IBT Staff Reporter

In George Vacheresse's lifetime, Appalachia has fallen from its prime when steel mills and coal mines anchored middle-class communities and offered hope there always would be enough work to go around.

Nokia said on Monday it has decided to close down Nokia Money, a financial service targeted for emerging markets, as it focuses on the phone business and location-based services.

Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim is financing an internet TV network that will include an interview show with former television host Larry King, according to network's website.

Global investors in search of high-dividend equity plays are heading to emerging markets, abandoning their view of these stocks as a predominantly growth-based investment.

Asian shares fell on Monday as investors paused to assess the effect of strong jobs data, which scaled back expectations for more easing ahead of this week's Federal Reserve meeting, while uncertainty over Chinese growth also weighed on sentiment.

Taiwan stocks ended down 1.1 percent on Monday, joining Asian bourses amid uncertainty of Chinese growth, weighed down by HTC Corp and LCD makers , as investors took profit from their previous gains.

China will manage its $3.2 trillion of foreign currency reserves more creatively to ensure effective results, its central bank said on Monday, as it vowed to work harder to free the country's tightly controlled financial markets.

Oil fell on Monday for the first time in four sessions, with Brent slipping towards $125 as global demand concerns took centerstage following weak Chinese exports, countering support from supply disruption worries in the Middle East and Africa and a brightening U.S. economic outlook.

China's Sina Corp estimates 60 percent of the users of its popular microblogging Weibo platform would have registered their real identities by a March 16 deadline in compliance with government regulations, a company spokesman said on Monday.

The yen remains overvalued despite its recent steep fall from historic peaks versus the U.S. dollar, Japan's prime minister said on Monday, while the country's finance minister kept up a warning against speculative currency moves.

Japan's core machinery orders rose at a faster pace than expected in January in a sign that rebuilding the country's tsunami-battered northeast coast could propel capital expenditure and support the fragile economy.

The yen is still relatively overvalued despite its recent steep fall from historic peaks versus the U.S. dollar, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said on Monday.

The People's Bank of China on Monday fixed the yuan's mid-point against the dollar sharply lower, its second biggest single-day fall on record, in the latest sign China intends to let its currency move in a wider range.

Citigroup Inc has appointed Peter Tague, a veteran of its investment banking operation based in New York, as co-head of its global mergers and acquisitions group as it seeks to bolster its market share in landmark and cross-border transactions.

Investors ploughed more money into hedge funds over the past month, data from hedge fund administrator GlobeOp shows, as hopes of a resolution to the euro zone debt crisis and a rebound in markets boosted confidence after last year's losses.

Investors ploughed more money into hedge funds over the past month, data from hedge fund administrator GlobeOp shows, as hopes of a resolution to the euro zone debt crisis and a rebound in markets boosted confidence after last year's losses.

European plane-maker Airbus has teamed up with French flag-carrier Air France and supplier Safran to call for France's help in resolving tensions with China over the European Union's controversial carbon emissions tax, which they say is threatening orders, French daily Les Echos said.

For a moment, U.S. stocks looked like they were headed for a long-awaited pullback last week.

If inflation is a dragon that must be slain, China's Premier Wen Jiabao has shown he is willing to sacrifice a part of the country's most vital asset to do so -- growth.

Commodities and mining giant Glencore has made a 3.5 billion pound (US$5.5 billion) approach for Canada's biggest grain handler Viterra, Britain's Sunday Telegraph newspaper said on its website on Saturday.

Robert Nardelli, the former head of Chrysler and Home Depot, has stepped down from his operating roles at Cerberus Capital Management LP, the private equity firm said this week.

People pre-ordering Apple Inc's new iPad to avoid the release-day crowds at the company's retail stores will have to wait longer to get their hands on the devices.

Siemens finance chief Joe Kaeser has blasted the way joint venture Nokia Siemens Networks was handling planned job cuts in Germany and called on it to hold talks with labor.

Euro zone countries with a top credit rating might have a bigger say in talks to replace Jean-Claude Juncker as chairman of the bloc's finance ministers, a Greek newspaper quoted German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble as saying on Saturday.

Emboldened by their victory in quashing online piracy legislation, U.S. Internet companies are gearing up for a battle over whether consumers should be able to restrict efforts to gather personal data.

China's trade balance plunged $31.5 billion into the red in February as imports swamped exports to leave the largest deficit in at least a decade and fuel doubts about the extent to which frail foreign demand or seasonal distortion drove the drop.

China chalked up its largest trade deficit in at least a decade in February at $31.5 billion, as imports soared 39.6 percent on a year earlier at more than twice the pace of export growth, leaving analysts cautious about seasonal distortions to trade activity.

China chalked up a $31.5 billion trade deficit in February, its largest in at least a decade, as exports and imports rebounded from a seasonal slowdown caused by Lunar New Year holidays, customs data showed on Saturday.

A previously announced $25 billion settlement between five major banks accused of abusive mortgage practices and government officials will be filed in federal court on Monday, people familiar with the matter said late Friday.