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Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is seeking to expand his influence within OPEC at a time when analysts say his country's oil industry is struggling. He may have found an ally in Ecuador, which is reestablishing membership in the oil cartel.

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A jury in a lawsuit against American food giant Dole awarded $2.5 million in punitive damages to five workers who said they were made sterile by use of a pesticide used on Nicaraguan banana plantations in the 1970s.

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Payday lenders which offer quick cash advances, for a fee, to customers expected to repay them with their next paycheck have been criticized for locking customers into cycles of debt. Now an industry group has issued new disclosure policies.

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Gap Inc. is pulling 50 percent of its orders placed with an Indian vendor whose subcontracting led to children sewing some of the clothes in squalid conditions. The Gap also said it would make a $200,000 grant to improve working conditions.

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UAL Corp.'s United Airlines and Delta Air Lines Inc. have been discussing combining the nation's second-and third-largest carriers. Topics include the United name and headquarters and the Delta hub in Atlanta. Both airlines deny the merger talks.

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Billionaire Warren Buffett, one of the world's richest people, told the U.S. Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday that Congress should keep the federal estate tax rather than repeal it to help a few rich Americans like him.

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About 175,000 Curious George Plush Dolls were recalled, becoming the latest popular toy made in China found to be contaminated with dangerous levels of lead. Many parents are rethinking their holiday gift plans - making a list and checking it twice.

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China's government has suspended exports of toys covered with a toxic chemical that have been subject to recalls from Australia to the United States after sickening children, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.

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Merck & Co. will pay $4.85 billion to settle thousands of lawsuits in one of the largest civil cases ever, the company said today. Merck faced about 26,600 lawsuits by plaintiffs who claimed the drug Vioxx proved fatal or injured its users.

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At rail stations and shopping malls around the world, reports are popping up of adults and kids in soft-soled clogs, known by the name of the most popular brand, Crocs, getting their toes caught in escalators.

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