IBT Staff Reporter

Financial officials of the Group of Seven rich nations, which dominated global policymaking for decades, were set Saturday to discuss a diminished future for their group as it grappled with tensions over currency rates.

A powerful typhoon slammed into the northeastern Philippines on Saturday, killing four people, tearing roofs off houses and uprooting trees, but damage and flooding was much less than expected.

Israeli planes carried out strikes on tunnels used for smuggling along the Gaza-Egypt border and a building east of Gaza city on Saturday, causing damage but no casualties, security forces and the Israeli military said.

The Group of 24 nations on Saturday called for a significant shift in IMF voting power to developing nations and a doubling of members' quotas to raise more resources for the global financial institution.

Irish voters have approved the EU's Lisbon Treaty, Ireland's foreign minister said on Saturday, reversing last year's shock rejection and pulling the bloc's ambitions for greater global influence out of the deep freeze.

Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi held a rare meeting with a minister from the ruling junta on Saturday, a government source said, a week after she offered to work for withdrawal of sanctions on the country.

After gaining market share every month since its June unveiling, Microsoft's Bing search engine slowed for the first time in September as Google snatched 83 percent share of the market.

Rescue teams pushed deeper into Indonesia's earthquake-hit Sumatra on Saturday, finding entire villages obliterated by landslides and survivors desperate for aid three days after the tremor.

The head of the U.N. nuclear agency arrived in Iran on Saturday for talks on a timetable for inspectors to visit a newly disclosed nuclear enrichment plant, state radio reported.

Apple could double its iPhone sales if it ended its policy of exclusive contract with mobile service providers, according to analysts.

Rio de Janeiro's successful bid to host the Olympics in 2016 crowns Brazil's remarkable rise over the past decade from a near basket case to an economic and diplomatic heavyweight.

Rio de Janeiro won a resounding vote on Friday to stage the first Olympics in South America in 2016, rebuffing U.S. President Barack Obama, who had personally lobbied for his adopted hometown Chicago.

Finland's Nokia can continue to use its Ovi brand in Brazil for now, a court ruled on Friday, but the legal battle over its new services brand continues in the largest telecoms market in the Latin America.

Somewhere on Route 28 to the southwest of this Wyoming town, a series of roadside plaques commemorates the early American settlers who passed this way on the Oregon Trail in the mid-19th century.

Stanford University is looking to sell as much as $1 billion worth of investments including private equity investments, real estate and timberlands, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter.

A Delaware court dismissed two of eBay Inc's claims against classified website Craigslist Inc and its two biggest shareholders on Friday, but five key claims remain to be heard in an upcoming trial.

General Electric Co and Comcast Corp, working on a deal to spin off GE's NBC Universal, have valued it at $30 billion, including $9 billion of debt, a source close to the talks told Reuters on Friday.

The U.S. Treasury will soon finalize a plan to expand its incentives for mortgage companies to include short sales as a way to stem a rising tide of foreclosures, according to a Treasury spokeswoman.

If the stock market bulls are right, U.S. third-quarter corporate earnings could show revenue kicked into gear after some disappointing numbers last quarter, sustaining the rally.

Analysts have raised estimates for Apple in spite of poor economic signs, mainly due to their confidence in the strong momentum from iPhone and iPod sales.

Electronic readers could be the hottest gift this holiday season as a new crop of portable media devices begins to join iPods and other music players as must-have tech accessories.

An Israeli soldier held captive for the past three years by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas smiled briefly and looked healthy in a two-minute Hamas video handed over to Israel on Friday.

The Group of Seven rich nations is expected to issue its customary call for stable exchange rates on Saturday, but do nothing more specific to address concern a weak dollar could hurt European exports.

Electronic Arts on Friday released its soccer flagship FIFA 10, its latest game for Apple's iPhone and iPod touch, which costs $10 at the App store.

Private equity firm Blackstone Group is in talks to buy Anheuser-Busch InBev NV's theme parks, and a deal could be reached as early as next week, sources familiar with the situation said on Friday.

A television producer accused of trying to extort $2 million from talk show host David Letterman by revealing his sexual affairs pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted grand larceny on Friday.

U.S. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank and other lawmakers on Friday urged regulators to delay the December 1 implementation of financial rules to enforce a ban on Internet gambling.

Pop star Lady Gaga said on Friday she and Kanye West decided jointly to cancel their Fame Kills tour, and she will embark on her own headlining concert series soon while West plans to drop out of the spotlight.

Labor costs at Ford Motor Co (F.N) are about $16 an hour higher in Canada than in the United States, the Canadian Auto Workers confirmed on Friday, but union said it needs guarantees on production levels before it agrees to concessions to level the field.