Bringing to an end the controversy about the White House urging him to bring to an end his campaign, New York Governor David A. Paterson has reiterated that he would be seeking a re-election in 2010.

Shifting his focus from healthcare reform to other pertinent economic and international issues, the US President Barack Obama is visiting New York to attend three days of UN meetings beginning Tuesday.

As per a recent executive order signed by Thomas DiNapoli, - the New York State Comptroller and the exclusive trustee of the $116.5 billion state pension fund - a ban has been imposed on the pension fund restricting it from doing business with money managers who make campaign contribution to candidates running for the comptroller's office.

According to a Thursday statement by the New York City officials, the unemployment rate in the city rose to 10.3 percent in August, from the July figures of 9.5 percent, with the number of jobless city residents increasing to a record high of 415,800.

In a brief statement on Friday, the part-nationalized lender British lender Lloyds Banking Group PLC said that it was in talks with the regulators about downsizing its participation in the state-run insurance plan, the Government Asset Protection Scheme, to insure it against credit losses.

According to a Tuesday statement by the New York Federal Reserve Bank, manufacturing activity in the New York area, in September, bounced back to its highest level since the onslaught of the recession in late 2007.

Marking its seventh successive increase, the bank's Empire State Manufacturing index soared to 18.9 in September, from its August figures of 12.1. The rise surpassed the economists' expectations of a 15 percent increase in the Empire manufacturing index.