San Francisco - Google is to launch the first mobile phone running its Android software next week in a joint initiative with T- mobile, the companies said Tuesday.

The open-source Android system is seen as Google's answer to Apple's successful iPhone and as a key initiative in the internet giant's quest to extend its dominance to the mobile web.

Google has worked closely with US carrier T-mobile and Taiwan electronics maker HTC to develop the new phone, which is to be called Dream.

New York - Embattled insurance giant American International Group (AIG) will receive a government loan of 85 billion dollars to give the conglomerate time to sell off assets to avoid bankruptcy, business news channel CNBC reported late Tuesday.

Citing unnamed sources, the broadcaster said that the federal government would receive a state of 80 per cent in AIG, in exchange for the bridge loan.

Remaining AIG stockholders would lose most of their equity in the deal, CNBC reported.

The insurer, facing a possible bankruptcy filing as early as Wednesday, is seeking help through the Federal Reserve, the US central bank.

Houston, Texas - Only a few days had passed since Hurricane Ike tore into the Gulf Coast of Texas, and Houston was trying to return to normal.

Yet without petrol, power or clean drinking water, and with thousands of fallen trees still cluttering streets, it was a difficult task.

Truck driver Lucas Pipkins, a native of Houston, called it "pretty bad." He told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that he felt a better understanding of what people in New Orleans endured after Hurricane Katrina three years ago, "even though we weren't hit that hard."

New York - The giant insurance conglomerate American International Group (AIG) remained tottering on the brink of collapse Tuesday, with no end in sight to emergency rescue talks between company executives, government officials and private stakeholders.

As time was quickly running out, there was still no outcome Tuesday afternoon from five-day-long talks at the New York Federal Reserve. AIG in a statement said it was continuing to pursue a variety of options.

AIG, the largest US insurer, needs as much as 75 billion dollars in loans to stay afloat. Three major US credit rating agencies downgraded AIG's standing Tuesday morning.

Washington- US President George W Bush offered the full support of the federal government in relief efforts following the onslaught of Hurricane Ike on the Texas coast, and vowed there will be a "better tomorrow" for the thousands of people who have been displaced.

"It's a tough situation on the coast," Bush said after arriving in his home state city of Houston Tuesday for a briefing on the humanitarian relief and reconstruction effort.

Islamabad - Pakistan on Tuesday demanded an immediate end to incursions by US forces into its territory as the country's jets and helicopter gunships pounded insurgent positions in the tribal areas along the Afghan border, killing 10 rebels and two civilians.

"The sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country would be safeguarded at all costs," Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said in a meeting with British Justice Secretary Jack Straw in Islamabad.