IBT Staff Reporter

In the sound and fury following the U.N. nuclear governors' censure of Iran last week for its cover-up of a second uranium enrichment site, and Tehran's rejection of a nuclear cooperation deal with world powers, a broader, festering issue was obscured.

People treated for heart problems at rural hospitals fare about as well as those getting care at urban medical centers, a study of U.S. hospitals suggests.

Closeout retailer Big Lots Inc reported better-than-expected quarterly profit, as initial markups and lower freight costs boosted gross margins, and raised its outlook for the holiday fourth quarter.

U.S. employers cut far fewer jobs than expected last month in the best showing for the labor market since the recession began, boosting the U.S. dollar and global stock prices on hopes for a strong economic recovery.

Kenya could lose up to 3 percent of its $35 billion GDP annually by 2030 due to global warming, a donor-funded study on the impact of climate change on east Africa's biggest economy showed on Friday.

Japan's trading houses, which made fortunes from heavy bets on coal and iron ore, see water as their next big investment target as industrialization and urbanization in emerging economies boost demand for clean water.

The presidents of Russia and the United States on Friday pledged to keep working for a deal to reduce arsenals of Cold War nuclear weapons, as an existing treaty expired, but did not announce any new agreement.

A drug that targets hepatitis C in an entirely new way was highly effective at suppressing the virus in chimpanzees and kept working for several weeks after the treatment stopped, U.S. researchers said on Thursday.

A very large, 30-year study of just about everyone in Scandinavia shows no link between cellphone use and brain tumors, researchers reported on Thursday.

A multi-billion dollar scheme driving clean-energy investment in poorer nations is faltering and urgently needs reforms mandated by negotiators at this month's U.N. climate talks, a report released on Friday said.

Bank of America Corp's board is scheduled to meet next Tuesday and may discuss the appointment of a new chief executive, a bank spokesman said.

The World Health Organization launched a campaign on Friday to try to stop what could become a health catastrophe caused by rapidly rising levels of smoking in Africa.

Children who get vaccinated against chickenpox may have a lower risk of developing shingles, a painful rash caused by the chickenpox virus, U.S. researchers said on Friday.

Health experts on Thursday called for more research funding to develop better diagnostic tests, vaccines and drugs for tuberculosis, which killed 1.8 million people around the world last year.

Russia and the United States are close to a deal to cut vast arsenals of nuclear weapons, Russia said Friday, as the world's two biggest atomic powers rush to replace a Cold War treaty that expires at midnight.

Inventories at U.S. factories increased for the first time in more than a year in October, while factory orders also rose an unexpected 0.6 percent, the Commerce Department said on Friday, in signs the manufacturing sector is returning to health.

Nepal's cabinet began a meeting close to the base camp of Mount Everest on Friday to send a message on the impact of global warming on the Himalayas, days before global climate talks start in Copenhagen.

A spokesman for Somalia's al Shabaab rebels denied on Friday that the group was behind a suicide bombing at a medical graduation ceremony that killed at least 22 people, including three government ministers.

On a small beach on South Korea's popular honeymooning island of Jeju a large blade spins against a cloudy sky, a noisy oddity for locals but a source of hope for emerging wind power gear makers eyeing a niche market.

U.S. stock index futures were slightly higher on Friday ahead of the key monthly jobs report for November.

(Corrects paragraph 8 to clarify that the company opened 52 new stores this year, not plans to open)

Iran said it will provide the U.N. nuclear watchdog with the bare minimum of information about its plan to build 10 new uranium enrichment plants, a stance sure to stoke Western suspicions about its atomic agenda.

A jailed Mafia hitman linked Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to the Cosa Nostra on Friday, telling a court that a godfather convicted for a 1993 bombing campaign had boasted of his links to the media mogul.

Sharon Byers is unconvinced that human activities such as the burning of coal and other fossil fuels are behind climate change.

Guinea junta chief Captain Moussa Dadis Camara was on Friday flying to Morocco for medical checks after surviving a gun attack by a former military aide, a spokesman said.

U.S. employers cut far fewer jobs than expected last month in the best showing for the labor market since the recession began, boosting the U.S. dollar and global stock prices on hopes for a strong economic recovery.

H1N1 swine flu has not peaked yet but seems to be waning in Canada and the United States, signaling that the end of the pandemic may be on the horizon, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.

Four Britons held for a week in Iranian custody after their yacht strayed into Iran's waters returned home on Friday and thanked everyone who helped to get them freed.

The U.S. Senate backed a plan on Thursday to make it easier for women to get preventive health screenings such as mammograms as it cast its first votes on a sweeping healthcare overhaul.