IBT Staff Reporter

The U.S. government said on Friday it is setting aside $1 billion to help companies develop a vaccine against the new strain of H1N1 influenza that is sweeping the world.

Revenues of India's Satyam Computer Services are in a downward slope, but the fraud-hit outsourcer was not looking at layoffs to tide over the slowdown, its chairman said on Friday. The company discussed cost control measures, including wage cuts, at its board meeting, Kiran Karnik told reporters after the meeting.

The costs of exploring for, developing and acquiring oil and gas reserves in Canada could drop by as much as 35 percent this year with drilling activity dwindling as companies cut spending, brokerage FirstEnergy Capital Corp predicted on Friday.

Google has upgraded its Chrome browser to version 2.0 that is 30% faster when loading JavaScript-heavy web pages, but has only included a few new updates.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee passed a climate bill on Thursday that aims to tackle greenhouse gas emissions in the United States to stave off global warming and shift the nation to clean energy technologies.

A U.S. appeals court has largely upheld a lower court ruling that cigarette companies, including Altria Group Inc and its Philip Morris USA unit, violated federal racketeering laws by conspiring to lie about the dangers of smoking.

Cheap valuations and glimmers of economic recovery are tempting cash-rich technology companies to seek acquisitions, and the second half of 2009 could see some steady dealmaking.

General Motors Corp's biggest bondholders plan to reject the company's current offer for a 10 percent equity stake, a spokesman for the creditors said on Friday.

A U.S. 25-city home price index is stabilizing this year after plunging through most of 2008, and home prices in some cities actually rose in March, according to Radar Logic, a real estate data and analytics company.

Two Rome high schools have been ordered closed for a week after four students caught the H1N1 flu virus on a school trip to New York, Italy's Health Ministry said on Friday.

The value of good farmland in several U.S. Midwestern states fell by a

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will call on Sri Lanka on Saturday to allow full access to nearly 300,000 refugees who fled during the final months of the war against Tamil Tiger rebels, U.N. officials said.

Japan relaxed rules for dealing with the new H1N1 flu Friday, concerned that strict regulations could harm the economy and needlessly restrict the public, given that most of its nearly 300 cases have been mild.

Small, nimble retailers are taking advantage of the recession and larger rivals' woes as they move into abandoned U.S. store fronts with short-term leases negotiated at a discount.

Stocks rose on Friday as investors snapped up shares of multinational companies, including McDonald's Corp, on hopes that a weaker dollar would underpin profitability.

Somali government forces attacked rebel strongholds in Mogadishu on Friday, triggering battles across the capital that killed at least 15 people.

European foreign ministers will press Myanmar at an Asia-Europe meeting next week to end the trial of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, but analysts expect only lukewarm backing from their Asian counterparts.

North Korea is warning ships to stay away from waters off an east coast missile base, a Japan Coast Guard spokesman said on Friday, suggesting it could be preparing for a short-range missile test.

Authorities moved to evacuate thousands of people from a second Australian town Friday as floodwaters from days of torrential rain inundated large parts of the country's east coast.

Japan scaled back measures for handling the H1N1 flu on Friday but there was no let up for the rest of Asia as experts warned of more trouble with the approach of winter in the southern hemisphere.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev challenged EU leaders at a summit on Friday to help Ukraine pay its gas bills in order to prevent disruption of Russian supplies to Europe.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was sworn in on Friday for a second five-year term with expectations his strengthened left-of-center coalition could both reform a slowing economy and help millions of poor.

MasterCard Inc will lose more than half of a $59 billion portfolio of U.S. debit card users to Visa Inc after JPMorgan Chase & Co shifted more business to its rival, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.

The United Nations launched an appeal on Friday for $543 million for more than 2 million people displaced by fighting in northwest Pakistan, where officials said villagers were turning against the Taliban.

Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi pleaded not guilty at her trial on Friday and blamed the regime's lax security for allowing an American intruder to swim uninvited to her lakeside home, her lawyers said.

General Motors Corp restructuring efforts are likely to go right up to the June 1 deadline set by the Obama administration, but not beyond, a White House economic adviser said on Friday.

Florida-based BankUnited , which was closed by the U.S. government and sold to investors, was conducting business as usual on Friday and there was no sign of panic among customers, its new chief executive said.

The white crescent-shaped sand beach located in Kauai, Hawaii has been named America’s number 1by international expert on beaches and coastal processes, Dr. Stephen P. Leatherman.

Vice President Joe Biden, the most senior U.S. official to visit Lebanon in 26 years, took a swipe at Hezbollah on Friday, but denied seeking to sway an election that may unseat a Western-backed coalition.