IBT Staff Reporter

The United States is ready to hold talks with North Korea if the conditions are right but will also press U.N. sanctions to punish Pyongyang for its nuclear and missile tests, a senior envoy for Asia said on Saturday.

President Barack Obama appealed to Americans on Saturday to back his ambitious revamp of the U.S. health care system, seeking to regain momentum amid growing worries among lawmakers over how to pay for it.

Emirates Telecommunications Corp ETEL.AD (Etisalat) made a second-quarter net profit of 2.41 billion dirhams ($656.1 million), according to Reuters calculations, down 19 percent from the year-earlier period.

Tata Consultancy Services, India's top software services firm by sales, on Saturday said it was aiming to grow its back office services revenue to $3 billion in five years.

Several large investment firms are creating new lending companies that plan to go public to raise billions of dollars to take advantage of the distress in the commercial real estate market, and more are on the horizon.

Globe Specialty Metals Inc, a New York-based producer of silicon metal and silicon-based alloys, will price its estimated $112 million initial public offering on July 29, and begin trading on Nasdaq the following day, one of the IPO's underwriters said on Friday.

Insurer UnitedHealth Group Inc is in talks to buy the U.S. Northeast operations of rival Health Net Inc, sources familiar with the situation said on Friday.

Golden Gate Capital won an auction for Eddie Bauer Holdings Inc with a $286 million cash bid and agreed to keep open most of its 370 stores, the bankrupt outdoor apparel retailer said on Friday.

Brazilian mining company Vale, the world's top iron ore miner, said on Friday it is not seeking to buy fertilizer assets following rumors it was planning a bid for U.S.-based fertilizer company Mosaic.

The Argentine government's right of veto on any decision relating to the future of Spanish oil major Repsol's unit YPF is likely to outweigh any desire Repsol might have to free up some cash by disposing of its stake.

The departure announced this week of Continental Airlines' CEO has spurred debate that the carrier could resume consolidation talks with new partner United Airlines, but the chance of a quick merger remains remote.

Ford Motor Co management is focused on reducing company debt, increasing the likelihood of an equity or equity-linked raising of capital within six months to a year, a J.P. Morgan analyst said on Friday.

China, whose confidential economic data was published by media before the official announcement, would investigate the leak, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) spokesman Li Xiaochao said on Thursday at a briefing.

Activist investor Carl Icahn spoke out in favor of a search deal between Yahoo Inc and Microsoft Corp, as talks between the two companies appeared to regain momentum.

California farmer Tom Willey was first attracted to organic farming 21 years ago after noticing how many chemicals he was using in conventional farming.

The number of extremely rich people living in the United States declined by 18.5 percent in 2008 as the economic crisis took hold, according to a new report.

Shuttle Endeavour astronauts entered aboard the International Space Station on Friday, increasing its crew members to a record 13 and marking the start of an ambitious 11-day construction mission.

Spanish language media company Univision Communications said on Friday a U.S. district court ruled in its favor in an Internet rights litigation case with rival Grupo Televisa.

Audiences are voicing snap judgments on movies faster and to more people than ever before on Twitter, and their ability to create a box office hit or a flop is forcing major studios to revamp marketing campaigns.

U.S. President Barack Obama expressed his deepest condolences to the victims in Jakarta bombing on Friday.

Start-up ooVoo is hoping to take on everybody from Skype, the Internet telephony arm of eBay, to Cisco Systems with a new video conferencing offer for small businesses.

Former CBS News anchorman Walter Cronkite, whose authoritative delivery of the news during turbulent times made him the most trusted man in America, died on Friday, CBS said. He was 92.

Chinese officials said the people responsible for the outbreak of unrest in Urumqi (Xinjiang) on 5 July had been identified and arrest warrants will be issued soon so that the violent elements can be severely punished, the Beijing News reported on Friday.

Hewlett-Packard strengthens its storage capabilities with its acquisition of Billerica, Mass.-based IBRIX Inc provider of enterprise-class file serving software.

American International Group Inc filed a shelf registration statement with U.S. regulators on Friday, giving it the capability to issue common or preferred stock in the future.

A Manchester woman has changed her name to a Princess-Rainbow.com – making what could be the first person to change her name to a web domain.

The House Intelligence Committee said on Friday it was launching a formal investigation into the concealment of a secret CIA program from Congress that one senator said was withheld on orders from former Vice President Dick Cheney.

Israel was accused of using the Iranian opposition group, People's Mujahedeen of Iran (PMOI) to assassinate president Ahmadinejad during last month's presidential election.

Nokia has set focus to let its Symbian Professional Services unit to be acquired by technology consultant firm Accenture.