Chicago, May 15 : Four Indian Americans are among 89 people charged with healthcare fraud running into about $233 million in false billing after a nationwide strike in eight cities, according to federal authorities.

All the Indian Americans charged are from the Chicago area.

Ankur Roy, Akash Patel, and Dipen Desai, have been charged with six counts of health care fraud each in an indictment that was returned by a federal grand jury last Wednesday and unsealed Tuesday.

Chicago, May 8 : General Motors has been given green light by China to build a $1.3 billion factory in Shanghai, the automaker said.

The plant will be located in Shanghai's Jinqiao district, GM said in a statement Tuesday.

Construction is to begin in June, reported Xinhua citing the Chicago Tribune.

GM said the planned production capacity for the factory is 150,000 vehicles.

"We want to build where we sell. That is very important to us," said Alan Adler, a GM spokesman in Detroit.

Chicago, May 3 : General Motors said its profit fell 13.8 percent in the first quarter of 2013 from last year's $1 billion.

The largest US automaker reported net income of $865 million in the first quarter, or 58 cents a share, which beat analysts' expectations, reported Xinhua.

GM earned an adjusted $1.4 billion in North America before interest and taxes in the first quarter. Company officials attributed weaker profit in North America to GM's numerous new vehicle launches and a drop in wholesale deliveries as it changes over plants.

Chicago, April 19 : The proposed changes to the US immigration law submitted on Wednesday by the "gang of eight", the bi-partisan group in the US Senate, would increase the number of employment based green cards, directly benefitting applicants from India and China.

Chicago, April 1 : An ethnic Indian newspaper here says it stands by its report that organisers of the US delegation to India that met Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi had canvassed for participants in the trip at prices ranging from $3,000 to $16,000.

"Hi India published the article on the basis of factual information available to it from various sources," said Hemant Brahmbhatt, publisher of the Chicago based newspaper which published a report on the US Congressional delegation's visit to India, in a statement.

In a Monday statement, the union representing the technical workers of Chicago-based Boeing Co. - the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace - revealed that a new four-year labor agreement with the company has been overwhelmingly approved by the workers in a recent vote.

The four-year labor contract, which was earlier rejected by the Boeing technical workers in a February 19 vote, will replace pensions with a 401(k) retirement plan for new appointments at the company.

Chicago, Feb 15 : General Motors Co. earned $4.86 billion in 2012, down from a record $7.59 billion in 2011, Detroit News quoted GM as saying.

The Detroit automaker earned $2.92 per share for the year, down from $4.58 a share in 2011, reported Xinhua.

GM's revenue rose by $1.3 billion in the fourth quarter to $39.3 billion and increased one percent in 2012 to $152.3 billion.

Big losses in Europe and lower vehicle prices in North America market are major reasons behind the automaker's profit slip in 2012.

Chicago, Feb 6 : Boeing Co. has submitted an application with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for permission to conduct test flights of its 787 Dreamliner after recent incidents revealed safety issues of the new aircraft, a media report said.

In response, FAA said only that it is evaluating Boeing's request, reported Xinhua citing Chicago Tribune.

Boeing, headquartered in Chicago, said that it is making progress in finding a solution to the battery problems that grounded the 787 fleet in January.

Barcelona, Jan 25 - The first public glimpse of Colombian singer Shakira's new baby came in a Twitter post by his father, Spanish soccer standout Gerard Pique, who put up a photo of little Milan Pique Mebarak's feet.

Labeled "Milan's feet", the image shows the newborn shod in expensive sneakers with his name embroidered in the red and blue colours of Pique's club, FC Barcelona.

Chicago, Jan 9 : US authorities investigating the sudden death of an Indian immigrant businessman in Chicago who had won a $1 million lottery jackpot want to exhume his body to know if he was murdered.

Cook County Medical Examiner Stephen J. Cina has sent a sworn statement to prosecutors laying out why he wanted the body of Hyderabad-born Urooj Khan, 46, exhumed, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The state attorney's office is planning to file papers in civil court asking a judge to approve the exhumation of Khan's remains, the newspaper said citing spokesperson Sally Daly.

