LONDON - BRITAIN'S economy is not yet out of recession despite a marked easing in the pace of decline in the manufacturing and services sectors in the second quarter, a survey by the British Chambers of Commerce suggested on Tuesday.

The BCC's quarterly economic survey of more than 5,600 businesses showed sales and orders continued to fall in the three months to June, though at a much slower pace than the record rates of contraction in April's first-quarter survey.

NEW YORK/BANGALORE - A US judge on Sunday approved General Motors Corp's bankruptcy sale in a move that will allow the company's most profitable assets to exit bankruptcy protection under government ownership.

Judge Robert Gerber of the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan said the sale was GM's only option and that completing it would 'prevent the death of the patient on the operating table.' He approved the sale just over one month after GM filed for bankruptcy, in the largest US manufacturing bankruptcy in history.

NEW YORK - WALL Street struggled to a mixed finish on Monday, as a better-than-expected survey on the US services sector helped offset pessimism from last week's grim unemployment report.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average reversed early weakness and rose 43 points (0.52 per cent) to 8,323.74 at the closing bell.