PLANET business

In exchange for pictures of hers and Brad Pitt’s new twins, the actress Angelina Jolie got the magazine People to agree to offer positive coverage of her and her family.

The greatest banking turmoil is setting in around Citigroup, which has lost half its value in just four days, sending shock waves through the financial world.

The sell-off in the stock market has been stunning, and quick government action is needed to restore confidence.

Hard times are back on the American farmstead, as the price paid for crops is dropping much faster than the cost of growing them.

For the first time in memory, a single bank, JPMorgan, is poised to nab a triple play at the top of the M.& A., debt and equities rankings.

The worsening economy is squeezing Europe’s flag carriers, with dwindling sales of premium-class tickets starting to take their toll.

In an unusual step, the Treasury Department said it was prepared to buy assets from a troubled money market mutual fund that has been frozen for more than two months.

Gap, the apparel chain, said Thursday that its third-quarter profit rose 3.4 percent as cost-cutting efforts offset a sales slump.

The Education Department announced that it would buy up to $6.5 billion of federally guaranteed student loans made in the 2007-8 academic year as part of its effort to make sure loans are available.

European Union governments agreed Thursday to overhaul the way the trade bloc distributes tens of billions of euros in subsidies to farmers.

The federal appeals court’s decision came after finding that the Interior Department had failed to conduct an environmental study before issuing the company’s drilling permit.

The News Corporation announced Thursday that Roger Ailes, the chairman and chief executive of Fox News, had signed a new five-year contract with the company.

The network’s effort to sell off part of its prime-time schedule appeared to fall apart in the wake of low ratings for the Sunday schedule put together by an independent production company.

Representatives for the country’s largest actors’ union and an alliance of Hollywood studios met for the first time in four months on Thursday.

Vowing to protect French industry from foreign predators and a worsening economic slump, President Nicolas Sarkozy introduced an investment fund of 20 billion euros ($25 billion) on Thursday.

Total DVD sales are down by about 4 percent for the year, contributing to a creeping dread in the movie capital that buyer interest is plummeting as the global economic crisis worsens.

There are numerous tactics for generating leads these days — everything from the traditional email or phone call to the explosively popular social media craze. However, the real challenge is not necessarily in generating leads, but more in truly connecting with them. It doesn’t matter how many leads you generate if they aren’t willing to listen to what you have to say next.

You need to develop and then engage in memorable and relevant conversations with prospects. You need to position your company as a thought leader and solution provider that understands your prospect’s needs. You need that “human touch.”

On Tuesday, December 9, I will be conducting a free Webinar, “Putting the Human Touch into Lead Generation.” During this one-hour, live webinar you will learn how to: