This is what’s in the news for Wednesday May 25, 2011. Reuters reports that GE Capital (NYSE:GE) is selling its $5.3B Australia and New Zealand mortgages books to Pepper Homeloans as concerns rise over a softening of the Australian housing market and rising cost of funds. The Wall Street Journal reports that under pressure to reduce its holding of troubled loans, Allied Irish Banks PLC struck a deal to sell a portfolio of about $1B in U.S. commercial mortgages to Blackstone Group LP (NYSE:BX) and Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE:WFC). The Wall Street Journal also reports that Volkswagen AG (VLKAY) CEO says they will decide in the next 12 months whether it will build Audi luxury cars in the U.S. in addition to Volkswagen it's making at a new factory in Chattanooga, TN. And finally, the Chicago Tribune Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) is slated to roll out dozens of small stores over the next five years, part of an effort to combat a decline in U.S. same-store sales.