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It has been reported that the number of U. S. bank failures increased to 96 this year when federal regulators shut down six banks in Florida, Michigan and South Carolina.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday that the financial crisis that led to 140 bank failures last year has now begun to hurt smaller banks and regulators have been closing banks this year at nearly double the pace of 2009.

The six banks closed Friday will cost the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s deposit insurance fund about $334.8 million.

"Keep politics out of art and culture", says Pakistani pop singer Ali Zafar, who arrived in Mumbai this month. He would like nothing better than to move to Mumbai and become a singing actor like Kishore Kumar. But would the current milieu of hostility allow him to make that move?

Records have shown that U. S.-based American International Group Inc. has reached a $725 million settlement in a securities lawsuit alleging insurance bid-rigging.

The Wall Street Journal has reported that AIG must pay $175 million within 10 days of winning preliminary approval of a federal judge in New York and $550 million later.

The long-running civil lawsuit, filed by a group of Ohio pension funds, accused the insurer of trying to inflate its stock price and of accounting fraud that artificially boosted its insurance reserves.

According to the official reports, Dell Inc. has said that it has proposed a settlement with U. S. regulators over the computer maker's accounting for deals with chip giant Intel Corp.

Dell said in a release that staff at the Securities & Exchange Commission agreed to recommend the settlement to SEC commissioners. The settlement would require approval of the SEC and a district court.

While Vidya Balan who considers herself half Bengali had herself a ball in Kolkata last week shooting for Rajkumar Gupta's No One Killed Jessica. Rani Mukherjee who is a fully certified Bengali was not to be seen in her home-town.

Going by the way Vidya's shooting schedule went in Kolkata, it was all for the best if Rani stayed away.

Apparently, the 2-day schedule had to be shot with secret cameras in prominent public places where the security was most inadequate.

According to sources, American Airlines has joined Southwest and United in offering passengers willing to pay for it the privilege of boarding first.

The South Florida Sun Sentinel has reported on its Web site on Saturday that passengers pay from $9 to $19 for American's "boarding and flexibility package." The package includes allowing passengers to leave on an earlier flight at no charge if space is available and a $75 credit against fees if passengers have to change reservations.