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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Verizon Wireless plans to make its data-hungry customers pay a lot more, either in service fees or smartphone prices, as it tries to cut costs and boost revenue from data services. The No. 1 U.S. mobile provider said it will eliminate unlimited data plans for all customers who upgrade their cellphone at a discounted rate, potentially driving more business to its smaller rival Sprint Nextel . Only customers who pay full price for their cellphones will be able to keep unlimited data service plans for a flat monthly fee of $30 a month. ...

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EDITOR'S NOTE — Facebook begins selling stock to the public Friday in the most talked-about market debut in years. Two Associated Press business writers are debating whether the stock is a smart buy.

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U.S. stock futures rebounded Friday as leaders of eight of the world's biggest economies began to gather outside of Washington to determine how best to limit damage from the debt crises rattling Europe.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pilots' union leaders at United Continental Holdings , parent of the world's biggest carrier United Airlines, called on Thursday for its members to hold a strike vote after failing to agree on a contract after two years of talks with management. The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), which represents pilots who flew for what were United and Continental Airlines before the two merged in 2010, did not set a date for a vote. ...

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Even the hottest initial public stock offerings can lose steam after their first day of trading.

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It's Facebook's big day.

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TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's government took a brighter view of the economy in a report on Friday, thanks to improvements in private consumption and exports, but it warned that Europe's debt crisis and financial market swings could worsen the outlook. The upgrade, the first since August last year, comes one day after data showed Japan's economy grew faster than the United States, Germany and Britain in the first quarter as subsidies boosted sales of energy-efficient cars. ...

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BOSTON (Reuters) - Osiris Therapeutics Inc said on Thursday that Canadian health regulators have approved its treatment for acute graft-versus host disease in children, making it the first stem cell drug to be approved for a systemic disease anywhere in the world. Osiris shares rose 14 percent to $6.00 in extended trading after the news was announced. Graft versus host disease (GvHD) is a potentially deadly complication from a bone marrow transplant, when newly implanted cells attack the patient's body. ...

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Concerns that Europe's debt crisis could drag down parts of the continent's banking system rattled most global markets Friday, though social network Facebook's imminent IPO buoyed sentiment on Wall Street.

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HSBC may decide to sell its U.K. retail banking operations, depending on the impact of yet to be announced new banking regulations, published reports say.

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