US researchers have discovered two immune compounds known as antibodies that can attack and neutralize the AIDS virus. Since the AIDS pandemic started in the early 1980s, more than 25 million individuals have died from the virus, which does not have a definite cure. According to a study published in Science, two newly found antibodies known as PG9 and PG16 attack a certain part of the AIDS virus, used to infect cells. ...Scientists hope their findings will lead to the development of a vaccine that could protect individuals against the deadly virus. .."The findings themselves are an exciting advance toward the goal of an effective AIDS vaccine because now we've got a new, potentially better target on HIV to focus our efforts for vaccine design," said Wayne Koff of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative.

Despite the current clamor for loans, business owners would do well to remember that money is not the mother of invention. On the contrary, capital constraints often spur innovation. Historically, scarce capital has forced many businesses that were founded during downturns -- such as HP (HPQ, Fortune 500), which debuted in 1939 during the Great Depression, and FedEx (FDX, Fortune 500), launched in the oil crisis of 1973 -- to eschew debt and remain agile.....Small business owners should do as much as they can without relying on other people's money, recommends Jim Anderson, an Orange County, Calif. counselor for SCORE, a national nonprofit organization that teams successful small business owners with entrepreneurs who are seeking advice. "People who self-finance generally don't become sloppy," he says. "There is a tendency for people who have borrowed a big chunk of money to relax."....... Some entrepreneurs can take on loans without losing their innovative edge, particularly if they're armed with specific plans for spending the cash and generating enough revenue to pay it back. For everyone else, the era of lazy borrowing is over....In the end, a loan is a debt, not an excuse to let your hair down and party. Note to Wall Street: That advice isn't just for entrepreneurs.

Bank regulators have shut down five more banks in the United States, bringing the number of failed US banks to 89 since January. The closed banks include Vantus Bank in Iowa, InBank and Platinum Community Bank in Illinois, the First Bank of Kansas City in Missouri, and the First State Bank of Flagstaff in Arizona. Iowa's Vantus Bank was the largest of the five institutions to close with a total assets and deposits of about $826 million. It's been estimated that the failure of the five banks will cost the Federal Deposit Insurance Fund over $400 million. Despite talks of the recession 'bottoming out,' the rate of banks failures shows no sign of easing up. Last year, 25 US banks failed, compared with only 3 in 2007. Seattle-based Washington Mutual with about $307 billion in assets became the largest US bank to collapse in September last year. The FDIC offers depositors of failed banks insurance of up to $250,000 per account.

Deepening divisions have appeared among international finance ministers, meeting in London, about how to curb excessive bank bonuses....French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde has promised to launch an "onslaught" against large payouts. ...The UK has dismissed the idea, while other countries remain concerned about how best to recover from the recession....Mr Geithner wants banks to hold more capital to protect themselves against losses.....Holding a mini-summit away from the G20 meeting, ministers from emerging economies Brazil, Russia, India and China (Bric) called for caution, warning it was "too early" to talk of an end to the crisis. The huge cash injections pumped into businesses by governments around the world could not be withdrawn in a hurry without causing new problems, they said.

Despite the global financial crisis, assets held by the 100 largest Islamic banks in the world raised by 66 percent in 2008 compared with previous year. A study published by Asian Banker Research magazine says the assets of the Islamic banks increased to a total of $580 billion in 2008 -- up from $350 billion in 2007. This is while, the assets held by Asia's 300 largest banks lifted by just 13.4 percent, the report says. "Islamic finance has seen an incredible surge in popularity, based on stronger regulatory regimens and a better international understanding of its dynamics," said Emmanuel Daniel, the magazine's chief. Islamic banking refers to a system of banking that is consistent with the principles of Islamic law. Islamic law or Sharia prohibits the payment of fees for the renting of money (Riba) for specific terms, as well as investing in businesses that provide goods or services considered contrary to its principles (Haraam). Islamic banks are not authorized to invest in companies associated with tobacco, alcohol or gambling...The report said Saudi Arabian lenders were more profitable among other banks with Al-Rajhi Bank netting the highest earnings of $1.74 billion, according to the report, and Iranian banks were the biggest players in the global Islamic banking system. Iran holds seven out of the top 10 rankings and more than 40 percent of the total assets of the top 100 banks belong to Iranian banks, according to the report.

The founders of Skype last night were heading for a legal battle with the new owners of the internet telephony business over the technology that powers it. A court case between eBay, the owner, and Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom -- a fight that eBay admitted could shut down the service -- is to be heard next June...... Mr Friis and Mr Zennstrom, who fell out with eBay over its running of Skype and whose attempts to buy back the company this year were rebuffed, have said that they are determined to defend their rights. EBay paid $2.6 billion for Skype in 2005 but did not buy the core technology, licensing it instead from Joltid, Mr Friis and Mr Zennstrom's company. After the pair left Skype, they allege, eBay executives began to alter the code used in the technology in breach of the licence. In March this year, Skype sued in an attempt to settle the dispute and Joltid countersued. A person familiar with the case said: "This issue will continue whatever happens to Skype, as no one expects Joltid simply to sit back and allow its technology, rights and value to be damaged." Skype, which started in 2002, allows users to make calls from their computers to landlines, mobile phones and other computers. At its heart is the peer-to-peer technology created by its founders, who also devised Kazaa, the file-sharing software. The service has continued to grow rapidly. Skype's second-quarter revenue increased 25 per cent on the same period last year to $170 million. It added 37.3 million users, bringing the total to 480.5 million and making it the most widely used international calling system in the world.

