BEIJING (Reuters) - China will impose a long-awaited fuel tax "very soon," the head of National Development and Reform Commission's (NDRC) Energy Research Institute said in comments reported on Tuesday by the China Daily.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Psychological group therapy for women with breast cancer may help them not only to cope better with their disease but also live longer, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

LONDON (Reuters) - JP Morgan, the US investment bank, is drawing up plans to axe thousands of jobs across its worldwide operations, reports The Sunday Telegraph.

PARIS (Reuters) - Russia could cancel its deployment of missiles near the Polish border if U.S. President-elect Barack Obama scraps plans for a missile defense system in central Europe, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Chip giant Intel Corp cut its fourth-quarter revenue forecast by about 14 percent citing weak demand across the world and in all its products, indicating the economic crisis is set to hurt computer sales in the holiday season and beyond.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Efforts to reform the U.S. healthcare system got a big boost on Wednesday as a powerful Democratic senator unveiled a plan similar to President-elect Barack Obama's and an analysis said the financial crisis could accelerate any efforts, not hinder them.

DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Corp shares plummeted to a 65-year low on Tuesday, extending recent steep declines on concerns the automaker might run desperately short of cash by early next year.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Barack Obama said on Saturday that, with the long U.S. presidential election campaign over, now was the time for Americans to put aside political differences and work together to solve the economic crisis.

SANAA (Reuters) - A Yemeni court has halved the prison sentence of an al Qaeda suspect on the U.S. list of most wanted militants after he won an appeal, judicial sources said Saturday.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - After nearly a year spent seeking alternatives to Microsoft Corp's buyout offer, Yahoo Inc's Chief Executive Jerry Yang said he believes a deal between the two is still the best option for the beleaguered Internet company.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Best-selling U.S. author Michael Crichton, who wrote such novels as "The Andromeda Strain" and "Jurassic Park" and created the popular TV drama "ER," has died unexpectedly of cancer at age 66, his family said on Wednesday.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - President-elect Barack Obama told cheering supporters on Tuesday "change has come to America" and called on Americans to back a spirit of unity to attack the country's pressing challenges.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Frederick Williams, a Marine Corps veteran scraping by on unemployment benefits, describes his living situation as "not homeless but close to it" and says he never cared enough to vote -- until Tuesday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks had their biggest Election Day rally ever on Tuesday as investors looked forward to the end of the uncertainty surrounding the long fight for the White House, while global credit markets showed more signs of a thaw.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain took their final shots at each other and swept across battleground states on Monday to wrap up a U.S. presidential campaign in which Obama was leading but McCain hoped to pull off a historic upset.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The U.S. commander running the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, arrived in Pakistan on Sunday for talks with government and military officials, a U.S. embassy spokesman said.

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama knows nothing about the status of a Kenyan relative reported to be living in the United States illegally but believes "all appropriate laws should be followed," his campaign said on Saturday.

PERKASIE, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama sought to energize voter turnout on Saturday in the final, frenetic weekend of a long and grinding U.S. presidential election campaign.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Wednesday as a big rally faltered in the last minutes of trading on worry about the weakening corporate profit picture after a news report raised questions about General Electric's earnings outlook.

WAM, Pakistan (Reuters) - About 175 people were killed when a powerful earthquake hit the southwestern Pakistani province of Baluchistan on Wednesday, flattening about 1,500 mud-walled homes and triggering landslides, officials said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska was convicted of corruption on Monday, a verdict that could endanger the Republican's political future and help Democrats expand control of the Senate in the November 4 election.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush, who will host a global summit on the financial crisis next month, said on Saturday that agreeing on common principles to reform regulators would be essential to preventing another disaster.

CINCINNATI (Reuters) - Americans used to wait for problems on election day before crying vote fraud, but both sides have already launched charges of disenfranchisement and cheating ahead of the November 4 U.S. presidential election.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Major U.S. cities including New York, Washington, Atlanta and New Orleans have levels of economic inequality that rival cities in Africa, according to a U.N. report published on Thursday.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Treasury Undersecretary David McCormick said on Wednesday the U.S. economy is in for a challenging few quarters but could start to recover late next year.

