(Reuters) - China may be willing to soften the impact of its cuts in exports of rare earth elements on firms around the world that depend on them to make high-tech and defense products, EU-based diplomats said on Thursday. China controls more than 95 percent of global rare earth supplies, giving it a stranglehold over a scarce resource used in a range of products from mobile phones to hybrid batteries.

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(Reuters) - Del Monte Foods Co (DLM.N) is to be bought for about $19 a share, or more than $5 billion including debt, by a group led by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR.N), a source familiar with the situation said. An announcement is expected later on Thursday, said the source, who declined to be identified by name because the talks were not public. A deal to acquire Del Monte, maker of Meow Mix cat food, Milk-Bone dog biscuits and canned vegetables, would be the latest in a flurry of private equity activity.

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(Reuters) - Financial markets regained some composure on Thursday after roller-coaster sessions prompted by the euro zone's debt problems and jitters over tensions on the Korean peninsula. Risk appetite improved slightly on the back of solid overnight gains on Wall Street, but there would be no follow though from that quarter as U.S. markets were closed for the Thanksgiving holiday.

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(Reuters) - Senior euro zone officials dismissed any risk of the single currency area breaking up after financial markets, alarmed by Ireland's debt crisis, forced the borrowing costs of Portugal and Spain to record highs. "There is zero danger," Klaus Regling, chief of the euro's financial safety net, European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), told German daily Bild in an interview published on Thursday when asked if the euro zone could break apart.

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(Reuters) - Private equity firm Apax Partners LLP is near to buying Advantage Sales & Marketing Inc from buyout firm J.W. Childs Associates LP and Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) for $1.8 billion, Bloomberg news reported, citing to a person familiar with the deal. The transaction could be announced on Thursday and close by December 31, according to the person cited by Bloomberg. This person also said that Advantage Sales generated earnings before tax, interest and amortization of $180 million this year.

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(Reuters) - Britain and France flagged on Thursday a looming crackdown on ultra-fast share trading that featured in May's brief "flash crash" freefall on Wall Street, alarming regulators and investors globally. French Economy Minister Christine Lagarde said a form of computerized trading known as high-frequency trading (HFT) may need banning in some cases.

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(Reuters) - The head of Qatar Airways criticized Boeing (BA.N) and Canada's Bombardier (BBDb.TO) over problems with plane developments on Thursday and threatened to shift extra business to European group Airbus (EAD.PA). Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker said Boeing had "failed" in development of its 787 Dreamliner, which is seen likely to suffer a further delay following a fire on a test flight, and Bombardier was suffering problems with its C-Series jetliner.

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(Reuters) - Sony Corp (6758.T) plans to look for a new president who could eventually succeed Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Howard Stringer, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Stringer, the first foreigner to run the Japanese consumer electronics company and who took on the role of president in 2009 from Ryoji Chubachi, would retain the Chairman and CEO posts he has held since 2005, Bloomberg said.

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(Reuters) - Britain's top banks are still talking to the government about pay packages, a banking lobby group said on Thursday, as pressure mounts to curb excessive bonus payouts at the end of 2010. "We have said repeatedly that the banks understand the public mood with respect to remuneration and the banks also understand their societal responsibilities," British Bankers Association Chief Executive Angela Knight said in a statement.

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(Reuters) - Boeing Co (BA.N) said on Wednesday foreign debris likely caused the fire on a 787 Dreamliner that brought test flights to a standstill, but has not yet determined how long finding and fixing the problem will add to the plane's testing and manufacturing schedule. Experts throughout the aviation industry have been predicting a delay since the November 9 electrical fire that led to an emergency landing in Laredo, Texas and a stop to 787 test flights. Time-frame estimates for a new delay range from a month to a few years.

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