A report reveals that Libya bought medical evidence that helped with the release of the Lockerbie bomber on compassionate grounds, amid mounting scandals over the move. Tripoli encouraged three doctors to say that terminally ill Abdelbaset Ali al Megrahi, the sole man convicted of the 1988 bombing atrocity aboard a Pan AM plane that killed 270 people, had only three months to live, the Sunday Telegraph reported. ....The main row, however, centers on the extent that the former and current governments in Britain have conceded to the country with the aim of pushing forward lucrative oil deals and bringing a hostile Libya out from the cold. ...... Lawmakers are also set to drag former premier Tony Blair into the scandal, demanding the minutes of an extraordinary secret summit in London between British, American and Libyan agents three days before Blair announced that Tripoli was surrendering its weapons of mass destruction program. It was also reported that Megrahi was moved out of an emergency care unit in Tripoli.

GORDON BROWN personally vetoed an attempt to force Colonel Muammar Gadaffi to compensate IRA bomb victims because it might have jeopardised British oil deals with Libya. Documents passed to The Sunday Times reveal how the prime minister took a close interest in a campaign to secure payouts for the 2,500 families of those blown up by the Libyan-supplied Semtex explosive used by republican bombers. However, Brown refused to help the victims because of government concerns that putting pressure on Gadaffi might lead to Libya withdrawing co-operation over trade and the war against Islamic terrorism. The documents will cause embarrassment for Brown as he faces new questions over the early release of the convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi. In a further damaging twist, Jack Straw, the justice secretary, was last night accused by the Tories of misleading the public over the prime minister's role in talks about the decision to free the terminally ill Libyan terrorist. The Sunday Times has established that Straw wrote to Brown warning the Libyans might block a multi-million-pound BP oil deal unless the bomber was released. The disclosure contradicts remarks Straw made in a newspaper interview published yesterday in which he insisted there had been "no paper trail" to No 10....Campaigners claim the official letters about IRA compensation highlight the government's preoccupation with trading relations with Libya at the expense of bomb victims.....The letters also reveal that Brown was personally involved in the decision not to push Gadaffi on IRA compensation....Families of US victims caught up in IRA bomb blasts in London during the 1980s and 1990s have agreed multi-million-dollar payouts with Libya after the intervention of the White House. Some are in line for payments of up to $10m each. By contrast, British victims have received only modest compensation from the UK government, with some seriously injured people getting payouts of less than £3,000.

Gordon Brown sought yesterday to limit the damage caused by the disclosure that he had told victims of the IRA that it was not "appropriate" for him to help them to seek compensation from Libya. The Prime Minister insisted that he cared "enormously" about victims and would provide government assistance in seeking direct talks with Colonel Gaddafi. His new position is in stark contrast to previous official attitudes faced by the victims of Semtex used by the IRA and supplied by Libya. Lawyers representing 138 British victims of IRA attacks in a claim against Libya had asked Mr Brown to open negotiations for compensation. Semtex supplied by Libya was used by the IRA in at least ten of its worst attacks, including the bombing of Harrods in 1983, and Warrington and the City of London in 1993. It was also used by the Real IRA at Omagh in 1998. Mr Brown said that it would not be "appropriate" for the British Government to negotiate with Libya. Bill Rammell, a Foreign Office minister, suggested in a letter to one victim that the Government's refusal to intervene was based at least partly on ensuring access to Libya's massive reserves of oil and gas.....After the correspondence was released, Mr Brown said that he would provide dedicated Foreign Office staff to assist the victims, and diplomats at the British Embassy in Tripoli would accompany and advise them when they travelled to Libya to seek direct talks within the next few weeks. Speaking in Berlin, where he was holding talks with the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, Mr Brown said: "I care enormously about the impact of IRA terror on victims and their families and on our communities."

A senior Iranian aviation official says Iran will add five new western planes to its airlines within the next 30 days. Iran plans to introduce 14 new passenger planes to its aviation fleet, acting Iranian Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) chief Mohammad Ali Ilkhani was quoted by Mehr News Agency as saying. "Five Boeing and Airbus planes will be entered into the fleet within the next month," he said. Iran has banned its airlines from leasing more Russian-made aircraft or buying such planes second-hand after two fatal accidents in July resulted in the deaths of 184 passengers with 30 more suffering injuries. US sanctions prevent Iran from updating its 30-year-old American aircraft and makes it difficult to get European spare parts or planes as well. After being prevented from buying the latest Boeing or Airbus aircraft due to US sanctions, Iran has started a fleet modernization program based on the latest Russian aircraft, with outstanding orders for 35 Tupolev Tu-204 medium-range airliners.