IBT Staff Reporter

The U.S. Federal Reserve plans new rules on bank pay to curb excessive risk-taking, which is blamed for sparking the global financial crisis and has triggered international demands for action.

Interest rates are low and home prices are down, but banks continue to be stingy with loans.

U.S. clients of UBS AG have been warned by the bank that their undeclared income in Switzerland may be revealed to U.S. tax authorities, according to a letter obtained by Reuters on Friday.

Google Inc said Apple Inc rejected its Google Voice application for the popular iPhone, contradicting Apple's statement to regulators last month.

U.S. stocks clung to slim gains in a choppy session on Friday as a stronger dollar and quarterly options expiration unsettled investors before the weekend.

U.S. authorities are conducting a criminal probe into Bank of America Corp's purchase of Merrill Lynch, the Charlotte Observer reported on Friday.

Contraception advice is crucial to poor countries' battle with climate change, and policy makers are failing their people if they continue to shy away from the issue, a leading family planning expert said on Friday.

Airline employees who report to work ill are more likely than sick passengers to spread infections such as the H1N1 swine flu virus aboard airplanes, with low-paid workers posing the greatest danger, a U.S. government expert said on Thursday.

Leading Indian aluminium producer Hindalco Industries expects its revenue to grow 10 percent this year, and its Novelis unit should add to earnings from the 2012/13 fiscal year, its chairman said on Friday.

Flextronics International Ltd said it had completed the sale of its stake in Aricent to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co and CPP Investment Board for $255 million.

Jobless rates rose in the majority of U.S. states in August, tracking national trends, but unemployment rates fell in the Midwest and South, a government report showed on Friday.

Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon and Pete Docter walked away with the feature film award for their WALL-E screenplay Thursday at the annual Humanitas Awards, which honor TV and film writers whose work enriches human understanding.

Jacques Audiard's prison drama A Prophet will be France's bid for an foreign Oscar nomination slot for the 2010 Academy Awards, the French film organization CNC said Thursday.

Hallmark Channel is planning Christmas in Canaan, starring Billy Ray Cyrus.

EU regulators should look into the book settlement that Google reached with a group of U.S. writers and publishers last October because the deal will create a de facto monopoly, lobby group ICOMP said on Friday.

Cramped living quarters on college campuses increase students' chances of being infected with all kinds of flu, but scrupulous hand hygiene and simple face masks may help some stay healthy, at least until swine fluvaccines become available next month, health experts say.

Three hard-edged movies about young women screening this week at the Toronto film festival depart from Hollywood formulas by avoiding sentimental or romantic cliches that often define movies about teenagers.

Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd, which reported its best half-year earnings since 2005, said it saw signs of recovery in Macau's gaming sector and would welcome Las Vegas operators listing their Macau assets in Hong Kong.

Surgeons are increasingly turning to high-tech robotic equipment to operate on patients with prostate cancer and other conditions but some medical authorities worry about inadequate training and lax standards among practitioners.

General Electric Co, the largest U.S. conglomerate, will prioritise Asia and resource rich countries like Russia, GE's Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt said on Friday.

Nearly 45,000 people die in the United States each year -- one every 12 minutes -- in large part because they lack health insurance and can not get good care, Harvard Medical School researchers found in an analysis released on Thursday.

Friday at sunset will mark the beginning of the Jewish New Year, or known to the Jewish community as Rosh Hashanah, the start of year 5,770 for the Jewish community.

Aircraft leasing company AerCap Holdings said on Friday it would buy rival Genesis Lease Ltd in an all-stock deal valued at $1.75 billion.

Goldman Sachs said it agreed to sell part of its stake in Japan's Sanyo Electric Co Ltd into a planned tender offer by Panasonic Corp, locking in 59 billion yen ($648 million) in profit.

First talks between European unions and delegates from General Motors and Magna begin next week over plans to cut 10,500 jobs at Opel save labour costs in the hundreds of millions of euros.

South Africa's labor federation COSATU is trying to halt a planned multi-billion tie-up between MTN and India's Bharti Airtel but the Treasury wants a deal, sources close to the matter said.

U.S. food giant Kraft could raise its bid 20 percent up to 12.3 billion pounds ($20.1 billion) to seal a takeover deal for Britain's Cadbury without losing a key investment grade rating on its debt.

Nycomed, the private equity-owned Swiss drugmaker, recently made a fully financed 4 to 4.5 billion-euro ($5.88 to $6.62 billion) offer to buy Solvay SA's drug unit, people familiar with the matter said.

The U.S. government could save more money by increasing the use of cheaper generic drugs rather than hiking rebates paid by manufacturers, an industry executive said on Thursday.