Procter & Gamble Co., the world's largest consumer products maker, said Thursday it is teaming up with the world's largest generic drug maker to expand the global reach of over-the-counter brands such as Vicks and Pepto-Bismol.

Cincinnati-based P&G and Jerusalem-based Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. said they plan to combine their over-the-counter drug businesses outside of North America, building leadership in key markets such as Germany, Russia and Brazil while positioning them for faster growth in emerging markets and with more offerings to aging populations in developed markets.

The deal could also eventually help consumers choose from more medicines without a prescription and at lower prices.

P&G's products include Vicks cold medicines, Pepto-Bismol stomach relief, Metamucil fiber supplement and Prilosec OTC heartburn medicine.

The deal will expand the companies' reach geographically and in retail outlets including drugstores and groceries, said Shlomo Yanai, Teva's CEO and president, in a conference call. It also combines Teva's drug research and development experience and global manufacturing with P&G brand-building, marketing and consumer knowledge.

P&G CEO Bob McDonald said on a call that the deal is about building "global scale and sales-leading position."

The joint venture's combined sales are worth about $1 billion a year. The companies estimate that will reach $4 billion within years.

The Michigan Supreme Court says it will decide if judges can order a sewer system when septic tanks fail and spoil a lake.

The court says Thursday it will take an appeal in a case involving Worth Township along Lake Huron in Michigan's Thumb region. State regulators want the township to install a sewer system, but an appeals court said local government isn't responsible for the problems of private property owners.

Some septic systems are failing on a five-mile stretch between M-25 and Lake Huron in Sanilac County. Waste is being discharged into Lake Huron and its tributaries.

Worth Township says it can't build a sewer system without financial help from the state.

A Bronxville, N.Y.-based broadcasting company is buying a struggling affiliate of the ABC broadcast network in Rhode Island for $4 million.

A Superior Court judge in Providence approved the bid by Citadel Communications LLC to buy WLNE-TV on Tuesday because it was the only bidder that had struck an affiliation agreement with ABC. The station's expired affiliate agreement had been extended to April 1.

Court-appointed receiver Matthew McGowan says the deal with ABC was decisive because ABC could yank its signal. Three bidders who had not reached a deal with ABC were required to put the money upfront and competitively bid for the station, but they declined to do so.

Global paid $14 million for WLNE-TV in 2007. The firm went into receivership in 2010. Owner Kevin O'Brien did not respond to a call for comment.

Credit Suisse has agreed to pay $70 million to settle a class-action suit by investors claiming it misstated its subprime asset losses.
In an agreement filed in Manhattan, the Swiss bank said it would settle with investors who purchased United States depositary shares of the company’s stock on the New York Exchange between February 15, 2007 and April 14, 2008.

US residents who purchased Credit Suisse stock on the Swiss stock exchange during the period are also included. The settlement must be approved by the court.

Defendants had alleged that during the period in question, Credit Suisse and some of its executives, including chief executive Brady Dougan, issued “materially false and misleading statements regarding the company's business and financial results”.

Specifically, they alleged that Credit Suisse “concealed the company’s failure to write down impaired securities containing mortgage-related debt”.

In the settlement, Credit Suisse said it continued to “deny all charges of wrongdoing or liability”. However, the bank said it concluded that “further continuation of the action would be protracted and expensive”.

A lawsuit seeking class-action status accuses Harrah's New Orleans Casino of failing to protect its employees from dangerous levels of secondhand smoke.

The mother of a former Harrah's dealer who died of cancer last year filed the federal suit Wednesday against the casino's owner, Nevada-based Caesars Entertainment Corp. The suit claims Maceo Bevrotte Jr.'s cancer was "directly linked" to his prolonged exposure to secondhand smoke at the casino. The suit says Bevrotte worked at Harrah's for about 15 years.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and asks a judge to certify the case as a class action for at least 1,000 current, former or future nonsmoking casino employees.

Caesar's spokesman Gary Thompson said the company doesn't comment on pending litigation.