IBT Staff Reporter

Fears grew on Sunday that epidemics would strike the millions marooned or forced from their homes by South Asia's catastrophic floods.

The third movie in the espionage action series starring Matt Damon grossed $70.2 million its first weekend

A U.S.-French pharmaceutical company was at the heart of an investigation by British authorities on Sunday to try to find the source of an outbreak of highly infectious foot and mouth disease.

India's opposition Hindu nationalists rejected a landmark nuclear cooperation agreement between New Delhi and Washington on Saturday, saying it was an assault on the country's nuclear sovereignty.

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. shares opened lower on Monday after a power outage at a major plant near Seoul on Friday affected some of its chip production lines, but the stock quickly pared back losses.

More signs of weakness in the mortgage market, another surge in oil prices and a Federal Reserve rate decision could create more turbulence for Wall Street this week.

Japan's Nikkei average fell 0.87 percent on Monday as exporters such as Canon Inc. lost ground on a tumble on Wall Street and a stronger yen, while bank shares slid again on subprime lending worries and much weaker first-quarter earnings than expected.

Asian stock markets tumbled on Monday with financial shares such as Macquarie Bank hit by global credit jitters, while fresh concerns about the health of the U.S. economy knocked the dollar lower.

The union representing pilots at Northwest Airlines Corp. approved a deal that seeks to prevent late-month spikes in the airline's flight cancellations such as those seen in June and July.

Dutch bank ABN AMRO is continuing to hold talks with the Royal Bank of Scotland-led consortium which has offered 71 billion euros ($97 billion) for the Netherlands' largest bank in a bidding war with British bank Barclays, the two groups said on Sunday.

Australian health services provider Symbion Health Ltd. said on Monday it expected a 16 percent increase in full-year profit, adding that an independent expert had backed a proposed A$2.9 billion ($2.5 billion) takeover by smaller rival Healthscope Ltd.

U.S. Federal Reserve officials meeting on Tuesday will grapple with how turmoil in financial markets and tighter credit may damage the economy, and could hint at some concern growth could falter.

Nissan Motor Co. said on Monday it would launch a diesel version of its X-Trail sport utility vehicle in Japan next year, a move that could revive the all-but-dead diesel passenger car segment in the world's third-biggest auto market.

Bear Stearns Cos co-president and co-chief operating officer Warren Spector resigned on Sunday, becoming a casualty of a credit risk crisis at the investment bank. Bear Stearns said that, effective immediately, Alan Schwartz has been named the company's sole president.

China expects auto exports to grow by 48.5 percent in this year compared to 2006, according to a government forecast.

India's leading biotechnology enterprise, Biocon, has inked an agreement with Abu Dhabi-based Neopharma to establish a joint venture company NeoBiocon to develop specialty bio-pharmaceutical products and provide biotherapeutics for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) market.

Asia's two economic powerhouses, India and the People's Republic of China (PRC), are lagging behind in terms of economic well-being and living standards, despite accounting for 64 percent of GDP in a surveyed list of 23 Asian countries, a new study by the Asian Development Bank has revealed.

'A number of executives just below board level' and not covered by a plea deal announced last week are to be identified.

Young women who want to beat men to the big bucks should get a one-way ticket to the closest big U.S. city, a New York study showed.

The creator of classic computer game Doom, id Software, unveiled on Friday its eagerly anticipated next game, Rage, in which players fight an oppressive government in a post-apocalyptic world.

San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds hit the 755th home run of his career on Saturday, tying the Major League Baseball all-time record held by Hank Aaron since 1974.

India's top car maker, Maruti Udyog Ltd., is offering discounts of up to $743 on many of its vehicles to shore up sales, newspaper advertisements at the weekend showed.

Investment bank JPMorgan's India unit has lost four senior executives, the latest in a series of moves in the country's financial sector, where salaries have soared on the back of a booming stock market.

Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips and Chevron Corp. will likely participate in India's seventh round of auctions under the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP), the Business Standard said on Sunday.

The head of Freddie Mac, one of the biggest U.S. mortgage finance companies, dismissed suggestions that his company should step in to bolster sagging financial markets by buying distressed loans, the New York Times reported on Saturday.

Bear Stearns Cos., whose shares slumped on Friday, is preparing to oust Warren Spector, one of its two presidents and its co-chief operating officer, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.

International Bank of Qatar said on Sunday talks to buy a stake in Bahrain's Ahli United Bank had stalled, spelling a possible end to what would be the biggest cross border takeover of a Gulf Arab firm.

Global cooperation is the only way to improve food safety, Chinese official media said on Sunday after yet another week of global anxiety about the quality of goods from China.

Private equity firm CVC said on Sunday that Hong Kong financier Francis Leung has joined the company as senior adviser focusing on developing investment opportunities in Greater China.