Washington  - Consumer confidence continued to improve in September before the recent turmoil in credit markets and Wall Street, data released Tuesday showed.

The New York-based Conference Board said its index of consumer confidence rose to 59.8 up from 58.5 in August as the short-term outlook improved.

The survey of 5,000 households ended September 23 and it remained unclear what impact further failures of financial institutions, large swings in the stock market and the collapse of a bailout deal would have on the index.

New York  - US pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer Inc. is closing out the early-stage development of at least 11 medications in order to focus on more profitable drugs, media reports said Tuesday.

The financial newswire Bloomberg cited a memo sent to employees on September 25 in which the world's largest drug company would be ending the early development work on treatments for a range of illnesses from obesity to heart disease.

Los Angeles  - Chip manufacturer AMD aims to challenge rival Intel by launching its Shanghai processor by the end of the year.

The company has learned its lesson and there won't be any of the start-up problems of the kind that afflicted the company's latest Barcelona processor, AMD manager Pat Patla told the CNET media company.

AMD, the world's second biggest chipmaker after Intel, lately suffered billion dollar losses and replaced its top management.

Washington, Sept 30 : Sarah Palin’s parents Sally and Chuck Heath are confident that their third child is indeed ready to occupy the Oval Office at a moment''s notice.

At a time when the Democrats and many in the media are questioning Palin''s readiness to be President in the event she and John McCain are elected and McCain becomes incapacitated, the Heaths said that that daughter would be ready for the job.

Brussels - The European Commission on Tuesday urged United States lawmakers to assume their responsibilities and swiftly approve a massive rescue plan amid global financial turmoil.

"The turmoil that we are facing has originated in the US, and has become a global problem," said commission spokesman Johannes Laitenberger.