CHARLOTTE (North Carolina) - American International Group's CEO Ed Liddy is planning to tell Congress his embattled insurance company does not need more bailout money.

WASHINGTON - THE federal government ran a deficit in April for the first time in 26 years, pushing the red ink so far this budget year to a record US$802.3 billion (S$1.17 trillion).

The Treasury Department says the deficit for April was US$20.9 billion, a sharp contrast to a year ago when the government ran a surplus of US$159.3 billion.

BRUSSELS - THE European Union will stress test its banking system by September to determine its resilience to the economic downturn and find out if it is adequately capitalised, EU sources and banking supervisors said on Tuesday.

The stress tests will be done by national supervisors according to common guidelines and methodology of the Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS).