IBT Staff Reporter

Swiss banking giant UBS has banned travel for over 1,000 financial advisers as the company reviews its policies, following a scandal in which the bank admitted helping some of its customers evade taxes.

This season's $60 a gallon price tag on maple syrup makes for one expensive pancake breakfast, but it's a windfall for those who coax it out of trees.

At least $300 billion of the $1.1 trillion stimulus package agreed by G20 leaders last week should be allocated toward helping developing countries, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Sunday.

North Korea fired a long-range rocket on Sunday, provoking international outrage, but a divided U.N. Security Council failed at an emergency meeting to agree on a reaction to Pyongyang's defiant move.

IBM and Sun Microsystems Inc broke off acquisition talks after Sun indicated it was unhappy with IBM's offer of $9.40 or below per share, a source with knowledge of the matter said on Sunday.

Talks between IBM Corp and computer and software company Sun Microsystems Inc are on the brink of collapse, The Wall Street Journal reported on its website on Sunday.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner denied on Sunday the Obama administration was crafting bailout initiatives to allow companies to evade limits on executive pay and other restrictions imposed by Congress.

Representatives from at least 15 U.S. states discussed with a federal regulator the possibility of using their pension funds to buy troubled loans and securities, or toxic assets, the Bergen County Record in New Jersey reported.

U.S. stocks should rally further this week, if investors get more signs that the economic slump is abating and earnings season does not get off to a rocky start.

AT&T Inc said on Sunday that the company is continuing negotiations with a labor union after five labor contracts covering more than 80,000 of its workers expired on April 4.

MGM Mirage has hired Morgan Stanley to handle potential sales of two of its cash cows -- MGM Grand Detroit and Biloxi's Beau Rivage casinos, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing people with knowledge of the matter.

HSBC investors bought 96.6 percent of the shares offered in its record 12.9 billion pound ($18.9 billion) rights issue, Europe's biggest bank said on Sunday.

Switzerland's UBS , the world's largest wealth management company in terms of assets, has issued a worldwide travel ban for wealth management client advisors, a spokeswoman said.

HSBC investors bought 96.6 percent of the shares offered in its record 12.9 billion pound ($18.9 billion) rights issue, Europe's biggest bank said on Sunday.

U.S. stocks should rally further this week, if investors get more signs that the economic slump is abating and earnings season does not get off to a rocky start.

The NATO nations have agreed to boost 5,000 extra troops and $100 million to secure the Afghan presidential election in August and to fight against the Taliban.

The FBI, United State’s investigative agency, has rejected the claim of responsibility by a Pakistani Taliban militant leader for the attack in New York State.

A suicide bomber blew himself up inside a paramilitary base in northwest Pakistan Sunday, killing at least eight troops, the army said.

Microsoft has released a second commercial in their new Laptop Hunters ad campaign targeting Mac prices, a follow-up to last weeks one which starred Lauren.

The recent release of Skype for Apple's iPhone has proved popular among users as the application has already been downloaded more than a million times, but has caused concerns from AT&T, the iPhone's exclusive carrier.

Eighty-seven percent of home buyers used the Internet to search for homes, up from 71 percent five years ago. Not only has the trend in overall usage risen, but the percent of buyers who reported using the Internet frequently increased from 42 percent in 2003 to 69 percent in 2008.

The internet has become an integral tool in the home buyer arsenal. When asked to identify the first step taken during the home buying process, 32 percent of all home buyers looked online for properties for sale.

When purchasing their next home, younger home sellers tend to purchase larger homes.

U.S. congressional budget analysts have raised their estimate of the net cost to taxpayers for the government's financial rescue program to $356 billion, an increase of $167 billion from earlier estimates.

International Business Machines has lowered its offer price for Sun Microsystems to $9.50 a share from $9.55 a share, although they are still in talks and the deal is not final, a source with knowledge of the matter said on Saturday.

When purchasing a home, in addition to the price of the home, home buyers also consider the cost to commute to work, and with rising energy costs, cost of energy, and possible savings from energy efficient features of homes. Importance given to these costs considerations vary by age of home buyers.

With rising energy costs, home buyers are increasingly aware of energy efficiency and other environmentally friendly features of homes. Forty-three percent of recent buyers considered a home's heating and cooling costs very important.

In the years of rising prices and quick sales, first-time home buyers made up a smaller share of the market. As affordability improves but sales slow, it is more difficult for current homeowners to sell their homes.

Somalia's prime minister has ordered all aid agencies working in the lawless Horn of Africa nation to register with the new government for their own safety.