Merck, under pressure from investors and analysts to cut costs and pare thousands of employees from its payroll, said it would soon announce details of its restructuring plan.

Swiss voters supported a five-year-ban on the farming of genetically modified crops, underscoring the problems facing the European Commission and biotech companies.

Marvel and DC Comics have both built the 2005 schedule around hugely promoted special projects, mirroring the 'tent pole' model used by Hollywood studios.

Animal advocates say that while the pet press became news-astute with Hurricane Katrina, the rest of the media is still struggling to become pet-aware.

Already afflicted by declining market share and falling sales, Sony BMG was shaken by reports of behind-the-scenes tension and problems with its anti-piracy software.

The number of users of online classified advertising services increased 80 percent this year, according to a report.

The journalistic phrase 'off the record' seemed to lose all meaning last week at an event featuring Justice Antonin Scalia of the Supreme Court.

In May, Rolling Stone will mark its 1,000th issue, and for the occasion, Wenner Media is planning what appears to be a first for the magazine: a cover in 3-D.

Steven Spielberg will likely prove to be a key asset in any deal for DreamWorks.

The band is running a corporation, yet the fans don't seem to mind.

For a growing number of companies, nighttime may be the right time to reach younger male consumers.

Internet retailers are flooding the pipeline with promotional e-mails in hopes of catching the early wave of shoppers.

The post-Thanksgiving holiday shopping season gets off to a mixed start, following a brisk discount-driven opening.

Ofgem asks for an inquiry into why the rest of the EU is not selling more gas to Britain even when prices are high.

Business leaders say an extra £1bn should be invested on road and rail, because delays are hitting output and staff.

A major climate change conference is due to open in Montreal, but the US warns it will not commit to targets.

Dutch retailer Ahold settles a class action suit in the US after it inflated earnings by more than 1bn euros.

Japanese retail sales fell in October as hot weather hit clothing purchases, official figures show.

Reuters - Dutch retailer Ahold NV has settled a class-action suit in the United States linked to a 1 billion euro profit overstatement scandal in 2003, the company said on Monday.

Dutch retailer Ahold settles a class action suit in the US after it inflated earnings by more than 1bn euros.

Japanese retail sales fell in October as hot weather hit clothing purchases, official figures show.

Airbus reaches agreement to sell 10 A320 planes to Chinese carrier East Star Airlines for an undisclosed sum.

Business leaders say an extra £1bn should be invested in road and rail, because delays are hitting output and staff.

Reuters - The dollar hit a 27-month high against the yen on Monday and edged closer to recent two-year lows versus the euro and sterling as greenback buying on yield advantage gathered momentum after a long U.S. weekend.

Reuters - Global bank HSBC Holdings (0005.HK) said on Monday its highly-regarded chairman John Bond would retire at next year's annual meeting and be replaced by Stephen Green, currently group chief executive.

AP - China plans to boost imports and promote more investment overseas, the government says, vowing to do more to counter a surging trade surplus and calm friction with trading partners.

France's trade minister expresses doubts about any major breakthrough at global trade talks in Hong Kong next month.

The UK is the world's sixth most competitive place to do business, a survey from consultants Deloitte says.

Ofgem asks for an inquiry into why the rest of the EU is not selling more gas to Britain even when prices are high.

HSBC says its chairman John Bond will retire next May to be replaced by chief executive Stephen Green.

Chancellor Gordon Brown says the Office for National Statistics will be made independent of government.

Anglo-Dutch giant Shell begins pumping oil from a new field off the Nigerian coast, boosting the country's output by 10%.

India raises concerns about its future energy supplies, amid falling oil output at its largest energy company.

Reuters - Merck & Co Inc on Monday announced a restructuring that will include 7,000 job cuts in a move to save up to $4.0 billion.

Reuters - U.S. stock futures pointed to a stronger opening on Monday after Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and other retailers reported a surge in sales over the weekend, the start to the crucial holiday shopping season.

Reuters - Ahold NV moved to put its 2003 accounting scandal firmly behind it by paying $1.1 billion to settle a U.S. lawsuit, but the Dutch retailer's deal drew lukewarm reaction as investors await news on its strategy.

AP - Dutch retailer Ahold NV said Monday it has agreed to pay $1.1 billion to settle a class action lawsuit brought by shareholders in the United States after the company's 2003 accounting scandal.

Merck said today it would cut 7,000 jobs in the next three years and close five manufacturing plants. The company also hinted at further restructuring.

ThyssenKrupp, Germany's largest steelmaker, said today it was launching an amicable takeover bid for Canadian steel maker Dofasco.

Drugmaker Merck says it will cut 7,000 jobs on the eve of the first federal trial relating to its controversial drug Vioxx.

