IBT Staff Reporter

The National Restaurant Association today launched a new campaign - the National Restaurant Association Conserve/EPA ENERGY STAR Challenge, encouraging the nation’s restaurants to reduce their water and energy use.

Sajjad Gani Lone, Indian Kashmir's first separatist leader to contest Indian elections since a revolt broke out in the region two decades ago, lost polls, results showed on Saturday.

U.S. President Barack Obama will travel to Moscow for talks with Russian leaders, attend a Group of Eight summit in Italy and visit Ghana in a wide-ranging foreign tour in July, the White House said on Saturday.

President Barack Obama praised the Congress for reaching an agreement on comprehensive energy legislation last week.

President Obama appointed Republican Utah Governor Jon Huntsman as the U.S. ambassador to China.

There are four deaths and at least 4,700 probable and confirmed U.S. cases of the H1N1 flu, formerly known as swine flu, with 22 U.S. states reporting widespread or regional influenza activity, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official said on Friday.

Kuwaiti conglomerate Al Ghanim Industries is looking at industrial acquisitions in Asia to help it diversify away from the Gulf region, where its revenues have been flat this year, the CEO said on Saturday.

Michael Jackson, the self-proclaimed King of Pop, was diagnosed with skin cancer a month ago, according to a Saturday report from British newspaper The Sun, citing an anonymous source.

Sri Lankan troops on Saturday seized the entire coastline for the first time in a 25-year war with the Tamil Tigers, the military said, cutting off escape for separatist rebels now facing annihilation.

Iran should engage with the United States and negotiate over its nuclear program, Mohamed ElBaradei, chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said in a magazine interview released on Saturday.

U.S. air strikes earlier this month killed 140 villagers, an Afghan government investigation concluded on Saturday, putting Kabul starkly at odds with the U.S. military's account.

Britain's ruling Labour party on Saturday suspended a second MP in an expenses scandal that has scarred parliament's reputation and sparked public rage, after he claimed thousands of pounds for a mortgage he had already paid off.

Pakistani soldiers are closing in on the main town in the Taliban bastion of Swat, the army said on Saturday, in an offensive that has driven more than a million people from their homes.

Switzerland's largest bank, UBS , is losing key staff in important areas to competitors, chairman Kaspar Villiger was reported as saying on Saturday.

Barack Obama will visit Africa for the first time since being sworn in as the first black U.S. president when he travels to Ghana in July, a trip many Africans hope will herald powerful help for their poor continent.

U.S. President Barack Obama on Saturday named Utah Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. to be the next U.S. ambassador to China, a pivotal post in relations between the United States and a major emerging economic power.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's ruling coalition won an overwhelming election victory on Saturday, boosting hopes of a stable government as the emerging Asian power faces economic downturn and tensions with Pakistan.

Saudi Basic Industries Corp 2010.SE (SABIC) is coping better than other petrochemical companies with the global recession because Saudi Arabia will not be as badly hit, its chairman said on Saturday.

Turkish airport operator TAV said its first quarter loss increased by 12 percent to 61.9 million lira ($39 million), due partly to the cost of financing the construction of an airport in Tunisia.

The worst of the economic crisis is over and, while the situation remains fragile, there are growing signs of a recovery on the horizon, Italian economy minister Giulio Tremonti said in a newspaper interview on Saturday.

Poland's troubled listed insulin maker Bioton BOTN.WA swung to a 20 million zloty ($6 million) net loss in the first quarter due to a drop in revenues and losses at subsidiaries.

Taiwan's Fubon Financial, the island's fifth-largest financial holding firm, would be keen to take additional equity stakes in Chinese commercial banks, Chairman Daniel Tsai said.

Dubai property developer Deyaar DEYR.DU is looking to expand into five countries to tap into cheap valuations stemming from the global financial crisis, the company's chief executive said late on Friday.

Bill Gross, the co-chief investment officer of Pacific Investment Management Co. will take over management of four funds run by departing high-yield manager mark Hudoff, Bloomberg reported.

GMAC LLC, traded its loss linked name for a new name, Ally Bank in an effort to gain a new customer base.

The Hong Kong government predicted Friday its gross domestic product (GDP) would contract by 6.5% this year as the government announced that its GDP fell 7.8% in the first quarter of 2009.

Venture-capital investments have been falling in a depressed economy but this is not necessarily stifling technology start-ups, as it becomes easier to get firms off the ground without outside investment, Microsoft says.

Five months after Bernard Madoff's massive fraud was revealed, little of his victims' money has been found and it appears increasingly likely that the worldwide hunt for their missing billions will drag on for years.

A money manager owned by Canada's Manulife Financial Corp is seeking to fire one of the largest subprime mortgage companies in the United States, claiming that Carrington Mortgage Services is unfairly tarnishing some bonds.