Chicago, July 26 - Ford Motor Company has reported the US automaker posted a profit of $1.04 billion in the second quarter of the year, or 26 cents per share, down by 57 percent from the same period last year.

Though Ford still managed to continue its 12-quarter streak of notching a pre-tax operating profit, the company's second quarter net income of the year was far below the $2.4 billion reported for same period a year ago, reported Xinhua.

Chicago, July 24 - McDonald's Corp. reported Monday a four-percent year-over-year profit decline for the 2012 second quarter as a higher US dollar and slowing global economy affected company performance.

According to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, McDonald's second-quarter net income totalled $1.347 billion, or $1.32 per share. That compared to the $1. 41-billion profit notched in the same period last year, or $1.35 per share, reported Xinhua.

Meanwhile, McDonald's reported quarterly sales gains in all its three international regions.

Chicago, March 2 - Chrysler Group LLC reported a 40 percent increase in February while Ford Motor Co.'s sales rose 14 percent and General Motors Co. added 1.1 percent beating analyst expectations, as US customers snapped up smaller cars to offset high gas prices, Detroit News reported Thursday.

Chrysler Group LLC reported its US auto sales jumped 40 percent last month as the company's car sales more than doubled. It was Chrysler's best February in four years and its 23rd consecutive month of sales growth.

Chrysler brand sales soared 114 percent, with both the Chrysler 300 and 200 sedans posting triple-digit sales gains.

A leading health expert has said that using less sterilisation agents and avoiding excessive antibiotic use could actually reduce the level of infection in hospitals as it would allow good bacteria to remain in the atmosphere.

Jack Gilbert of Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago and head of the Earth Microbiome Project, has recommended opening windows in hospitals to allow friendly bacteria found outdoors to enter wards and reduce the amount of infections.

Chicago, Feb 2 - US auto sales for the Big Three American automakers were mixed in January as General Motors (GM) sales dropped 6 percent since January last year while Chrysler posted a strong gain of 44 percent over the same period and Ford increased 7 percent.

Chrysler's year-over-year increase of 44 percent marked its best January in four years, and its eighth-consecutive month of sales gains of at least 20 percent, reported Xinhua.

Chicago, Sept 7: The United States should "tilt toward India" to take over the US' leadership role in rebuilding Afghanistan following American troops withdrawal, US Senator Mark Kirk has said.

Kirk would India to take over the US' leadership role in rebuilding Afghanistan after the United States begins pulling out this year, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

Authorities have revealed that firefighters wearing hazardous-materials suits rescued a reclusive senior couple in Chicago trapped under a mound of trash and hoarded junk.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported on Friday that retired teacher Thelma Gaston, 79, and her former zoologist husband, Jesse Gaston, 76, may have been trapped for as long as two weeks amid trash, moldy food and garbage so fetid the smell kept neighbors at a distance until one finally called authorities.

According to the reports, a stronger dollar, lower oil prices and favorable weather ganged up on grain futures on the Chicago Board of Trade Tuesday.

Corn was up off 5 1/2 to off 6 3/4, soybeans were off 10 to up 14, wheat was off 7 to off 8 1/4 and oats were off 6 1/4 to off 7 1/2.

Setting a negative trend early in the day, Corn prices fell as oil prices tumbled overnight.

The report also noted that wheat futures fell with the winter wheat harvest under way in southern Plains states.

Officials have said that an elderly Chicago couple found alive under piles of garbage in their two-room apartment may have been trapped there for as long as three weeks.

The Chicago Tribune has reported that the 75-year-old woman and her 76-year-old husband, who police described as hoarders, were discovered Monday during a forced-entry well-being check requested by a neighbor.

Police Lt. Dale Kingsley said that the residence "was packed from floor to ceiling."

According to the media reports, a Chicago-area man has sued a county sheriff, saying he was held overnight as a suspected illegal alien even though he showed proof he is a U. S. citizen.

The Arlington Heights Herald has reported that Edward Bustos, 32, of Harvard in McHenry County, in court papers, said that he was originally arrested for driving with a revoked license in 2008. When he told a corrections officer at the county jail he was born in Mexico, an immigration detainer was placed on him.