IBT Staff Reporter

Sales of previously owned U.S. homes notched their fastest pace in nearly two years in July, an industry survey showed on Friday, the strongest sign yet that housing was pulling out of a three-year slump.

The extension of exclusive talks that could lead to a merger of India's Bharti Airtel and South Africa's MTN Group weakens the probability of the deal closing, UBS said in a research note.

Two men who were flying in a small plane that crashed on Friday survived but sustained severe injuries.

Irish building materials group CRH is expected to post a steep drop in first-half earnings next week with investors eager for indications of a boost in the second half from U.S. government spending.

Canadian investment firm Sprott Resource Corp announced plans on Friday to buy back up to 6.25 million of its common shares, saying the stock price does not reflect the value of its assets and prospects.

Hong Kong-based private equity firm First Eastern Investment Group plans to invest in a Wall Street bank as part of a strategy to build its presence in every major global financial hub, its chairman Victor Chu said.

A family earning the nation's median income of $64,000 a year could afford to buy 72.3 percent of all homes sold in the United States during the second quarter of 2009, according to the National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo.

Women's clothing retailer AnnTaylor Stores Corp reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Friday, helped by improved merchandise at its LOFT stores and cost cuts.

The sale prices of U.S. office properties rose 4.3 percent in the second quarter, the first increase since the second quarter of 2007, according to a report from ratings agency Moody's.

Banks are close to finalising South African telecom group MTN's 4.5 billion syndicated loan backing its proposed merger with Indian mobile phone company Bharti Airtel, bankers close to the deal said on Friday.

China Mobile, the world's largest mobile carrier, aims to sign a series of deals with key Taiwanese firms this week, helping them gain access into China's rapidly growing telecoms market.

While many countries have banned terms like

Foxconn, a long-time partner with Apple Inc, is working on the WCDMA standard iPhone models with WiFi and support WAPI, though the first batch of iPhones for China is Wi-Fi-disabled, an insider of iPhone Product Development told CBN news on Wednesday.

The euro zone economy probably crawled back to growth this quarter after its worst recession on record as firms' outlook for the future brightened to the best in more than two years, key surveys showed on Friday.

In Denmark, introduction of iodine-fortified salt was associated with an initial rise, then a subsequent decline, in cases of overactive thyroid, or

The studio behind the Michael Jackson film This Is It on Thursday advanced its release by two days to October 28, anticipating huge demand for the movie of his final performance rehearsals just days before his death.

When the Canadian province of Ontario began offering free flu vaccinations to its entire population in 2000, the result was a dramatic decrease in influenza-associated antibiotic prescriptions.

Former Playboy model Jasmine Fiore's body was found mutilated with fingers and teeth removed police said Thursday.

Fighting erupted between Islamist rebels, government forces and African Union peacekeepers in Somalia's capital Mogadishu on Friday, killing at least 22 people, witnesses and medical staff said.

A genetically modified bacterium that turns into a drug-delivery vehicle in the presence of a type of sugar may offer a new way to treat bowel disease, British scientists said on Friday.

U.S. health officials again backed on Thursday the safety of Merck & Co Inc's vaccine to prevent infection by a virus that causes most cases of cervical cancer.

American International Group Inc won dismissal of a federal lawsuit accusing the troubled insurer of fraudulently shortchanging state workers' compensation pools out of more than $1 billion.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari backed China's policies in its tense Xinjiang region ahead of his latest visit to the giant neighbor he has wooed as a strategic and economic counterweight to the West, Chinese state media said.

Iran has allowed U.N. nuclear inspectors access to a reactor under construction after blocking visits for a year, and has let them upgrade monitoring at another site ahead of a crucial report on its atomic program.

Senior North Korean officials sent by leader Kim Jong-il arrived in the South on Friday to mourn former President Kim Dae-jung in a move that may signal a warming of ties between the rival states.

Britain on Friday condemned celebrations in Tripoli to mark the return of the Lockerbie bomber, and scrambled to deflect international fallout from the decision to free him on humanitarian grounds.

University and college students who come down with influenza this autumn should either go home to their parents or hunker down in dorm rooms to avoid spreading it, the U.S. government advised on Thursday.

The World Trade Organization is due on August 31 to adopt a ruling by its top court condemning U.S. anti-dumping measures, allowing Japan to seek retaliation against Washington, a WTO agenda showed on Friday.

His healthcare reform plan is stumbling, the economy is still sputtering and violence is up in Iraq and Afghanistan. Who wouldn't want a break?