Columnist Harold Maas

NEWS AT A GLANCE AIG loses $7.8 billion on bad credit bets American International Group, the world's largest insurer, reported a $7.81 billion quarterly loss and said it will raise $12.5 billion in the next few months to replenish its balance

NEWS AT A GLANCE Best Buy expands into Europe Top U.S. consumer electronics retailer Best Buy said it's spending $2.1 billion to buy a 50 percent stake in British rival Carphone Warehouse's retail operations. Carphone operates 2,400 stores in

NEWS AT A GLANCE WiMax cleared for takeoff Sprint Nextel said it's merging its proposed high-speed WiMax wireless broadband network with Clearwire, with a $3.2 billion investment from tech companies, to create a $14.6 billion wireless

NEWS AT A GLANCE UBS to cut 5,500 jobs Swiss bank UBS said it is cutting 5,500 jobs and quitting the municipal bond business as it grapples with a $10.97 billion quarterly loss. The loss, on $19 billion in credit-related writedowns, was in line with

NEWS AT A GLANCE Microsoft drops Yahoo! takeover Microsoft walked away from its bid for Yahoo! after Yahoo! said it wouldn't accept Microsoft's sweetened offer of $33 a share, which valued Yahoo! at $47.5 billion. The failed deal means