability to have different people working on the same QuickBooks files at once will soon get their wish fulfilled when the next version of QuickBooks arrives for the Mac. Software maker Intuit says that the 2011 version of the accounting and small business management application will add multi-user functionality.

Reuters - President Barack Obama, scrambling to spur job creation, proposed a six-year plan on Monday to rebuild infrastructure with an initial $50 billion investment and prepared new business tax cuts.