Gold's image as a safe investment is attracting buyers and driving its price towards the $500-an-ounce level.

France's trade minister expresses doubts about any major breakthrough at global trade talks in Hong Kong next month.

Swiss pharmaceutical group Novartis sells its dietary food business to ABN Amro Capital France for 220m euros.

Reuters - ThyssenKrupp made a friendly 3.5 billion euro offer on Monday for Dofasco , Canada's biggest steelmaker by sales, topping a hostile bid by Arcelor .

Reuters - Bankrupt auto parts supplier Delphi Corp. said on Monday that General Motors Corp. has agreed to temporarily forego previously agreed-upon price 2006 reductions on components.

AP - The Indian government hopes to open the economy more to foreign competition despite opposition from powerful leftist allies, a senior government official said Monday.

Reuters - U.S. blue chips rose on Monday, extending a five-week rally, after a surge in sales over the weekend boosted the outlook for the holiday shopping season.

AP - Royal Ahold NV, which owns the Stop & Shop and Giant supermarket chains in the United States along with other retail operations worldwide, said Monday it has agreed to pay $1.1 billion to settle a class action lawsuit brought by U.S. shareholders after its 2003 accounting scandal.

Germany's ThyssenKrupp launches a 3.5bn euro bid for Canadian steel firm Dofasco, trumping a bid from Arcelor.

Railway station shopping centres get a big boost as the Swiss vote for a relaxation of Sunday trading laws.

Reuters - Electronics retailers and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. were the early winners while some apparel chains faltered as the U.S. holiday shopping season started with a mixed Thanksgiving weekend, analysts said on Monday.

Reuters - Merck & Co. Inc. on Monday said it will cut 7,000 jobs and close five plants to save up to $4 billion in costs by 2010, but shares fell on disappointment in the scope of the measures and their limited ability to help earnings next year.

Reuters - Sales of existing U.S. homes slowed in October to a 7.09 million unit annual pace, but the median price rose 16.6 percent from a year earlier, the largest jump since July 1979, a trade group said on Monday.

Reuters - U.S. stocks were lower on Monday as investors paused after a five-week rally and shares of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. fell as investors worried that retail sales tapered off over the busy holiday weekend.

AP - Federated Investors Inc. has agreed to settle a state and federal investigation into improper mutual fund trading and pay $100 million in restitution and penalties, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said Monday.

In another indication of a modest slowdown in the booming housing market, sales of existing homes fell in October from their second-highest level ever the month before.

The deal will settle a shareholder lawsuit accusing the Dutch food retailer of violating securities laws for more than two years.

Reuters - U.S. stocks fell on Monday after data showed a bigger-than-expected drop in existing home sales and holiday buying at merchants like Wal-Mart Stores Inc. left investors underwhelmed, taking the wind out of a five-week rally.

Reuters - Ahold NV will pay shareholders $1.1 billion to settle a U.S. lawsuit, moving to put a 1 billion euro 2003 accounting scandal firmly behind it.

AP - Federated Investors Inc., one of the nation's largest investment managers, has agreed to pay $100 million to settle a state and federal investigation into improper mutual fund trading by selected groups at the expense of individual investors, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said Monday.

Delphi Corporation, which is operating under bankruptcy protection, received some much-needed financial aid today from its biggest customer, General Motors.

In another indication of a modest slowdown in the booming housing market, sales of existing homes fell in October from their second-highest level ever the month before.

The Slovak crown hits an eight month high against the euro after Slovakia joins the Exchange Rate Mechanism.

HSBC says its chairman John Bond will retire next May to be replaced by chief executive Stephen Green.

Reuters - Sales of existing homes slowed in October and the inventory of unsold houses rose to the highest level in nearly 20 years, a trade group said on Monday in a report that provided more evidence of the end of the U.S. housing boom.

Reuters - Merck & Co. Inc. on Monday said it will cut 7,000 jobs and close five plants to save up to $4 billion in costs by 2010, but shares fell on disappointment at the scope of the measures and their limited ability to help earnings next year.

Reuters - Stocks fell on Monday as a bigger-than-expected drop in a gauge of home sales had investors worried that a slowdown in housing would shake consumer confidence and a drop in oil prices weighed on energy shares.

AFP - Economy Minister Roberto Lavagna, who helped guide Argentina through its worst-ever debt crisis, resigned as part of a shakeup of President Nestor Kirchner's cabinet.

AP - Federated Investors Inc., one of the nation's largest investment managers, has agreed to pay $100 million to settle state and federal charges that it allowed favored clients to benefit from mutual fund trades at the expense of other investors, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and U.S. regulators said Monday.

