IBT Staff Reporter

Oil prices slipped on Monday, briefly touching their lowest level in almost two months on concerns over the state of the global economy.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has pancreatic cancer and the illness is life-threatening, South Korean broadcaster YTN said on Monday based on information gathered by Chinese and South Korean intelligence sources.

Michael Jackson's father said the King of Pop was not ready perform 50 shows in London, in a TV interview that aired the day the singer was scheduled to start his long-awaited comeback.

This year, Money magazine has given top position on its annual list of Best Places to Live to the city of Louisville in Colorado.

Russia's Digital Sky Technologies said it will pay $14.77 a share for Facebook common stock, boosting its stake to as much as 3.5 percent and valuing the world's largest online social network at about $6.5 billion.

Former Stanford International Bank Ltd Chief Financial Officer James Davis plans to enter a guilty plea to federal charges as early as next week, his lawyer said on Monday.

Blackstone will not raise its stake in India's Nagarjuna Construction Co through warrants after the plan failed to get regulatory approval, the second time the private equity firm has hit a regulatory hurdle in the country.

Stocks rallied on Monday, with the broad S&P 500 index up more than 2 percent as bullish comments on financials from analyst Meredith Whitney lifted hopes that the bank sector's results may be stronger than expected.

McGraw-Hill Cos Inc is trying to sell BusinessWeek magazine, a source told Reuters on Monday, at a time when magazine advertising sales are slumping and would-be buyers for newspapers and magazines are scarce.

Former Stanford International Bank Ltd Chief Financial Officer James Davis was granted $500,000 bail on Monday and plans to plead guilty to charges related to an alleged $7 billion Ponzi scheme as early as next week, his lawyer said.

Hainan Jiaxin Investment Management Co (Jiaxin), Hainan Airlines' fourth largest shareholder, has cut its stake in the carrier by 2.25% to 1.61%, which is a signal of the Grand China Air's listing, local newspaper reported on Monday citing an insider with Hainan Airlines.

Mexico's central bank has established rules on paying for goods and services and making other financial transactions through bank accounts associated with mobile telephones.

CIT Group Inc stock and bond prices tumbled Monday as the company sought to bolster liquidity and U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said he was keeping close watch on the lender to small and mid-sized businesses.

Digital Sky Technologies will pay $14.77 a share for Facebook common stock, in a deal that values the world's No. 1 Internet social network at roughly $6.5 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter.

A laptop SSD hard drive provides a number of benefits, namely, faster seek times, lower power consumption, and the kicker, no moving parts. Although contemporary laptops are much less susceptible to hard drive head crashes than in the past (my HP also comes with a 3D shock guard) the risk of catastrophic hard drive failure is always in the back of your mind if you are computing while on the go. Solid state drives are also silent, and the transition to an SSD is akin to the experience a new Toyot...

An Alabama family doctor who twice resurrected her clinic in a rural Alabama fishing village after it was devastated by hurricanes will be nominated to be the new U.S. surgeon general, an administration official said on Monday.

Microsoft Corp will release three versions of its dominant Office software that users can access over the Web, catching up with products that rival Google Inc launched three years ago.

RHJ International (RHJI.BR) declared its interest in Opel on Monday and Qatar looked to be moving closer to a 7 billion euro bailout of Porsche (PSHG_p.DE), raising the stakes in the battles for control of both German carmakers.

The European Union plans to finalise a $100 billion trade pact with South Korea by the end of the year, the prime minister of EU president Sweden said on Monday.

CIT Group Inc stock and bond prices tumbled Monday as the company sought to bolster liquidity and U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said he was keeping close watch on the lender to small and mid-sized businesses.

Philips Electronics, Europe's biggest consumer electronics maker, said some of its key markets are primed for an upturn in sales, though any growth this year would likely be driven by government spending programs.

Ford Motor (F.N) launched a new $500 million passenger car plant in southeast Thailand on Monday, a move aimed at raising its share of a lucrative small car segment in Asia dominated by Japanese firms.

Workers at collapsed French car parts maker New Fabris threatened on Sunday to blow up their factory if they did not receive payouts by July 31 from auto groups Renault and Peugeot to compensate for their lost jobs.

In the century since Henry Ford rolled out his first Model T -- the world's first mass-produced, affordable car -- in 1908, America has been the world's No. 1 auto market.

The U.S. government and the largest Swiss Bank, UBS, are in talks to settle a lawsuit whereby the U.S. government is seeking the names of American account holders suspected of offshore tax evasion. The court hearing for this case is scheduled For August 3.

A U.S. bankruptcy judge gave General Motors Corp permission on Monday to buy several assets of bankrupt auto parts supplier Delphi Corp as part of a deal with a private equity firm that could take Delphi out of bankruptcy.

The Desertec Industrial Initiative, the world's most ambitious solar power project, will map out investment plans by 2012 to develop carbon-free energy that could supply up to 15 percent of Europe's needs by 2050.

The Chicago Cubs baseball team may file for Chapter 11 in order to speed its sale by bankrupt media company Tribune Co , two sources familiar with the process said on Monday.

Banks led U.S. stocks sharply higher in a volatile session on Monday, after positive comments on financials from normally bearish analyst Meredith Whitney sparked hopes for the sector ahead of earnings.