IBT Staff Reporter

General Electric Co is opening its first offices in Iraq, in the cities of Baghdad, Basra and Arbil, part of the largest U.S. conglomerate's effort to boost its presence in the resource-rich Middle East.

General Motors named its second highest-ranking executive as chairman of its struggling German unit Opel and named two further senior managers to its board, as the U.S. carmaker tries to steer its second biggest brand back to profitability.

U.S. retailers trying to woo shoppers with early deals and longer hours this week and throughout the holiday season could be putting their profits at risk as shoppers search for bargains and not much else.

It was not recommended that charges be filed against the special prosecutor who was investigating the late Senator from Alaska Ted Stevens.

U.S. existing home sales unexpectedly rose in October as low interest rates for mortgages and rising rents led more homebuyers into the market, the National Association of Realtors said on Monday.

U.S. retailers trying to woo shoppers with early deals and longer hours this week and throughout the holiday season could be putting their profits at risk as shoppers search for bargains and not much else.

Gilead Sciences Inc struck a deal to buy biotechnology company Pharmasset Inc for about $11 billion in a huge bet on the next generation of hepatitis C treatments.

Japan's Olympus Corp said on Monday that a third-party panel appointed by the company to look into an accounting scandal has, so far, found no evidence that funds from its M&A deals went to organized crime syndicates or that yakuza gangsters were involved.

France's Areva denied a report by Agence France Presse that said the state-owned nuclear reactor maker was planning over 1,000 job cuts in France as part of a strategic overhaul under new management.

Rick Perry has become the third Republican presidential candidate, along with Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum, to sign a marriage vow promoted by the Family Leader, a conservative Christian group in Iowa.

U.S. stocks tumbled on Monday, with the Dow turning negative for the year, as concerns about heavy debt loads both in the United States and Europe heightened worry about recession and increased volatility.

The UK's Centrica boosted its oil and gas production by a quarter on Monday through buying a string of assets from Norway's Statoil and signing a 10-year gas deal that will improve the UK's energy security.

French nuclear reactor maker Areva is not expected to cut jobs in France, the French industry minister told Reuters, after Agence France-Presse reported that Areva was planning to reduce its French workforce by 1,000 positions.

U.S. property and casualty insurer Alleghany Corp made a surprise entry into the battle for Transatlantic Holdings with a $3.4 billion cash-and-stock deal to buy the reinsurer, squaring off against a hostile bid from Validus Holdings Ltd .

Bruce Springsteen announced on his Web site Monday that he'l be touring and recording a new album in 2012.

Hard drive maker Western Digital Corp said it was asked to pay $525 million in an arbitration brought by competitor Seagate Technology LLC, but analysts said it was still a long way to go before the matter was resolved.

General Motors Co and the United Auto Workers announced details of expanded work on Monday at the former Saturn plant in Tennessee that will create nearly 1,900 jobs by 2014.

NEW YORK - A growing number of U.S. kids say they have been picked on via text messaging, while there has been little change in online harassment, researchers reported Monday.

Manchester United have been boosted with news that striker Wayne Rooney is fit to play in the crucial Champions League group stage match against Benfica on Tuesday.

China has more than 300 million registered microbloggers, state media said Monday, one of its fastest growing groups of internet users that the government has vowed to control.

Federal investigators are looking into a report that hackers managed to remotely shut down a utility's water pump in central Illinois last week, in what could be the first known foreign cyber attack on a U.S. industrial system.

Under pressure from financial markets, Canada eliminated its budget deficit in short order in the 1990s, going from the second worst fiscal performer in the Group of Seven industrialized nations, after Italy, to the top of the pack.

After months of staying mum on the deal, Verizon has finally broken its silence.

U.S. stocks dropped more than 2 percent on Monday, as mounting concern about heavy debt loads both domestically and abroad increased uncertainty in an already troubled and volatile market.

U.S.-based stock exchange operator Direct Edge plans to open a bourse in Brazil in a move meant to tap the country's fast-growing financial sector, and to speed the splintering of marketplaces globally.

A Canadian judge upheld an eviction order for protesters camped in downtown Toronto on Monday, giving the Occupy Toronto movement until midnight to vacate the park they've held for more than a month.

Finance officials bit their nails and nervously watched the clock. There were 30 minutes left in a bond auction aimed at funding the deficit and there was not a single bid.

Hony Capital, one of China's most successful private equity funds, aims to raise up to $2.6 billion in a new fund, two sources said on Monday, in what is set to be the biggest ever dollar fundraising for a China-based firm.

Jay Cutler, quarterback for the Chicago Bears, broke his thumb yesterday and will possibly miss the rest of what has been a solid season for him and the Bears.