Actavis, the generic drug maker, has been talked about over speculation of being taken over, is planning to buy Ireland’s Warner Chilcott the specialty pharmaceutical firm for a price of $5 billion. Both companies announced the deal would be all in stock and has a value including all debt of more than $8.5 billion. This move comes at a time when Actavis spurned the approaches of Valeant Pharmaceutical International a pharmaceutical company based in Canada, as well as from Mylan, Inc. Pharmaceutical... 

Professional soccer player David Beckham started his last match at home for Paris-Saint Germain on Saturday. His manager Carlo Ancelotti replaced Beckham in the 81st minute of the match. When the Englishmen came off the field, the crowd showered him with applause and cheers. His teammates hugged him, his opponents hugged him and the biggest hug came from Ancelotti. When the match ended his teammates tossed him numerous times in the air, fireworks blasted off and the crowd became as loud as ever yelling... 

For four straight weeks, the major stock indexes in the U.S. have increased reaching new highs. This week was the same as new data released has indicated the confidence amongst small business and consumers has improved, which helped to fuel new optimism in the world’s largest economy. The Standard & Poor 500 saw all 10 groups in its index advance this past week, with financial, industrial and technology stocks leading the way. Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase each increased during the week by more... 

In the first quarter, I.B.M. saw a decrease in its hardware business that affected both profits and revenue. Revenue was down 5 percent, to $23.4 billion compared with the same quarter a year ago, falling below analysts’ forecast of $24.7 billion. Net income decreased 1 percent, to $3 billion. This is the first time that I.B.M.’s earnings results have fallen short of analysts’ estimates since 2005. The company’s revenue growth has been modest, but the first quarter decrease exceeded any falloff... 

General Electric reported solid first-quarter earnings despite the economic downturn that has been plaguing many businesses this year. G.E.’s results were helped by higher profits in its aviation and transportation units and by G.E.’s finance division, GE Capital. The company reported net income of $3.53 billion, or 34 cents a share.  This was up 16 percent from $3.03 billion, or 29 cents a share, reported in the quarter a year earlier. Revenue in the first quarter was flat compared with figures... 

A member of a watchdog group in Iran said that women could not run as a presidential candidate, which effectively killed the bids of close to 30 women who were seeking to be on the ballot for the election on June 14. The bids by the women were largely symbolic, but the decision by officials was disheartening nonetheless. The new agency Mehr, which is semiofficial, announced that the Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi said Thursday that the laws do not approve of females in the presidency and therefore no woman... 

A senior official from Israel said on Wednesday that Israel was currently considering  further air strikes in Syria to make sure the transfer of weapons to dangerous Islamic militants is prevented. At the same time, Israel warned the president of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, that his country would experience crippling consequences if it were to retaliate against Israel. The official from Israel said that his country was determined to prevent the shipment of any advanced weapons to leaders of the Hezbollah.... 

Babies that have an early loss of weight might benefit from being given a limited amount of formula in addition to their mother’s breast milk, suggested a new study published in Pediatrics on Monday. In fact, the trial, which was randomized, suggests that the early feedings of formula might help babies transition later to only breast milk. Thirty-eight newborns were studied by researchers. The babies had lost a minimum of 5% of their body weight in the first 24 to 48 hours after being born. Nineteen... 

Tesla the electric carmaker saw its share prices jump by 2.5% on Tuesday to $90 after it had jumped by over 14% on Monday. The stock’s spike in price started during the first week of May when quarterly earnings showed the company had reached a profit for the first time during a quarter. On Monday, Tesla stock closed at $87.80 per share or up by 57% from its share prices last Thursday of $55.79, prior to it announcing its first-quarter earnings. Since the start of April, the stock price for Tesla... 

Tiger Woods had only won the Players Championship on one occasion prior to this past weekend. The world’s No. 1 golf professional won back in 2000 but has had his share of problems on the famous stadium course. However, Woods called upon all of his talent and hard work to win the event Sunday by 2 strokes over one of the most talented fields in any tournament this year. When Woods reached the 14th hole, he was in the lead by two strokes, but when he completed the hole, he had fallen back into a... 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a GlaxoSmithKline/Theravance Inc inhaler drug for treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD. The inhaler drug, Breo Ellipta, is to be taken just once per day. The FDA gave approval of Breo for those suffering from COPD or smoker’s cough. The disease currently ranks third in the U.S. for cause of death, according to data from the U.S. Center for Disease Control’s National Lung, Heart and Blood Institute. The recent report says close to... 

Steven Johnson’s lifeless body was found hanging from a cliff in the Santa Rita Mountains by police. The body of his lifeless dog was found on top of the ridge. Both Johnson and his dog were covered in bee stings. Authorities said Johnson, who was 55, was last seen hiking the mountains on Friday with his dog. Sheriff Deputies from the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Department found Johnson’s body hanging from Mount Hopkins with his climbing gear. Officials said Johnson’s cause of death had not... 

