IBT Staff Reporter

On Monday US fast-food chain Kentucky Fried Chicken said in a bid to boost the deep recession affecting Britain and Ireland it would create 9,000 jobs by 2014

BEIJING - Chinese official media on Monday welcomed the relatively mild line on the yuan currency from a G7 meeting as vindication for its policies, while continuing to pillory Buy American provisions in U.S. rescue plans. Chinese government officials have so far avoided public comment on the Group of Seven industrialized nations meeting on the weekend that praised China's fiscal measures...

aimed to sell 40-45 million phones in 2009, compared with 33 million last year. Chen also said the company would introduce commercially a phone model using next generation Long Term Evolution technology late this year or early next.

LONDON - U.S. oil prices stayed above $37 a barrel on Monday, as bearish economic data from Asia slowed the upward momentum after a sharp rally at the end of last week. Japan's economy shrank in the last quarter by its most since the first oil crisis in 1974, hit by an unprecedented slump in exports, which is likely to lead to more calls for extra stimulus steps to fight the deepening recession...

to be ready for customers later this year and in commercial products in 2010. Samsung Electronics Co Ltd recently launched a phone, costing roughly $500, in South Korea using the first version of TI's pico-projector technology that beams video or photographs from a phone to any surface. Samsung also plans to sell a similar device in Europe, but has not released pricing. TI said interest in its...

U.S. oil prices climbed above $38 a barrel on Monday after the International Energy Agency (IEA) said there could be an oil market supply crunch from next year once global oil demand begins to recover.

The world's first zero-emission polar research station opened in Antarctica on Sunday and was welcomed by scientists as proof that alternative energy is viable even in the coldest regions.

U.S. oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp will not cut back on investments in new crude production, despite the collapse in oil prices, the company's regional head of exploration said on Monday.

Acer Inc, the world's third-largest PC brand, entered the increasingly crowded smartphone market on Monday with the unveiling of its first eight models at the World Mobile Congress trade show in Barcelona.

Software giant Microsoft is in talks to buy Israel's 3DV Systems, a maker of three-dimensional video imaging, financial website TheMarker.com reported on Tuesday.

has already shipped its pared-down Flash Lite video player in almost 1 billion mobile phones. Last year, almost 40 percent of all new mobile devices shipped contained Flash Lite, and Adobe said it expects to ship another 1.5 billion in the next two years. (Reporting by Georgina Prodhan; Editing by Hans Peters)

As cash-strapped U.S. consumers think twice before buying a coffee or a newspaper, and banks fight for survival, Visa Inc and MasterCard Inc are cutting costs to sustain earnings. In their latest quarterly results, the world's largest payment networks beat expectations by slashing expenses and increasing prices.

President Barack Obama's aides warned Americans on Sunday not to expect instant miracles from the $787 billion economic stimulus bill he will sign this week, but said it would help eventually.

The recession in emerging Europe will be more severe than elsewhere due to large imbalances, and will put the financial strength ratings of local banks and their western parents under pressure, Moody's said on Tuesday.

Government pressure is taking hold in the midst of crisis at another major bank, as RBS announced today it reached a deal with the UK, its majority shareholder, to cut the total bonus pay by 90 percent to 175 million pounds ($247.5 million).

Consumer demand for data services on mobile phones, such as accessing email or browsing the Web on the go, is rising despite the global economic downturn, a survey released Monday found.

Before the first biker ever tattooed a Harley-Davidson logo on his arm, before Apple ever inspired the first MacHead to swear she would never -- ever -- marry a Windows user, Deere & Co was creating one of the enduring corporate cults.

As cash-strapped U.S. consumers think twice before buying a coffee or a newspaper, and banks fight for survival, Visa Inc and MasterCard Inc are cutting costs to sustain earnings.

Merrill Lynch is shifting a majority of its contracts from troubled Indian software firm Satyam Computer Services Ltd to rival Tata Consultancy Services, the Economic Times reported on Monday.

Japan sank deeper into recession with its worst quarterly contraction in 35 years, data showed on Monday, its reliance on exports and soft domestic demand dragging down the world's second-largest economy.

In 1997/98, Asia fell into the economic abyss because of a dependence on inflows of foreign capital, which suddenly turned tail.

A group of Sirius XM Radio Inc creditors will seek to remove Chief Executive Mel Karmazin if the company chooses a bankruptcy filing over a deal with an investor that would let it stay solvent, the Wall Street Journal said.

President Barack Obama has decided to launch a government task force for restructuring the struggling U.S. auto industry instead of naming a car czar with sweeping powers, a senior administration official said on Sunday.

Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin may have felt it as a sign of the times that he was among the last at Rome's Excelsior hotel to see the closing statement from this weekend's meeting of global policymakers.

CHICAGO - President Barack Obama has decided to form a government task force to oversee the restructuring of the struggling U.S. auto industry instead of naming a car czar with sweeping powers, a senior administration official said on Sunday. Obama is appointing Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner as his designee for overseeing auto bailout loans and as co-head of the new high-level pane...

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez promised to use a referendum victory that allows his re-election to fight crime and corruption and consolidate socialism in a nation whose oil income has fallen abruptly.

three times the fall in gross domestic product in the same quarter in the United States, at the epicenter of the current global crisis. With exporters cutting production and laying off staff and many retailers reporting sharp falls in sales, economists saw little hope of a bounce back for Japan. The data showed a severe picture of the Japanese economy and highlighted the weakness in exports,...

SEOUL - LG Electronics Inc, the world's No.3 mobile phone maker, aims to increase its global market share to at least 10 percent this year and boost low-cost phone sales, the head of its handset business said. As shrinking consumer demand hits the mobile industry, LG expects deteriorating profits this year, but still targets a high single-digit percent profit margin on mobiles, against 11 perce...

SEOUL - LG Electronics Inc, the world's No.3 mobile phone maker, aims to increase its global market share to at least 10 percent this year and boost low-cost phone sales, the head of its handset business said. As shrinking consumer demand hits the mobile industry, LG expects deteriorating profits this year, but still targets a high single-digit percent profit margin on mobiles, against 11 perce...