BUSINESS

Many European banks have used easy credit from the European Central Bank to expand their balance sheet rather than use the easy credit to slim down and cut the level of risk in the assets they hold. In other words, too-big-to-fail is alive and well in the recession-plagued euro zone.

Men and makeup aren't necessarily commonplace ideas in the United States, but according to new market research South Korea is the largest market in the world for men's skincare thanks to fad that has developed over recent years with Korean men wearing makeup.

After the unveiling of its new Leica M camera at the world's leading imaging fair Photokina, German optics company Leica held a special event Monday night, in which the company's owner Andreas Kaufmann revealed a very special limited-edition camera in the works. Kaufmann announced that Leica had tapped Sir Jony Ive, Apple's lead designer and the brain behind such products as the iPod, iPhone and Sunflower iMac, to build an uber-limited edition of the Leica M for charity. Onl...

Popular art often mirrors common ideas about current economic affairs and reflects the conventional wisdom guiding public opinion. This is particularly true of film.

Terry Williams, who killed his sexual abuser, is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Oct. 3.

Over 130 inmates have escaped from a Mexican prison in Peidras, located across the border from Eagle Pass, Texas. Mexican authorities have undertaken a massive manhunt, while U.S. authorities are closely monitoring the border to assist in the recapture of any prisoners that try to cross.

Three key U.S. housing reports Wednesday are expected to show small improvements in the market.

Tax cuts for the rich don't seem to be associated with U.S. economic growth and instead are linked to a different outcome: greater income inequality in the U.S. These findings will likely fuel the already bitter political fight over extending the Bush tax cuts for upper-income groups.

India's retail inflation rate increased to 10.03 percent in August from 9.86 percent recorded in July, mainly driven by higher food prices, according to the data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation.

An Ohio convict, sentenced to death by lethal injection early next year, has requested that his execution be delayed, arguing that he is to obese to be executed.

The top after-market Nasdaq gainers Monday were Brightcove Inc, Body Central Corp, Renewable Energy Group, 3SBio Inc and AngioDynamics Inc.The top after-market Nasdaq losers were Kraft Foods Group, Idenix Pharmaceuticals Inc, TriQuint Semiconductor, Take-Two Interactive Software Inc and Tree.com.

Apple Inc booked orders for over two million iPhone 5 models in the first 24 hours, reflecting a higher-than-expected demand for the consumer device giant's new smartphone and setting it up for a strong holiday quarter.

The top after-market NYSE gainers Monday were Alliance One International, AU Optronics Corp, Dole Food Co, Tenet Healthcare Corp and KKR Financial Holdings LLC. The top after-market NYSE losers were HNI Corp, Advanced Micro Devices, Steelcase Inc, ExactTarget and K12 Inc.

Most of the Asian markets dropped Tuesday as investor confidence was weighed down by the intensifying tensions between China and Japan and the increasing concerns over the euro zone debt crisis.

Asian shares retreated from four-month highs Tuesday as markets paused from last week's rallies, calculating the impact on growth from the Federal Reserve's aggressive stimulus and eyeing whether Spain will request a bailout to ease its fiscal strains.

Cultivation of the coca leaf, which provides the main ingredient for cocaine production, has dropped off 12 percent, according to a U.N. report.

Newsweek magazine and Tina Brown had hoped to spark a conversation about the magazine's latest cover story, which came with the headline Muslim Rage. Instead, Twitter erupted with a stream of light-hearted tweets about everyday Muslim discontent.

Shares of Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) surged past $700 for the first time, just a year after topping $400. The move brings Apple's market value to about $650 billion, cementing its 2012 role as the world's most valuable company, ahead of Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM).

Swedish home appliance maker embarks on small market for very expensive kitchens. For the rest of us: It recently began selling its Frigidaire brand at The Home Depot.

London copper slipped on Monday, but still retained most of the previous session's steep climb to a 4-1/2 month top as a new round of U.S. monetary stimulus measures and a weak dollar continued to support prices.

The Windows 8 release date is nearly here, and Microsoft has just sent out invitations to a press event that is likely to detail the operating system?s new features. The company has been developing its new OS for quite some time, and now the upgraded software is finally ready for its official public unveiling.

IBTimes spoke to some of the top makeup and nail artists throughout the course of New York Fashion Week, who revealed their secrets for flawless runway beauty and their makeup weapons of choice as well as their inside scoop on hottest trends and products for the upcoming seasons.

The U.S. Treasury Department is unwilling to sell the government's stake in General Motors Co because a sale now would mean huge investment losses, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing people close to the matter.

A French polling group found that 64 percent of France would vote against switching to the euro currency if the referendum were held today, but also are against moving back to the franc.

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) and ING Groep NV (NYSE: ING) may sell their stakes in two Thailand banks, but their message to Asia's 11th largest economy could very well be, "It's not you, it's us."

Financial markets yawned Monday in the face of an anemic U.S. manufacturing report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York that showed industrial production in the Northeast falling to a nearly two-year low.

The former CEO of French oil corporation Elf Aquitaine, Loik Le Floch-Prigent, has been extradited from the Ivory Coast to Togo on charges relating to a $48 million fraud scheme. The funds in question were contained in a Togolese bank account belonging to the former military ruler of the Ivory Coast, Robert Guei, who was killed in 2002. Le Floch-Prigent had previously been convicted in France for embezzlement of hundres of millions of dollars in public funds during his time as head of Elf.

Freemium video games like "FarmVille 2" and "Angry Birds," the cheap and easily accessible counterpart to premium boxed copies of "Skyrim" or "Call of Duty" that run players upwards of $50 or $60 a sale, now make up more than half of the total market for video games in Europe, a new study shows.

While market sentiment for China's growth outlook has been overwhelmingly negative, Nomura's Chief China Economist Zhiwei Zhang remains very bullish.