Democrats sought to limit increases in the cost of insurance sold under a sweeping health care bill Friday as they labored to…

House Democrats are taking steps to limit annual price increases for insurance policies sold under a sweeping bill to extend health care to nearly all the 50 million uninsured Americans, officials told The Associated Press on Friday.

The phrase “health insurance reform” is indeed an effort to tailor his message to the concerns of people who have coverage — who are, after all, the vast majority in this country.

Ireland’s government published its plan Thursday for establishing a “bad bank” that would buy, at a discount, euro90 billion ($135 billion) in dud loans to property developers.

July 30 (Bloomberg) — Petroleo Brasileiro SA ’s loans from the U.S. Export-Import Bank may more than double after the Brazilian oil producer secured $10 billion in financing from China.

Many mortgage companies are reluctant to give strapped homeowners a break because the companies collect lucrative fees on delinquent loans.

July 30 (Bloomberg) — China’s banking regulator plans to tighten rules on working capital loans, seeking to prevent misuse of funds after record credit growth helped spur an 82 percent rally in the benchmark stock index this year.

The black hole in BT pensions has grown by £3bn as profits plunged by 45%.

UK phone company BT’s revelation today that its pension scheme deficit has increased by £3bn (€3.5bn) - almost a third of BT’s market capitalisation - underlines a call this week for a return to the old methods of accounting for pensions. Accountants should resist this call and stick to their new methods.

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Quarterly profits fell to £272m with business hit by fewer people making calls in the recession.