BC-Business News Digest

Business News at 1:30 p.m.

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All times EDT.

Eds: U.S. financial markets are closed Monday for Labor Day.

TOP STORIES:

EUROPE-ENDANGERED RECOVERY

FRANKFURT, Germany — Europe's recovery is in danger. Governments are under pressure to save it, but struggling with political obstacles and disagreement among themselves over what to do. So the region is pinning its hopes — once again — on the European Central Bank, which is expected to launch new stimulus measures if the economy gets any worse. Europe's lack of growth is looming larger and larger, however, and the ECB says it can't save the economy alone. By David McHugh and Lori Hinnant, AP photos. SENT: 1,450 words, photos.

WEALTH GAP-DIET, HFR

CHICAGO — Americans' eating habits have improved — except among the poor, evidence of a widening wealth gap when it comes to diet. Yet even among wealthier adults, food choices remain far from ideal, a 12-year study found. By Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner. UPCOMING: 620 words, photo. For release at 4 p.m.

REVEL CLOSING

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — As the most spectacular and costly failure in Atlantic City's 36-year history of casino gambling begins to play out Monday when the $2.4 billion Revel Casino Hotel empties its hotel at the start of a two-day closure. Revel will be the second of three Atlantic City casinos to close in a two-week span. By Wayne Parry. SENT: 650 words, timeline, photos.

JAPAN-SONY

TOKYO — Sony is trying to woo Japanese game fans to the PlayStation 4 home console that went on sale in November in the U.S. and Europe, but didn't arrive at stores here until February. Atsushi Morita, appointed head of Sony Computer Entertainment's Japan operations effective Monday, acknowledged the momentum for the PlayStation 4 in Japan wasn't catching up with the West, although its cumulative global sales reached 10 million recently, the fastest pace for any game console. By Yuri Kageyama. SENT: 450 words, photos.

MARKETS AND ECONOMY:

FINANCIAL MARKETS

NEW YORK — Ahead of a raft of economic developments this week, global financial markets start the week on a lackluster note as Wall Street is closed for the Labor Day holiday. SENT: 520 words, photo.

— OBAMA — Boosted by recent economic gains, President Barack Obama is sounding more bullish about the nation's recovery from the Great Recession and the White House is encouraging Democrats to show similar optimism as they head into the November mid-term elections. SENT: 790 words, photo.

INDUSTRY:

VINTAGE BASEBALL CARDS

BIDDEFORD, Maine — A baseball fan took up smoking a century ago and with it acquired another habit: holding onto little cards that bore the faces of baseball's earliest greats. Now, the trove of more than 1,400 tobacco cards featuring a slew of Hall of Famers like Cy Young and Ty Cobb — the legacy of a teenage smoker whose family hung onto a collection that dates to 1909 — is going up for auction. By David Sharp. SENT: 550 words, photos.

— NETHERLANDS-HEINEKEN-CROWN — Dutch brewer Heineken NV says it has sold its packaging business in Mexico to Crown Holdings Inc. of the U.S. for $1.23 billion (940 million euros) to reduce debt. SENT: 130 words.

— NORWAY-STATOIL-ALGERIA — Norwegian oil company Statoil says it will resume operations at a gas field in Algeria, 19 months after five Norwegian workers were killed in a terrorist attack there. SENT: 130 words.

TECHNOLOGY AND MEDIA:

ALIBABA-IPO

BEIJING — Foreigners who want to buy Alibaba Group shares in the Chinese e-commerce giant's U.S. public offering will need to get comfortable with an unusual business structure. Alibaba's online and mobile commerce businesses will be controlled by a "variable interest entity," an arrangement meant to allow investors to buy into Internet and other businesses in which Beijing bans or limits foreign ownership. SENT: 720 words, photos.

— IRAN-INTERNET — Iran's president urged the country's clerics Monday to be more tolerant of the Internet and new technologies, which are often the target of criticism by influential hard-liners in the Islamic Republic. SENT: 210 words.

INTERNATIONAL:

JAPAN-INDIA

TOKYO — Japan and India agree to step up their economic and security cooperation as visiting Prime Minister Narendra Modi wins pledges of support for his effort to revitalize the lagging Indian economy. Modi, who brought a delegation of more than a dozen Indian tycoons to Japan, says he hopes to elevate still relatively low-key business ties with Japan to a "new level." By Elaine Kurtenbach. SENT: 700 words, photos.

JAPAN-DISASTER-TOILET PAPER

TOKYO — A message Japan began delivering Monday is a bit unusual, but true enough: Don't wait until it's too late to think about toilet paper. The government and paper companies kick off a "Let's stockpile toilet paper!" campaign to mark Disaster Prevention Day, warning of a possible crisis because nearly half of the supply comes from one of Japan's most earthquake-prone areas. By Mari Yamaguchi. SENT: 420 words, photo.

— CHINA-MANUFACUTURING — China's manufacturing growth decelerated in August due to weaker global demand and a slowdown in domestic investment, two surveys show. SENT: 220 words.

— GREECE-BAILOUT — Greece's government says it won't enact further austerity measures ahead of talks later this week with bailout creditors. SENT: 130 words.

— GERMANY-STATE ELECTION — The success of a new anti-euro party in a German state election intensifies a dilemma for Chancellor Angela Merkel: how to handle a rival whose rise could make it more difficult for her party to form coalition governments around the country. SENT: 460 words, photos.

— FINLAND-NUCLEAR DELAY — Finnish utility TVO says construction of the country's fifth nuclear reactor has been delayed again, with the plant not expected to go online until 2018 — nine years later than initially forecast. SENT: 130 words.

— EURO — The euro fell to a near one-year low against the dollar in the wake of soft European economic data and uncertainty over the crisis in Ukraine. SENT: 130 words.