IBT Staff Reporter

Global health officials stepped up efforts to prepare for quick vaccination against the H1N1 pandemic virus, saying on Friday it appeared now to be affecting older age groups spared earlier in the pandemic.

Mitsubishi Motors Corp is expected to report a group operating loss of around 20 billion yen for the April-June quarter, marking a second straight quarterly loss, the Nikkei business daily said.

Rich countries should immediately mobilize billions of dollars in development aid to the poorest nations to win their trust in the run-up to global climate talks in Copenhagen, a draft EU report says.

Porsche's owner families have agreed with a key Volkswagen shareholder that controversial clauses of a law protecting Volkswagen from hostile takeovers would be absorbed into the by-laws of Europe's biggest carmaker itself, a German magazine said on Saturday.

Since Michael Jackson's sudden death on June 25, the rumor mill over details of his bizarre personal life has ground away nearly non-stop, and on Friday, one company said it was turning his hair into diamonds. That one is true.

Sarah Palin, the former Republican U.S. vice presidential candidate, will step down as Alaska's governor on Sunday with her political future clouded by ethics probes, legal bills and dwindling popularity.

A car bomb in the western Iraqi city of Falluja killed five people and wounded 21 others on Saturday, an Interior Ministry source said.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's lawyer denied the premier hid archaeological ruins at his Sardinian villa and said tapes purporting to show him boasting to a call girl were fake, newspapers said on Saturday.

Thirteen of 16 people killed in a plane accident in northeastern Iran on Friday were crew and the three others were passengers, Iran's state television reported on Saturday.

The son of an advisor to Iran's defeated conservative presidential candidate Mohsen Rezaie was killed in a Tehran prison after being detained in post-election unrest, a reformist website said on Saturday.

The Revolutionary Guards said on Saturday that Iran would strike Israel's nuclear facilities if the Jewish state attacked it, state television reported.

Iran's opposition urged senior clerics on Saturday to help secure the release of people arrested following June's disputed presidential election, after a protester died in prison.

Sweden's Ericsson has won an auction for the wireless assets of bankrupt Nortel Networks Corp, paying $1.13 billion for the crown jewels of the one-time Canadian telecom star.

Deutsche Bank CEO Josef Ackermann has told Porsche's owner families of the urgency to stump up cash in order to pay down the company's debts, which have risen to 14 billion euros (20 billion pounds), a German magazine said on Saturday.

The Opel Trust, the German body which has been responsible for Opel since June, said on Saturday it has not made any decisions yet regarding the takeover offers for the carmaker.

President Barack Obama said Saturday that Democratic plans to revamp the U.S. healthcare system would benefit small businesses, an argument that quickly drew criticism from his Republican opponents.

Citigroup Inc said it has appointed three new directors, including a former New York State banking superintendent, and given board member Jerry Grundhofer the job of chairman of its retail banking unit.

Georgia banking officials today announced that State Bank and Trust co. has agreed to acquire the assets and deposits of six community banks operated by Security Bank Corp, raising $300 million in capital for the acquisition.

New York CPAs warned of new law in effect Sunday

Advanced Micro Devices Inc spinoff Globalfoundries began building a $4.2 billion chip manufacturing facility in upstate New York on Friday, as it gears up to take on the likes of TSMC .

Bankers and traders, no matter where they work, might have Goldman Sachs Group Inc to thank for heftier bonuses this year.

U.S. regulators closed seven small banks on Friday, a pace matching a one-day total seen earlier in July and bringing the number of failures so far this year to 64.

Guaranty Financial Group Inc , the second-largest publicly traded bank in Texas, said it will probably fail after loan losses and write-downs

The following text are remarks by Presidet Barack Obama at Shaker Heights High School Shaker Heights, Ohio on July 23, deliverd from White House website:

Covered in a blue plastic poncho, I climbed at high altitudes reaching over 16,000 feet. The rain plummeted upon the earth, as I trudged through the mud and mule feces that blended together to create the Inca Trail in Ecuador...

When I think of Quito, I think of a great chaotic blend of humble abodes and towering financial structures and apartments built atop uneven contours of a verdant valley.

Social media has made customer service more important than ever Dave Carroll, a Canadian musician who created a hit song of complains against United Airlines which he posted on YouTube.

President Barack Obama's remark on Wednesday that police acted stupidly in arresting Harvard professor angered police force nationwide.

China's two oil majors will see robust growth in earnings this yea mainly due to the new oil pricing system and more stable crude prices, China.org said on Friday, citing analysts .