With a new pipeline planned along the bed of the Baltic Sea, the Russian natural gas giant Gazprom is driving a wedge between Eastern and Western Europe.

  The deal is one of several announced during the visit of the Russian prime minister in China as the countries overcome their mistrust to push ahead on economic ties.

  On Oct. 15, people with money in overseas banks must confess to the Internal Revenue Service and pay penalties or hope they will not be caught.

  A proposal to extend anti-dumping duties on Chinese and Vietnamese shoe exports for a minimum of 15 months aims to satisfy both shoemakers and retailers in Europe.

  American International Group announced on Tuesday that it had agreed to sell its Taiwan life insurance unit to a Hong Kong investor group.

  Most Asian stock markets advanced Tuesday, with Japanese and Hong Kong benchmarks gaining one percent or more, amid signs of economic improvement.

  Bank of America’s board voted to reveal the legal counsel that it received about its merger with Merrill Lynch.

  Lenders are waiting to take losses in commercial real estate and credit cards before loosening up money.

  Just a year ago, many of the nation’s biggest banks were in such bad shape that their losses threatened to topple the financial system.

  Oliver E. Williamson shared the honor with Elinor Ostrom, the first woman to win the prize for economics.

  An American regulation requiring that food products be labeled by country of origin prompts a decrease in purchases of Canadian hogs.

  Prime Minister Gordon Brown proposed on Monday to sell a range of government-owned assets to raise £16 billion, or $25 billion, and help ease the country’s record deficit.

  The Walt Disney Company, with the help of Steve Jobs, intends to alter its approach to the shopping mall.

  Coal plants are moving to scrub pollutants from their smokestacks, but the contaminants are increasingly finding their way into water instead.