IBT Staff Reporter

British Airways could face even more strike disruption this summer unless it resolves a dispute with cabin crew over travel perks, the co-leader of Britain's biggest union Unite said on Monday.

Retailers are expected to show a sizable increase in sales for the month of May, but erratic trends of consumer spending could grow more pronounced over a seasonally weaker period for shopping.

Netbook PC pioneer Asustek Computer Inc has become the latest technology company to jump on the tablet PC bandwagon on Monday, joining cross-town rival Acer Inc in jostling with Apple Inc in the nascent sector.

Hitachi Ltd , Japan's largest electronics maker, will focus investments on infrastructure-related businesses such as power plants as it seeks to more than double its profit over the next three years.

A Pakistani court on Monday lifted a ban on social networking website Facebook which had carried a competition to draw the Prophet Mohammad, but access to any blasphemous material will remain blocked, a lawyer said.

The euro steadied from recent falls and world stocks were becalmed on Monday with a Chinese warning about risks to global growth and a downgrade of Spain's credit heightening investor caution in holiday-thinned trade.

Hitachi Ltd , Japan's largest electronics maker, plans to focus spending on infrastructure-related businesses such as power plants as it seeks to more than double its profit over the next three years.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao warned on Monday that global economic growth remained vulnerable to sovereign debt risks and the possibility of a second downturn, but said his own nation's growth remained on track.

The euro steadied on Monday but remained under pressure after Fitch downgraded Spain's credit rating and France said keeping its top credit rating may be a stretch without tough budget cuts.

Two U.S. Federal Reserve officials said on Monday that the euro zone debt crisis has added some uncertainty to the economic outlook but the impact is not yet big enough to influence the interest rate policy of the United States.

France admitted on Sunday that keeping its top-notch credit rating would be a stretch without some tough budget decisions, following German hints that Berlin may resort to raising taxes to help bring down its deficit.

Australian doctors are considering introducing a controversial form of genital mutilation carried out on baby girls.

A group of British nutritionists fear that the current official advice to women, which recommends they eat no more than two portions of fish a week, could risk an increase of brain disorders in children.

The heads of the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank on Monday both singled out emerging economies as key to global financial stability.

According to researchers, babies born by caesarean section are more vulnerable to asthma, allergies and infection as they miss out on their mothers' good protective bacteria during birth.

The new injection called Prolia, has been shown to significantly cut the risk of fractures in patients with osteoporosis.

Britain and Europe are the world's costliest places to buy Apple Inc's new iPad computer, with prices around a quarter higher than in the United States, a new study has found.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the world economy depends ever more on emerging markets to maintain strong domestic growth and economic and financial stability.

The Australian Dollar has come off from its recent high on Friday night of 0.8550 as investors trimmed their positions ahead of the long weekend in the US (Memorial Day today) and the UK (May Bank today as well).

Brazil's Ultrapar is set to submit an offer for Royal Dutch Shell's European liquefied petroleum gas arm alongside a string of private equity bidders, the Financial Times reported.

A new survey suggests even smokers themselves prefer dating partners who don't smoke.

(Reuters Health) - If milk does the heart good, it might do the heart better if it comes from dairy cows grazed on grass instead of on feedlots, according to a new study.

The Australian Dollar opens sharply higher today at 0.8510. Despite a surprise drop in new capital spending, which fell 0.2 per cent in the first quarter, the Aussie rallied from an intraday low of 0.8220.

Prudential investors will back the group's bid for AIG's Asian life insurance arm provided it can negotiate a 10 percent cut in the deal's $35.5 billion price tag, the Sunday Times reported.

After a string of setbacks, British Airways shares might be on the verge of a rebound, business weekly Barron's reported.

Chinese inflation will peak this summer, a respected economist said, as a top planning official pinpointed decreased land supply and the rising cost of agricultural labor as driving strong prices of Chinese agricultural commodities.

Legendary investor Warren Buffett appears this week before a commission searching for the causes of the 2008 financial crisis, to provide his assessment on the role a much-maligned credit rating industry played.

Brazilian mining company Vale will raise iron ore prices about 35 percent to as much as $145 per metric ton in July as part of a switch to quarterly pricing, a Brazilian newspaper reported on Sunday,

Budget airline easyJet plans a class action lawsuit to win compensation for flight bans imposed by Europe's air safety authorities following a volcanic eruption in April, its chief executive told a German magazine.