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An annual industry report revealed that PepsiCo Inc.'s Pepsi-Cola has gone head of Coca-Cola Co.'s Diet Coke to become the No. 2 soda brand in the US in 2014.

The annual report shows that diet sodas continue to lose popularity. Overall soda use by American people decreased for the tenth straight year, but at a more modest speed than the preceding year. As per an annual report by the industry tracker Beverage Digest, full-calorie Coke of Coca-Cola remained the most popular soda across the country in 2014.

Overall soda use in the United States decreased 0.9% last year and it marked the tenth straight year of decline. In the US, health-conscious consumers are moving away from carbonated drinks to energy drinks and other alternatives.

On Thursday, the US Fish and Wildlife Service announced that it would allow a Texas man to import the trophy of an endangered black rhinoceros that he had won as part of a conservation fundraiser.

According to the agency, under the Endangered Species Act, the import of the carcass from Namibia would meet the criteria of benefiting conservation.

Last year, Corey Knowlton bid $350,000 during an auction at the Dallas Safari Club. It was billed as a part of the fundraising effort to save the black rhino.

In a December letter, the club's executive director said that the money raised from such actions is important to support the Namibian government in their efforts to stem the tide of commercial killing of these animals.

An investigation has found that a radiation leak at an underground nuclear waste dump in New Mexico happened because of the wrong kind of cat litter.

On Thursday, the government scientists concluded that the major accident that took place at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad last year was caused by 'chemically incompatible' contents, including the wrong kind of kitty litter, used to absorb liquids.

They said that the 'chemically incompatible' contents took part in a reaction inside a barrel of waste causing it to burst open and spew radioactive materials.

According to a US Energy Department Report, the drum of waste, containing radioisotopes like plutonium, was not packaged properly at the Los Alamos National Laboratory near Santa Fe before disposal.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has decided to take a major step for safety of customers looking for payday loans to bridge the gap between their expenses and earnings. The agency is proposing regulations in order to cut short-term payday loans, usually having interest rates of 400% or more. The agency was created on suggestions of President Barack Obama after the financial crisis.

These rules would be applicable on a large section of the $46 billion payday loan market, which helps many working poor, having no savings and limited access to traditional bank loans. There would be no ban on short-term, high-interest loans that are frequently used in basic expenses. But lenders would have to ensure that borrowers have the resources to pay them back.

The New York Federal Reserve officials who have been tasked to determine the interest rates have been meeting with bankers and traders to plan their next course of action.

Officials are facing troubles due to uncertainty over how much control interest rate will actually have over short-term lending markets.

Simon Potter and his team of market experts have been assigned with a tough task to assign higher rates using some new and lightly tested tools. They will be operated under the intense market scrutiny that is centered on the prospects of the world's biggest economy. Testing new methods means sweeping up several trillions of dollars of reserves from financial markets, said experts.

Search and technology major Google informed that its new chief financial officer, Ruth Porat will receive over $70 million in the next two years through a combination of restricted stock units and a biennial grant.

Porat was hired by the company earlier this week. According to Google, compensation package of Porat involves a grant of $25 million through restricted stock units, a special one-time $5 million sign-on bonus and a $40 million biennial grant in 2016.

Porat will become part of Google's finance division on May 26 and she will receive an annual base salary of $650,000. Porat is an American financial executive and has been Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President of Morgan Stanley since January 2010.