HSBC Holdings  has launched the sale of its non-life insurance business, sources told Reuters, a global division worth about $1 billion and now part of the bank’s plan to strip away non-core units.

Suzuki Motor wants to end its two-year-old alliance with Volkswagen after the German carmaker accused it of violating their partnership pact by agreeing a diesel engine deal with Italy’s Fiat.

U.S. regulators are increasingly taking a tougher stand on foreign takeovers in the defense sector to protect technology designed to deal with the growing and unseen threats of the cyber age, senior industry dealmakers said at the Reuters Aerospace and Defense Summit this week.

Ticonderoga Securities cut boutique investment bank Lazard to “neutral” from “buy,” saying U.S. and European debt concerns and tougher regulation of large deals would hurt recovery in merger activity.

President Barack Obama proposes a jobs package heavily weighted toward tax cuts for workers and businesses to help boost the economy. The challenge will be rallying enough popular support to pressure Republicans to get behind his plan, despite their vehement opposition to most of his agenda.

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AstraZeneca may decide to make a big acquisition if it fails to improve the flow of new drugs from its pipeline and its $10 billion cash pile hints at a desire to keep strategic options open, according to an analyst report.

The Washington Post has lost money for three years and some shareholders of owner The Washington Post Co wouldn’t weep if the paper were sold, allowing the company to focus on its for-profit education and cable businesses, write  Sruthi Ramakrishnan and A. Ananthalakshmi.

Facebook’s revenue rose to $1.6 billion in 2011′s first half, a source with knowledge of its financials told Reuters.

Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock fired CEO Carol Bartz over the phone on Tuesday, ending a tumultuous tenure marked by stagnation and a rift with Chinese partner Alibaba.

Carlyle Group filed for a $100 million offering for its common units, making it the latest private equity group to list on public markets.

It’s been a rough summer for U.S. initial public offerings after the stock market nosedived, but tech issues could see strong demand after bankers and fund managers return from vacation in September, reports Clare Baldwin.

AT&T is expected to soon present a proposed solution to antitrust regulators to salvage its planned $39 billion acquisition of smaller rival T-Mobile USA, according to people close to the matter. The company misread the Justice Department’s signals on the T-Mobile deal, reports Bloomberg.

AT&T is overlooking its best argument for the T-Mobile merger, reports Fortune.

August was a rotten month for stocks and it wasn’t much kinder to some of the world’s most successful hedge fund managers, early returns show.

The Justice Department made a bold move when it sued to block AT&T’s $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile. Now comes the hard part, reports Carlyn Kolker and Diane Bartz.

“The lawsuit seeking to block AT&T Inc.’s takeover of T-Mobile USA Inc. shows a more aggressive antitrust stance by the U.S. Justice Department that limits prospects for other big telecommunications deals,”  Bloomberg reports.

Google’s blockbuster acquisition of Motorola Mobility will bring an unusual stable of tax and accounting benefits to the search-engine giant, already one of Corporate America’s most savvy users of such perks.

Japan’s Sony, Toshiba and Hitachi will merge their liquid-crystal display operations using $2.6 billion of government-backed funds to fend off growing competition from rivals in South Korea and Taiwan. Here’s the press release.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. will ask a bankruptcy judge to let creditors vote on its $65 billion payout plan, a key step toward ending the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history.

Hong Kong-listed shares of China Construction Bank rose more than four percent after Bank of America said it will sell about half of its stake in the Chinese lender, providing relief to investors by removing uncertainty surrounding the stake.