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 - Mark Hurd, who stepped down last month as chief executive of US computer titan Hewlett-Packard after a sexual harassment investigation, has been named co-president of US software giant Oracle.

AFP - Much-vaunted EU plans to tax banks skidded into trouble after moves to clamp down on big-spending governments also hit buffers despite broad agreement on Tuesday to regulate the financial sector.

AP - European Union nations agreed to create new financial oversight institutions Tuesday, hoping to prevent a repeat of the government debt crisis that nearly left Greece bankrupt and brought the European banking system to its knees.

AP - Motorists should see pump prices slide again after they spending a little more to fill their tanks over the Labor Day weekend.

Reuters - China's state-owned chemicals group Sinochem Corp has approached Singapore state investor Temasek to join a consortium that may bid for Canada's Potash Corp , sources with knowledge of the deal said on Tuesday.

AP - A Japanese journalist held hostage in Afghanistan for five months managed to send out a message via Twitter that he was alive when his captors asked him how to use a cell phone.

Reuters - Change swept through the top of Britain's banks on Tuesday as Barclays said its investment banking supremo Bob Diamond will take over as chief executive and HSBC said its chairman is leaving to go into government.

Reuters - Wall Street dropped on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 briefly falling 1 percent, after reports on the European banking system reignited concerns about the financial stability of the region.

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.

AP - A combative President Barack Obama rolled out a long-term jobs program Monday that would exceed $50 billion to rebuild roads, railways and runways, and coupled it with a blunt campaign-season assault on Republicans for causing Americans' hard economic times.

AP - East Asia is the world's electronics factory, yet unless they are Japanese, producers are largely anonymous. Now HTC Corp., a Taiwanese maker of smart phones, is moving out of the shadows and trying to establish its own brand name as it competes with Apple's iPhone.

AP - Craiglist's "adult services" section has been shut down in the U.S., but prostitution on the Internet is alive and well — even, quite possibly, on Craigslist.

AFP - Wall Street heads into next week with strong tailwind from recent days' rally and brighter outlook as traders keenly await President Barack Obama to unveil new plans for boosting the shaky US economy.

AP - Google Inc.'s methods for recommending websites are being reviewed by Texas' attorney general in an investigation spurred by complaints that the company has abused its power as the Internet's dominant search engine.