News Corp. came under renewed pressure for decisions taken at some of its subsidiaries. A parliamentary committee recalled James Murdoch, who is in charge of News Corp.'s British newspaper business, to question him about the veracity of testimony he gave in July relating to a phone-hacking scandal. And a group of American investors broadened the scope of a lawsuit against another subsidiary, in which it accuses News Corp.'s board of ignoring "improper practices."

As expected, the European Union extended the copyright on musical recordings from 50 to 70 years. Many of the earlier songs recorded by bands such as the Rolling Stones and the Beatles were due to go out of copyright over the next few years, which some said was unfair since performers should have their rights preserved for life. Musical artists are protected for 95 years in America.

Bank of America continued its restructuring effort and is to shed almost 10 percent of the workforce in its consumer banking business, or 30,000 jobs, to save $5 billion from the $83 billion it spends each year.

McGraw-Hill became the latest big company to announce that it is splitting in two, separating its markets business, which includes the Standard & Poor's credit ratings agency, from its education-services division to trade as two independent companies. The move was not entirely unexpected, given the pressure McGraw-Hill has come under from activist investors.

UBS said it had uncovered unauthorized dealings by a rogue trader in its investment banking division that could cost the Swiss bank $2 billion and may cause it to post a loss for the quarter.

Warren Buffett recruited a second hedge-fund manager to help run Berkshire Hathaway's investment portfolio as he prepares a new generation of leaders to take the reins. Ted Weschler manages a hedge fund based in Virginia; he joins Berkshire's senior ranks alongside Todd Combs, whom Buffett appointed last year. Buffett is 81.

Political economyGermany nominated Jörg Asmussen, the deputy finance minister, to be its highest-ranking official at the European Central Bank, after the sudden resignation of Juergen Stark as the ECB's chief economist. Stark stepped down in apparent protest at the central bank's increasingly interventionist role in shoring up weaker countries in the eurozone.

Amid scuffles between police and protesters, Italy's parliament passed a much-amended austerity budget worth $74 billion. It earlier emerged that Silvio Berlusconi's government is peddling its debt to Chinese sovereign wealth funds. Italy's huge pile of debt is a cause of grave concern, adding to the eurozone crisis.

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan got a hero's welcome on a visit to Cairo. He told Arab foreign ministers that recognition of Palestinian independence is an "obligation." His speech followed a deterioration in Turkey's relationship with Israel.

To fend off calls for more freedom, Algeria's president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, announced plans to allow independent radio and television stations for the first time since independence in 1962.

A U.N. panel warned that Yemen was close to civil war. Its president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, still recuperating in Saudi Arabia after being injured in an attack on his presidential palace three months ago, told his vice president to arrange for power to be handed over to a new government.

Hundreds of people have been killed and 300,000 left homeless by flooding in Pakistan, which reached Karachi, the commercial capital and Pakistan's largest city. More rains are expected as the monsoon season enters its final weeks.

Yoshihiko Noda, Japan's new prime minister, promised to restart the country's nuclear plants, after they have passed safety checks. Before the tsunami in March, nuclear reactors provided 30 percent of Japan's power. Two-thirds are now idle. But Noda said Japan should cut its reliance on nuclear energy over the long run. Noda's new government got off to an unfortunate start when the industry minister resigned after making a joke about radiation.

In China, 32 people were arrested for selling cooking oil that had been processed from sewage and restaurant refuse. More than 3 million tons of illegal cooking oil is consumed in China each year.