IBT Staff Reporter

Whether you're an old-world aficionado or new-world evangelist, there's a vineyard hotel out there for you. Boutique hotel website Mr & Mrs Smith (www.mrandmrssmith.com) lists the world's best hotels for wine lovers.

Holidays are the times that try the fitness routine. With family feasts, office parties and champagne soirees, the temptation to overindulge is everywhere, just as your yoga studio moves to holiday hours, your gym cancels classes and your personal trainer leaves town.

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez has threatened to expel Japanese carmaker Toyota unless it produces an all-terrain model of 4x4 vehicles used for public transport in poor and rural areas.

The Afghan Taliban said on Friday that they had issued a new video tape of a U.S. soldier who was captured this summer, and added that in it he asks his government to take part in a prisoner exchange deal.

China on Friday defended the role played by premier Wen Jiabao at climate change talks in Copenhagen this month after a barrage of international criticism blaming China for obstructing negotiations.

Pope Benedict called on the world to abandon violence and vengeance on Friday and showed no sign of strain after an unstable woman lunged at him, forcing him to the ground, on Christmas Eve.

China's most prominent dissident, Liu Xiaobo, was jailed on Friday for 11 years for campaigning for political freedoms, with the stiff sentence on a subversion charge swiftly condemned by rights groups and Washington.

Spain's Gas Natural SDG SA (GAS.MC) sold electricity generation assets in Mexico to Japan's Mitsui & Co Ltd (8031.T) and Tokyo Gas Co Ltd (9531.T) (9531.T) for $1.2 billion, completing an ambitious asset disposal plan to reduce debt.

Japanese demand for new cars, trucks and buses, including minivehicles, will likely rise 4.1 percent in 2010, marking the first increase in six years, an industry group said on Thursday.

Healthcare companies are lining up to go public, and they could get a warmer reception in 2010 as investors' risk appetite increases, and new legislation potentially leads to more profit for the sector.

A recovery in Japan's crude steel output will extend into the January-March quarter on brisk exports and demand from manufacturers, but the recovery trend is losing steam amid an uncertain economic outlook, a ministry official said.

Japan approved on Friday a record budget for next year that will inflate the country's already huge debt by $484 billion, as the prime minister vowed to battle on in the face of a growing scandal and sliding poll ratings.

The woman who lunged at Pope Benedict and caused him to fall to the floor at the start of his Christmas Eve mass was psychologically unstable and was not armed, the Vatican said on Friday.

Japan approved on Friday a record budget for next year that will inflate the country's already huge debt by $484 billion, as the prime minister vowed to battle on in the face of a growing scandal and sliding poll ratings.

Shares in Tokyo slipped on Friday as investors took profits in trade thinned by the Christmas break in many other markets, while Shanghai fell and the dollar hung near its highs of the month after goods and jobless claims data.

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama came under fire over a funding scandal on Christmas Day, with Japanese media speculating that he might have to step down if voters found his explanations unconvincing and his leadership disappointing.

A U.S. financial crime agency's plan to let foreign police seek information from American banks is drawing opposition from groups representing U.S. financial institutions.

The General Assembly approved a two-year U.N. budget on Thursday that pushed past the $5 billion (3 billion pounds) mark, but Western countries said they had won savings on the cost of an organisation some see as profligate.

The Federal Reserve bought $15.0 billion net of agency mortgage-backed securities in the latest week, the New York Fed said on its website on Thursday.

Wells Fargo Bank sued Lone Star Funds [LS.UL] alleging that the private equity firm, which won the bid to buy Accredited Home Lenders Holding Co in 2007, implemented a deliberate scheme to purchase the firm for significantly less than the auction price

Russia will work on a new generation of atomic weapons to strengthen its nuclear deterrent, President Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday, just hours after Moscow test-fired one of its most feared missiles.

Millennium Management returned about $3 billion to investors in early October after the hedge fund firm changed some rules, making it easier for clients to exit, people familiar with the fund said.

Buyout shop Clayton Dubilier & Rice won the race on Thursday to buy Montagu Private Equity's British Car Auctions (BCA), which sells more than 4 billion pounds ($6,36 billion) worth of used vehicles annually.

U.S. agribusiness giant Bunge Ltd (BG.N) will buy Brazilian sugar and ethanol producer Moema for $452 million, its biggest bet yet on the fast-growing cane and ethanol industry in the world's top exporter.

The U.S. Senate approved President Barack Obama's landmark healthcare overhaul on Thursday, backing sweeping changes in the medical insurance market and new coverage for tens of millions of uninsured Americans.

U.S. regulators and legislators are investigating whether Wall Street investment banks deliberately sold risky structured securities to clients, and then bet on the securities failing, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.

Tumors can not only spread through the body by sending out tiny cells called seeds, but they can re-seed themselves, researchers said in a report on Thursday that may help explain why tumors grow back even after they are removed.

At least 11,516 people around the globe have died from the H1N1 flu virus since the pandemic emerged in April, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported on Wednesday.

Want to keep your eyesight sharp as you age? Eating lots of fish packed with healthy omega-3 fatty acids could help, new research suggests.