AP - A Pennsylvania supermarket vendor pleaded guilty in federal court in Manhattan on Monday to a conspiracy charge in connection with an alleged multimillion-dollar accounting fraud at a unit of Dutch retailer Royal Ahold NV.

Struggling US car-parts firm Delphi delays plans to cut staff wages, reducing fears of a strike at the company.

Oil prices fall sharply due to unseasonably mild winter temperatures in the northern states of the US.

Reuters - U.S. stocks fell on Monday as a bigger-than-expected drop in a gauge of home sales had investors worried that a slowdown in housing would shake consumer confidence and a drop in oil prices weighed on energy shares.

AFP - Economy Minister Roberto Lavagna, who helped guide Argentina through its worst-ever debt crisis, resigned, saying he had been forced out in a cabinet shakeup that sent shock waves through the financial community.

AP - Delta Air Lines Inc., which lost $2.6 billion in the first nine months of this year, needs the $3 billion in annual cost savings from its reorganization plan to survive, chief financial officer Edward Bastian told a bankruptcy court on Monday.

Reuters - The U.S. Treasury on Monday declined to name China a currency manipulator, despite the demands of many U.S. lawmakers, but served notice that it will keep pressuring Beijing to let its currency rise in value.

AP - Delta Air Lines Inc., which lost $2.6 billion in the first nine months of this year, needs the $3 billion in annual cost savings from its reorganization plan to survive, chief financial officer Edward Bastian told a bankruptcy court on Monday. He also said the company is not prepared for a strike by pilots and that such a strike would be "devastating."

Reuters - Gold rose above $500 an ounce in Asia on Tuesday for the first time since December 1987 as dealers said funds had diversified into precious metals on worries about inflation and geopolitics.

A doctor who produced medical reports for people seeking compensation for asbestos-related injuries may have been a cog in a lawsuit machine.

Merck & Company plans to lay off 7,000 employees, about 11 percent of its work force, as it struggles with falling profits.

Instead of accusing China of currency manipulation, the Treasury Department expressed disappointment that trading in the yuan is 'highly constricted.'

Across rural America, people say they are frustrated with a loan program created by Congress to extend Internet service.

Qwest Communications is in debt and its long-distance wholesale business has been sagging, but investors have warmed to it.

GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo., Nov. 28 (AP) - The First Data Corporation, which provides credit card transaction services and owns Western Union, said Monday that its chief executive planned to retire for personal reasons.

Food served on airlines is steadily worsening or disappearing, but caterers on private jets are aiming high to satisfy elite appetites.

OFTEN when I fly, my seatmates confuse me with their therapists. I try to stick to my routine of reading a book or listening to my iPod, but once in a while I can't help myself.

YOU'RE going where Dec. 9?

General Motors will give the Delphi Corporation some financial assistance while talks continue on a rescue plan.

Two of the most-coveted items this holiday season are the iPod music player and the Xbox 360.

Bringing an abrupt end to an alliance that had grown uneasy, Argentina's president fired his economy minister, Roberto Lavagna.

Sales of existing homes fell 2.7 percent last month and the inventory of houses and condominiums on the market rose to the highest monthly level in more than two years, an industry trade group reported yesterday.

By The Associated Press.

SCHAUMBURG, Ill., Nov. 28 (AP) - American Pharmaceutical Partners said on Monday that it was buying its largest shareholder, the privately held American BioScience, for stock worth about $4.1 billion.

Sir John Bond, the frugal banker who helped HSBC Holdings grow into one of the world's largest financial institutions, will retire as chairman in May.

The Dutch supermarket giant said that it would pay shareholders $1.1 billion to settle lawsuits that were threatening to derail the company's turnaround.

The Momentum Worldwide division of the McCann Erickson Worldgroup is bolstering its creative ranks.

Simon Cowell, the star of the Fox network's 'American Idol,' settled a lawsuit brought by Simon Fuller, the producer of the series.

Rebuffing a bid from Arcelor, the Canadian steel maker Dofasco endorsed instead an offer of $4.1 billion that it solicited from ThyssenKrupp of Germany.

The Supreme Court agreed to revisit the rules under which courts grant injunctions against a company found to be infringing another's patent.

The popularity of artery stents has some worrying that patients do not understand the procedure's risks.

HOLIDAY TRAVEL REPORT Despite record crowds and reduced capacity, airport security checkpoint systems performed well over the Thanksgiving holiday travel period, according to an annual survey by the online booking site Travelocity. As one example, Travelocity said, monitors at security checkpoints at the 25 busiest airports in the United States reported

Accounts.

By Reuters.

AFP - Japan's industrial output growth remained sluggish in October while the jobless rate saw the sharpest deterioration in more than a year, official figures show, suggesting the world's second-largest economy is recovering but at a slow pace.