Britons have come to the realization that after 17 years of uninterrupted growth, the country’s economy is moving closer to recession, and may already be in one.

A study of civil lawsuits has found that most of the plaintiffs who decided to pass up a settlement offer and went to trial ended up getting less money than if they had taken that offer.

Tone Grant, former president of Refco, once the largest independent commodities broker, was sentenced for his role in a $2.4 billion fraud that involved hiding trading losses from clients.

The changes, announced a week after Delta made changes to its frequent-flier program, include new fees and higher mileage requirements for upgrades and free tickets.

The agency denied a request to cut the quota for the use of ethanol in cars, concluding that the goal of reducing the nation’s reliance on oil trumps any effect on food prices.

Andrea Pininfarina, chief executive of the design firm best known for styling classic Italian sports cars, died early Thursday morning.

The large drug wholesaler posted higher-than-expected quarterly profit and said it was weighing a spinoff of its clinical and medical products businesses.

The world’s fourth-largest PC maker said its quarterly profit rose as strong sales in China and emerging economies offset weakness in the United States.

Citigroup was nearing an agreement to buy back more than $7 billion of auction-rate securities from investors to settle claims that it misled clients about the dangers of the investments.

The outlook for the back-to-school shopping season seemed grim as retailers’ sales reports showed an increasing shift toward buying necessities at discount retailers and away from nonessentials.