MARKETS / FINANCE

British finance minister George Osborne is recruiting international support for his unyielding stance on deficit cutting, the Financial Times said on Monday.

Time Warner Cable has reached a deal to buy The Carlyle Group's cable operator Insight Communications Co for around $3 billion in cash, a source familiar with the matter said on Sunday.

China's state-owned Bright Food Group has agreed to buy Australian branded food business Manassen Foods, giving it an enterprise value of over A$500 million ($516 million), a person with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Sunday.

Time Warner Cable is in late-stage talks to buy The Carlyle Group's cable operator Insight Communications Co for around $3 billion, Bloomberg News reported on Sunday.

The loss of market confidence in economic leadership in key countries like the United States and Europe coupled with a fragile economic recovery have pushed markets into a new danger zone, something that policymakers have to take seriously, the head of the World Bank said on Sunday.

Did last week?s wild stock market swings make you concerned that your 401K will soon turn into a ?201K? ? Then it sounds like it?s a good time to get an assessment of the U.S. economy from two respected economists, Paul Krugman and Irwin Kellner.

Kuwait's Agility , the logistics firm facing U.S. fraud charges, posted a 57 percent drop in second-quarter net profit, but still slightly beat forecasts.

Shell-shocked stock investors will search this week for calm to return to markets after the worst three weeks for stocks in 2-1/2 years.

Switzerland's banking association head is hopeful the country will finalize a tax deal with Britain in the coming weeks, Patrick Odier was quoted as saying on Sunday in an interview with Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung.

The loss of market confidence in economic leadership in key countries like the United States and Europe coupled with a fragile economic recovery have pushed markets into a new danger zone, something that policymakers have to take seriously, the head of the World Bank said on Sunday.

The German government no longer rules out agreeing to the issuance of euro zone bonds as a measure of last resort to save the single currency, conservative newspaper Welt am Sonntag reported on Sunday.

New findings by researchers at the Joslin Diabetes Center and Children's Hospital Boston have shown the presence of a type of "good" fat or "brown" fat that might be able to combat the obesity and diabetes epidemics. Researchers foresee this new revelation as a tool to combat childhood obesity.

Apple has redefined its line of laptops making it more productive and fast concentrating on previous mistakes over the years.

Economist Nouriel "Dr. Doom" Roubini, the NYU professor who four years ago accurately predicted the global financial crisis, says tough medicine is needed to end it: another round of massive fiscal stimulus or a universal debt restructuring. If neither occurs, a systemic flaw will, at minimum, continue to hinder economic recovery.

Canada would consider fresh stimulus for its economy if it slipped into recession, its finance minister said on Saturday, a move that could complicate plans to return to a balanced budget by 2014/15.

After a week of wild gyrations that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average rise or fall 400 points on four consecutive days, there?s word that a major bank in France with a funny-sounding name may be in trouble. Further, if you think a possible problem at France's Societe Generale won?t affect the value of the U.S. stocks you own, think again.

Two senior German economists said on Saturday that a second EU bailout for Greece agreed last month is not enough to make its debt viable and that bondholders will have to incur even deeper losses.

Italian Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti stepped up calls for a more coordinated response to the euro zone debt crisis, including the creation of euro bonds, ahead of a crucial Franco-German summit next week.

The 2010 U.S. Health Care Reform Act will likely be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2012, in a case that pits individual liberties concerns versus the U.S. Government?s authority to limit public health care costs via universal insurance. If the court hears the case by the spring 2012, it could issue a ruling in June 2012.

Apple?s anticipated iPhone 5 is expected to arrive in September but new rumors suggest that the Cupertino-based company may delay the launch even further up to October.

Italy does not currently plan to change its economic growth forecasts as a result of its latest austerity plan, Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti said on Saturday.

Britain's finance minister called for some form of fiscal union to resolve the euro zone's debt crisis on Saturday, while his Italian counterpart renewed a call for the introduction of common euro zone bonds.

Japanese manufacturers concerned about China's restrictive export quotas on essential rare earths may have found a way to resolve their supply concerns -- relocate production to China.

Regulators closed the 64th bank in the U.S. so far this year on Friday, shutting down First National Bank of Olathe, located in Olathe, Kansas.

Top bank executives may see their bonuses cut by as much as 30 percent this year compared with 2010, according to a projection from a compensation consulting firm released on Friday.

Reforms adopted by the Italian government on Friday include measures to make it easier to strike labor deals at the company or regional level, Labor Minister Maurizio Sacconi said.

Mortgage and investment schemes targeting troubled U.S. homeowners jumped in 2010 and may increase further if the economy does not improve, the FBI said on Friday.

A former Merrill Lynch & Co banker lost an appeal on Friday of his conviction on perjury and obstruction charges over his role in an Enron Corp fraud that involved the sham sale of Nigerian power plant barges.

Shell-shocked stock investors will search next week for calm to return to markets after the worst three weeks for stocks in 2 1/2 years.