Search is estimated to be a $22 billion industry and is often considered the most lucrative and influential of online businesses. Now the industry is undergoing some changes. Instead of just pointing users in the right direction, the search industry is now trying to develop the knowledge and comprehension to answer specific queries. This has put the industry at its most significant crossroad since its invention and puts Google squarely in the crosshairs of its competitors. Consumers now want new... 

GlaxoSmithKline and Merck, two of the world’s largest drug makers, have slashed the price of vaccines for cervical cancer in the world’s poor countries. The price cut will deliver the shots to these countries at a cost of only $5 per dose. The new low price for the HPV – human papillomavirus vaccines should mean that protection against the disease would be available to millions of girls in these developing countries, said the Global Alliance for Vaccines on Thursday. In a prepared statement,... 

An era will end on May 18 in Manchester, England. Scotsman Sir Alex Ferguson announced on Wednesday that he would retire when the season ends on May 18, which will end his 27-year reign as manager of the Manchester Red Devils. During his tenure that started in 1986, his team has won over 30 trophies. This season the club won the English Premier League title with four games remaining on the schedule. The title was No. 20 for the club and No. 13 for Ferguson at United. Following Manchester’s last... 

American law enforcement officials seeking to address national security concerns are expected to enter into an agreement with Sprint Nextel and SoftBank, its Japanese suitor, to restrict the combined company’s ability to pick suppliers for its telecommunications equipment and systems. This type of agreement is common to most technology investments in the United States by foreign companies. Because negotiations are continuing, the government officials spoke about the possible agreement on the condition... 

Procter & Gamble Co said that profit would fall more than anticipated in the next quarter. P&G said profit should decrease to $0.69 to $0.77 per share for the current fourth quarter ending in June. Analysts expected the company to report earnings of $0.81 cents per share. In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012, P&G earned $0.82 per share. Chief Financial Officer Jon Moeller told analysts that the forecast is “realistic, not conservative.” Several factors were cited by the company as... 

More quarterly results were announced on Monday and one of those was for HSBC. The bank reported it had its best quarter result in many years, as Britain’s largest bank had profits increase to $8.4 billion, which was close to a 100% over its profits from the same quarter one year ago. Costs at the bank dropped to $9.3 billion, which represented a drop of nearly $1 billion, when compared to the same quarter in 2012. Revenue for the bank increased to $18.3 billion. The increase in the bank’s quarterly... 

Disney’s most recent sequel Iron Man 3 took home over $175.3 million for its debut weekend in North America that was spread across 4,352 cinemas. It was the second best debut weekend ever behind just the $207.4 million that The Avengers posted a year ago, on the same weekend. The film earned a healthy $41,218 per cinema and was helped immensely from the extra boost by the IMAX screens, which represented nearly $16.5 million of the movie’s opening weekend take. Nearly 45% of the tickets sold were... 

The Global Economic Conditions Survey gauges finance professionals views around the globe and has revealed that topping the list of business confidence worldwide during the first three months of 2013 was the Middle East. The survey is of 2,000 global finance professionals that work in businesses of all sizes. It shows that in the Middle East 34% said they had become more confident over the upcoming prospects of their company, which was over 4.5% higher than in the fourth quarter of last year. Reasons... 

If a man does not have any prostate risk factors he can go his entire life without needing to take the PSA test, said members of the American Urological Association. In an updated clinical guideline that was unveiled on Friday, urologists said that just men aged between 55 and 69, should consider getting a PSA test if they show symptoms or signs of prostate cancer. The guideline said men should be tested only after discussing the entire pros and cons regarding the test with their physician. If they... 

The U.S. jobs market rebounded sharply in April with 165,000 new jobs, while the unemployment rate fell to 7.5%, its lowest rate in over five years, said the Labor Department on Friday. The jobs figure for April exceeded expectations of analysts of 148,000 new jobs and helped lower concerns that following the disappointing March report for jobs that had indicated a slowing down for new hiring. The Labor Department also issued a big upward revision for February and March’s job creation. The figure... 

Merck, the giant pharmaceutical maker missed its earnings target during the first three months of 2013. At first glance, earnings jumped 85 cents a share, which exceeded estimates from Wall Street analysts by over 6 cents a share. However, that was due to a one-time tax benefit. Sales were a big disappointment as they came in 4% below estimates at $10.7 billion, which was over $500 million below expectations. Merck tried to lessen the blow from the earnings report by announcing a buyback on shares... 

Jason Collins, a player in the National Basketball Association, who at the end of the regular season became a free agent, has announced he is gay. Collins made the announcement on Monday and said he has received overwhelming support since “coming out” as the first openly gay player in any one of the four major professional sports leagues in the U.S. Collins, a center in the NBA revealed he was gay via a first-person article posted on the website of Sports Illustrated. In a television interview... 

The Ford Motor Company reported that its net income improved 15 percent in the first quarter, rising to $1.6 billion. Overall revenue increased by 10 percent in the quarter, reaching $35.8 billion. Alan R. Mulally, Ford’s chief executive, said, “Our strong first-quarter results provide further proof that our One Ford plan continues to deliver.” The company forecast that its full-year profit would match, or be better than, its performance in 2012. Strong sales in its core North American market...