By Dan Wilchins (Reuters) - Over the past few years, Citigroup Inc has been grappling with an unusual problem - how to incur more U.S. taxes. The third-largest U.S. bank tried to buy the foundering Wachovia Corp in the fall of 2008 in part because the deal would have brought it more taxable domestic income, a person familiar with the matter said. ...

By Chikako Mogi TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares eased on Tuesday as investors waited for Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to clarify the U.S. central bank's plans for its stimulus program - with the mere suggestion of fine-tuning it enough to unnerve market sentiment. European stocks are seen easing, with financial spreadbetters predicting London's FTSE 100 , Paris's CAC-40 and Frankfurt's DAX will open down as much as 0.3 percent. U.S. stock futures traded almost flat, hinting at a subdued Wall Street start after a rise overnight. ...

TOKYO (Reuters) - New York-based hedge fund Third Point said it has raised its stake in Sony Corp and urged the Japanese company to create an independent board to run a partially spun-off entertainment arm with Sony's CEO, Kazuo Hirai, as its chairman. Third Point, a $13 billion hedge fund founded by billionaire investor Daniel Loeb, last month proposed that the struggling electronics maker conduct an initial public offering for its profitable music and movie business. It said such a move could boost Sony's share price by as much as 60 percent. ...

By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama hinted in an interview aired on Monday that he may be looking for a new chief of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank, saying current Chairman Ben Bernanke has stayed a lot longer than he had originally planned. Obama, speaking to Charlie Rose, host of a PBS interview program, compared Bernanke to longtime FBI Director Robert Mueller, who agreed to stay two years longer than he had planned and is to leave in the coming months. "Well, I think Ben Bernanke's done an outstanding job. ...

By Steven Scheer and Ari Rabinovitch JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The European Central Bank is "ready to act" if need be to aid the euro zone economy and recent signs of market stabilization mean that its interest rates are becoming a more effective tool again. Speaking at a farewell conference for Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer in Jerusalem, Draghi said there were numerous measures the ECB could and would deploy if needed. The euro fell after his comments, which broadly reiterated the bank's commitment at last month's policy meeting to take action if necessary. ...

LONDON (Reuters) - Airbus clinched a deal on Tuesday worth about $11 billion to supply British budget airline easyJet with 135 planes, dealing a blow to its U.S. rival Boeing . EasyJet agreed to buy 35 current-generation A320 aircraft and 100 new-generation A320neo jets, with options for a further 100, the airline announced on the second day of the Paris Airshow. The total list price of the planes would be about $11.5 billion, though easyJet said that it had negotiated a "very substantial" discount. ...

By Ayesha Rascoe WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. companies hoping to export natural gas are frustrated by lengthy delays and rule changes as they await U.S. Department of Energy approval of their applications and may turn to the courts to speed up the process. Both the slow pace of decisions on applications to ship U.S. liquefied natural gas abroad and the process for making those decisions could be challenged, legal sources say. Potential strategies could be laid out during a House of Representatives panel on Tuesday, which will focus on the current impediments to U.S. LNG exports. ...

By Chris Michaud (Reuters) - U.S. consumers are more satisfied with airlines in recent years but the industry still gets relatively low marks, mainly due to the onboard experience, according to a new customer poll released on Tuesday. The American Consumer Satisfaction Index, which surveys some 70,000 U.S. customers annually on more than 40 industries ranging from apparel and hospitals to banks and insurance, found only television and internet service providers ranked lower. ...