IBT Staff Reporter

The French government and unions prepared for an extended transport and energy strike from this week in a pensions dispute that is shaping up as the first major battle over President Nicolas Sarkozy's economic reform plans.

Venezuelan construction worker Gustavo Arteaga has no trouble finding jobs in this OPEC nation's booming economy, but on a recent Monday morning he skipped work as part of a more complicated search -- for milk.

Software company Oracle kicked off a five day IT conference in San Francisco with keynotes from several executives, including co-founder and CEO, Larry Ellison, who reminisced on the company's humble beginnings.

The moves will keep the money and stock markets under pressure and possibly accelerate appreciation of the yuan.

Jerry Seinfeld's Bee Movie had plenty of sting left during its second weekend, replacing American Gangster as the No. 1 choice for North American moviegoers.

The box office power of Bollywood showed itself this weekend as Saawariya emerged the surprise No. 1 hit internationally, outgrossing Tom Cruise's Lions for Lambs by more than $5 million.

There is the realization that some will be forced to leave the business, and it's unlikely they will return.

Toyota Motor Corp on Friday detailed plans to study U.S. consumer demand for a version of its hot-selling Prius hybrid that could be recharged at a standard outlet and run on electric power only.

Intel Corp, the world's biggest microchip maker, unveiled fast new processors on Sunday made with new techniques that can etch circuitry nearly 200 times smaller than a red blood cell.

Any new signs that the economy continues to decelerate could make it hard for stocks to regain their footing in the coming days after last week's bruising sell-off and a drop in consumer sentiment to a two-year low.

Oil fell more than $1 on Monday, reversing the previous session's rally, after OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia said the cartel would discuss boosting oil output at an upcoming meeting to cool surging oil prices.

Asian stocks sank on Monday with Tokyo's Nikkei hitting its lowest level in about 15 months as investors dumped Japanese exporters on the back of a surge in the yen to an 18-month high versus the dollar.

BHP Billiton, the world's biggest mining group, is considering the sale of one of its largest units, BHP Petroleum, to help finance a hostile takeover of Rio Tinto, the UK Sunday Times newspaper said.

The top three U.S. banks have agreed on the structure of a backup fund of at least $75 billion to stabilize credit markets, The New York Times reported on Sunday.

Chocolate maker Hershey Co said on Sunday it has replaced eight members of its board of directors, the latest management shake-up in the weeks since the surprise announcement of Chief Executive Richard Lenny's retirement. Six of Hershey's independent directors quit at the request of the Hershey Trust, the controlling shareholder that has recently said it was not happy with company's performance. Two directors elected separately by shareholders also resigned.

Britain must try to prevent a European Union satellite navigation system from going ahead until its costs, risks and benefits have been thoroughly assessed, lawmakers said on Monday.

The top U.S. official for the Caucasus praised Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili on Sunday for his leadership over the last 4 years, but suggested he lift a state of emergency and restore an independent media.

The European Union's top diplomat and Iran's chief nuclear negotiator agreed on Sunday to hold a new round of talks on Tehran's disputed atomic ambitions by the end of this month, Iranian news agencies said on Sunday.

The quantity of Iranian bomb-making components being found in Iraq is increasing despite a fall in attacks and 20 Iranian-trained agents are still operating south of Baghdad, a top U.S. general said on Sunday.

Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf said on Sunday a general election would be held by Jan. 9 but under a state of emergency he imposed eight days ago.

BHP Billiton has lined up a $70 billion financing package to bolster its $140 billion takeover approach for rival miner Rio Tinto, the Financial Times said on Saturday.

A downgrade of Citigroup Inc's nearly pristine credit ratings will not impede its thriving business, new acting Chief Executive Win Bischoff wrote in an internal memo to employees sent on Saturday.

British grocer Tesco made its U.S. debut on Wednesday by throwing open the doors of a sleek, modern Los Angeles store stocked with a larger helping of fresh, ready-to-eat meals than at traditional supermarkets.

Yahoo Inc mobile chief Marco Boerries is racing to lock down phone distribution deals that could deliver hundreds of millions of advertising customers before Google's own mobile strategy ever takes wing.

Ads before videos irritate consumers, raising the risk they'll ignore the promotion or leave the Web site.

A younger generation of chief executives in many boardrooms is set to spur the strategic overhaul.

Robert Rubin is widely acclaimed as best-suited to rescue the struggling bank, but questions remain.

Visa Inc, the world's largest credit card network, filed with regulators on Friday to raise up to $10 billion in an initial public offering, in one of the largest and most eagerly awaited U.S. stock offerings. Visa announced the offering two days after agreeing to pay $2.1 billion to settle a three-year-old antitrust lawsuit with rival American Express Co.

Nashua mobile network in South Africa revealed today that it will introduce satellite phones in different parts of Africa starting next week.