IBT Staff Reporter

Sony Corp will start selling a new configuration of its PlayStation 3 video game console, with less built-in storage capacity, in Europe on October 10, priced at 399 euros, the company said on Friday.

Microsoft's introduction of three new Zune media players, combined with an updated version of the Zune digital music service, suggests that the relatively lackluster response to the initial Zune offering has not fazed the computing giant from advancing its digital music agenda.

Shares of Web search leader Google Inc. hit a new benchmark of $600 in early trading on Monday, fueled by investor confidence in the strength of its Internet advertising technology. Google shares briefly hit $600 for the first time, a key threshold for the company which priced at $85 per share at its initial public offering in 2004.

Australian healthcare firm Symbion Health Ltd will be broken up and sold to Healthscope Ltd and private equity firms in a A$2.8 billion ($2.5 billion) deal aimed at sidestepping opposition to a tie-up from a rival suitor.

Morgan Stanley is unleashing a major drive to tap India's domestic wealth next year, hiring 100 private bankers in a bid to manage $1 billion in assets by the end of 2010.

BNP Paribas, France's biggest bank, is building up its onshore private banking presence in China, India and Taiwan and expects total assets under management in Asia to grow by 20 percent a year in the next few years, the head of its Asia private banking operation said.

Investment bank Citigroup is planning to help keep Northern Rock independent by arranging a consortium of bidders to bail it out, or by directly offering it a loan, according to conflicting weekend newspaper reports.

Minsheng Banking Corp will buy 9.9 percent of San Francisco-based UCBH Holdings for more than $200 million in the first strategic investment by a mainland Chinese bank in a U.S. bank.

A Royal Bank of Scotland-led consortium is set to claim victory in the takeover battle for ABN AMRO on Monday, shifting investor and market attention to the unprecedented integration challenge ahead.

In a world where e-mails follow people on vacation, the need for true chill-out travel has never been higher, sparking a boom in hotels and resorts dedicated to the quiet, and slow, life.

Indonesia wants to be paid $5-$20 per hectare not to destroy its remaining forests, the environment minister said on Monday, for the first time giving an actual figure that he wants the world's rich countries to pay.

Costa Ricans narrowly approved a free trade deal with the United States in a referendum on Sunday that has split the Central American nation like no other issue in decades.

The United States and Japan are locked in a dispute over Washington's demand that Tokyo shoulder more costs for water supplies and utilities at U.S. military bases in Japan, media reports said on Monday.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon criticized the planned U.S. border fence designed to stem illegal immigration, saying countries should be "building bridges, not fences" in an interview broadcast on Monday.

For years the preserve of globe-trotting merchants and secretive financiers, the trade in rare and valuable minerals known as minor metals is now on the radar of hedge funds searching for profits.

The new 'Atlantic' label was created by the French government to counter foreign competition in the wine industry.

Microsoft Corp plans to increase its share of the technology business in India as retail and small- and medium-sized firms step up investment in a booming economy, the chairman of its Indian unit said on Monday.

Plane maker Boeing Co said on Monday it still expected to deliver its first lightweight 787 Dreamliner aircraft on time by May 2008, despite delays to its test flight schedule.

Stock futures were little changed on Monday as investors paused after major indexes hit record highs on Friday and before the start of the quarterly earnings reporting season.

The researchers who pioneered the creation of "designer mice" to track the role of different genes in human development and disease have won the 2007 Nobel medicine prize, Sweden's Karolinska Institute said on Monday.

JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America are expected to disclose losses of about $3 billion in mortgage securities and leveraged loans when they report earnings this month, the Financial Times reported, citing an analyst.

Geoff Robinson does not fit the stereotype of a hardcore geek gamer. The Oregon State University student is sociable, an avid weight lifter, studies English and history -- not computer science -- and wants to be a high school teacher.

His trip to India on Monday has turned into a political flashpoint as a nuclear energy deal with the United States threatens to spark snap elections.

Asian stocks outside of Japan hit record highs on Monday, but the dollar headed lower after a solid U.S. jobs report failed to dampen expectations for a further cut in interest rates. European markets were also expected to rise. European stock markets were set to open slightly higher, extending five straight days of gains, but with Japanese markets closed and no major economic data expected out of the United States due to the Columbus Day holiday, trade was expected to be light.

Beyond the ongoing 'short-term' subprime crisis, the 'mega trends' that will shape banking and its growth in the long term will be globalization, the growth of capital markets and global asset growth and its impact on how it's managed, said Deutsche Bank's top corporate and investment banker.

The world moved into 'ecological overdraft' - the point where consumption exceeds the ability of the earth to sustain it.

These autos will get you there in style

Apple's overwhelming popularity encourages some to look for alternate MP3 brands.

The U.S. federal budget deficit fell to $161 billion in fiscal 2007 from $248 billion the prior year as growth in tax receipts, fueled by capital gains and other non-withheld income, outstripped spending growth, the Congressional Budget Office said on Friday.