IBT Staff Reporter

It's never too late for smokers to do their hearts good by kicking the habit -- even after a heart attack has left them with significant damage to the organ's main pumping chamber, a new study suggests.

Common allergies that bring on wheezing, sneezing and watery eyes could be next to join the list of factors linked to heart disease, suggests a large new study.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is backing away from its decades-old estimate of the number of people who die annually from seasonal flu, instead saying deaths vary widely from year to year.

More than 100,000 U.S. children visit the emergency room for a concussion each year, with many discharged without instructions to get needed follow-up care, a new study suggests.

Police seized about 10 metric tons of counterfeit medicines and arrested 80 people in a sweep across eastern Africa, international police agency Interpol said on Thursday.

Italian automaker Fiat SpA said on Thursday its third quarter was proceeding well and confirmed it could raise its 2010 outlook, sending its shares higher.

Global automakers in India are planning to launch new models and boost investment in the country, executives said at a conference, signaling brisk demand in one of the fastest growing car markets in the world.

Weekly jobless claims declined more than expected last week, briefly sending stocks higher, but the four-week average of new claims, a measure regarded as better reflecting labor market trends, rose to a nine-month high, offsetting the enthusiasm.

U.S. mortgage rates fell in the latest week to the lowest on record and posted their ninth drop in the last ten weeks, Freddie Mac said on Thursday.

A roll call of luxury carmakers have descended on Russia to rally the nation's long list of billionaires to snap up their latest models in the wake of last year's industry collapse.

Loss-making U.S. mortgage insurers such as billionaire John Paulson-invested PMI Group stand to gain as their bigger federal rival, the FHA, raises its premium rates to boost its cash cushion.

Ford Motor Co temporarily halted shipments of Fiestas from its Mexico factory in the past week due to a faulty part, compounding an inventory shortage for the new small car and further complicating a key vehicle introduction.

U.S. commercial property landlords cut rent and offered concessions to lure tenants as vacancies remained high, the National Association of Realtors reported in a quarterly property survey released on Thursday.

The number of U.S. homes headed for foreclosure fell in the second quarter for the first time since the housing slump began in 2006, but improvements may be fleeting as the number of newly delinquent homeowners rose, a banking group said on Wednesday.

Julie was a client of mine not too long ago who came to me in the hopes that I could take her diverse experience and recently completed education and position her for entry-level customer service jobs in a banking environment.

Maybe it's the success of Slumdog Millionaire. Perhaps it's because corporate outsourcing is now a very real -- and frustrating -- part of Westerners lives. Or perhaps it's because India is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world and its influences have finally spread to Hollywood.

Actor Paul Hogan, best known for playing an outback hunter in the Crocodile Dundee movies, has been stopped from leaving Australia until he pays a multi-million dollar tax bill, according to his lawyer.

Nigerian health authorities have warned of a nationwide cholera risk after the death toll from an outbreak concentrated largely in the north of Africa's most populous nation rose to 352.

Rights group Amnesty said five of its activists were detained while distributing flyers at a U2 concert in Moscow on Wednesday, which ended with a celebrated Kremlin critic joining the Irish rock stars on stage.

Most stroke patients leave the hospital with cholesterol-lowering statin drugs, a nationwide US study shows, in keeping with medical guidelines.

Angelina Jolie will direct her first feature film about a Serbian man and Bosnian woman who meet on the eve of the 1992-95 Bosnian war, the movie's production company has confirmed.

People with insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes are more likely to develop plaques in the brain associated with Alzheimer's disease, researchers in Japan reported on Thursday.

Rolling Stone magazine has for the first time rated the greatest 100 Beatles' songs, with the 1967 track A Day in the Life written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney topping the list that was released on Wednesday.

This year's Emmy Award telecast will be more interactive than ever, host Jimmy Fallon promised on Wednesday.

Fresh out of rehab and keen for a new beginning, Lindsay Lohan was ordered on Wednesday to continue drug counseling, submit to random testing and remain in Los Angeles until at least November 1.

The now ex-wife of Tiger Woods has broken the silence she maintained through the torrid sex scandal that engulfed their marriage, saying she has been through hell.

Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola is to get a lifetime achievement Oscar to add to his stack of five Academy Awards, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said on Wednesday.

Robbie Williams and his old band Take That plan to tour together next summer after reconciling their differences, but the reunion is likely to be temporary, they said on Thursday.

When Titanic director James Cameron released his film Avatar last year, there were not as many theaters equipped with 3D equipment to screen the 3D version as he would have liked.