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama will leave the campaign trail to go to Hawaii this week to visit the ailing grandmother who helped raise him, an aide said on Monday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Friday that U.S. troops should not be concerned by a deal that is said to let Iraq prosecute American military personnel if they commit serious crimes on Iraqi soil.

REYKJAVIK/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia is not yet convinced it should make a loan to Iceland to help dig it out of a financial crisis, a Russian source said on Friday.

KIAWAH ISLAND, South Carolina (Reuters) - Top U.S. executives were bracing for a downturn even before the financial markets collapsed late last month, according to a survey conducted in September by the Business Council.

MONTERREY, Mexico (Reuters) - Gunmen fired shots near a U.S. consulate in northern Mexico on Thursday days after a similar attack on the building and officials suspended visa services, a U.S. official said.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Housing and credit market turmoil drove Citigroup Inc to its fourth straight quarterly loss and $13 billion of write-downs and credit losses, but the giant U.S. bank still wants to acquire deposits after its bid to acquire much of Wachovia Corp failed.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama warned his supporters to guard against overconfidence on Thursday as he and underdog Republican rival John McCain opened a 19-day sprint to Election Day.

REYKJAVIK (Reuters) - Iceland moved to shore up its ravaged economy by slashing borrowing costs on Wednesday and officials pursued efforts to get help from Russia in tackling the worst financial crisis in the island's history.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Retail sales last month dropped the most in more than three years while a measure of New York state manufacturing hit its lowest since the index started in 2001, intensifying recession fears.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Morgan Stanley stock nearly doubled after Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc (MUFG) completed its $9 billion investment in the bank on Monday.

By Krittivas Mukherjee NEW DELHI (Reuters) - With gold-plated ceilings, exotic fountains and the clink of champagne glasses, the Emporio Mall in New Delhi is the perfect place to wile away a hot afternoon browsing through designer boutiques.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Despite its best efforts to fortify its defenses, Morgan Stanley's fate hangs in the balance after the market's relentless assault last week.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States needs a new economic stimulus plan that pumps billions of dollars into infrastructure projects and budget relief for cash-strapped state and local governments, Democratic lawmakers said on Sunday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A global AIDS vaccine conference this week will seek fresh strategies against the HIV virus, with experts weighing the value of basic laboratory research against large-scale human clinical trials after a string of disappointments.

PARIS (Reuters) - Nations from Europe to Australia rushed out plans on Sunday to shore up their banks, trying to halt a markets crash with pledges to back lending, buy stakes in financial institutions and take other emergency steps.

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Democrat Barack Obama praised his rival John McCain for trying to tone down the vitriol of the U.S. presidential race but pressed ahead on Saturday with an effort to cast the Republican as out of touch on the economy.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Concerns about the solvency of international banks has pushed the global financial system to the brink of a systemic meltdown, the head of the International Monetary Fund said on Saturday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States appealed for patience on Saturday as world leaders raced to restore financial market confidence and avert the deepest global recession in decades.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Prosecutors wrapped up their case in the corruption trial of Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens on Thursday after calling a final witness who testified about his work in renovating the Alaska lawmaker's home.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A worsening job market and financial market turmoil slammed U.S. consumer spending in September, despite falling gasoline and food prices, according to a private report released on Friday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp, citing "recessionary conditions," on Monday halved its dividend and said it would sell at least $10 billion in new common stock to bolster its capital to offset rising loan losses.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Three sumo wrestlers pleaded guilty to beating up a 17-year-old trainee who later died, Japanese media reported on Tuesday, the latest blow to the national sport hit by scandals from drugs to match-fixing.

LONDON (Reuters) - World stocks fell again on Tuesday and sterling hit a 2-1/2 year low after talk of government funding hit UK banks, erasing gains in the benchmark index made after Australia's surprisingly large interest rate cut.

ASTANA (Reuters) - The United States is not trying to poach Russia's allies in Central Asia, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Sunday during a visit to oil-rich Kazakhstan.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A district court judge set a court hearing for Tuesday to decide whether an exclusivity agreement in Citigroup Inc's bid to buy Wachovia Corp's banking assets prevents a competing deal by Wells Fargo to go forward.