BUSINESS

The release date for Apple’s iPhone 5 may be drawing near, as rumors and speculations about the smartphone have been at an all-time high in the past couple of weeks. Yet another bit of evidence has surfaced, which indicates that Apple may be testing its next-generation smartphone, the iPhone 5.

The top after-market Nasdaq gainers Friday were Homeowners Choice Inc, Mercury Computer Systems, Career Education Corporation and Atmel Corporation.The top after-market Nasdaq losers were Approach Resources Inc, Rovi Corporation, FEI Company and comScore Inc.

With China’s economy continuing to slowdown in 2012 market participants feel it is imperative that stimulus measures be implemented to regain the growth momentum.

Most of the Asian markets advanced but pared the weekly gains as the U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank did not announce any stimulus measures to revive the weakening economic growth.

The top after-market NYSE gainers Friday were MaxLinear, United States Cellular Corp, AllianceBernstein Holding, First Majestic Silver and Enbridge Energy. The top after-market NYSE losers were Air Lease Corp, Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Royal Caribbean Cruises, American Water Works Co and Beazer Homes USA.

The Ethiopian needed a late surge to win the 10,000-meter race.

The number of fresh arbitration cases filed with the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes last year reached its highest level in four decades, the ICSID said in a report last week.

The pressures on the Washington Post Co., the sixth-largest U.S. newspaper group by circulation, are twofold: the erosion in advertising and circulation revenue of its print properties, and the plunging profit of Kaplan, its for-profit education division, as the federal government enacts more regulations.

The French swimmer surprised many with his gold-medal finish.

The U.S. edges China in the medal count as the Americans continue to dominate swimming.

There's one developing storyline in the saga of Knight Capital Group Inc., the Wall Street market maker that lost more than $440 million Wednesday when an automated trading program it had just installed went berserk, that's not being talked about: It is being propped up by the very people it tried to screw over.

Each week, we pick the biggest, most dramatic, or most captivating winners and losers in the world of money and business. Here are the winners and losers for July 29-Aug. 4.

Google's new Nexus 7 tablet may be garnering attention in the tablet industry, but there may be an unlikely competitor. An Indian company will be offering a tablet running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean that will only cost $125, PCWorld reported.

The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday said it plans to sell $4.5 billion in American International Group Inc. (NYSE: AIG) shares, further cutting its ownership stake in the bailed-out insurer.

The French government has seized the mansion and several other assets belonging to the son of Equatorial Guinea's ruler on charges of money laundering.

The Fed will drop its wavering plans for a fresh spate of monetary stimulus measures, according to Bernard Baumohl, chief global economist at the Economic Outlook Group.

Next week will be a reasonably quiet one for both the U.S. and the euro zone, but China will be dumping a whole bunch of macro data for July .

The Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA), the largest U.S. aerospace manufacturer, widened its lead in 2012 orders over rival EADS N.V. (Paris: EAS)'s Airbus SAS after Singapore Airlines Ltd. (Singapore: C6L) said Friday it was buying 50 Boeing 737 airplanes valued around $4.9 billion.

Patrick Ramael, has tried detain Benslimane for the past five years, without success.

Shares of U.S. banks of all sizes and specialties rose Friday over 3 percent, handily beating the performance of the wider stock market, which itself was in a head-first rally following a week of disappointing news. But there was one big exception to the equity party: megabank JPMorgan Chase and Co. (NYSE:JPM), which looked poised to underperform its peers in late-afternoon trading.

The exit of one or more countries from the euro zone could drive gold prices significantly higher by the end of this year, according to a Friday Capital Economics report.

Microsoft is axing the name for the user interface that will come with its Windows 8 release, The Verge has exclusively learned. An internal memo sent to Microsoft employees has revealed that the company will no longer use the term Metro with its next operating system.

Viacom's total revenue declined by 14 percent in the fiscal third quarter, leading to a net profit loss of 7 percent to $534 million. The dip is mainly due to declines in its film and TV properties, which include Paramount Pictures, MTV and Nickelodeon.

The financial markets were in a full-throttle rally Friday as stocks, bonds, commodities and foreign currencies all rose, following a week of sell-offs amid various policy and economic disappointments.

The last thing many fliers want to do when they reach their destination is wait by the baggage carousel for their luggage to arrive. Now, if they're flying American Airlines, they don't have to.

The Merchants Payments Coalition (MPC), which represents retailers, says the fees levied on American supermarkets, stores and gas stations by Visa and MasterCard are up to three times more than in other parts of the world, inflating prices for U.S. consumers.

Honduras, which has the world’s highest homicide rate already -- estimated at 86.5 murders per 100,000 inhabitants according to the United Nations -- has witnessed a particularly gruesome spike in carnage in Colon, from two different fronts.

Smartphone supply, component and repair sites like Gotta Be Mobile and iFixyouri have previously posted images and videos of alleged iPhone 5 prototypes, but never did those sites fully compare the new model to the iPhone 4S. On Friday, ETrade Supply posted a highly-detailed photo and video comparison between the iPhone 5 prototype and iPhone 4S components from Apple, which just may be the most convincing photo evidence of the iPhone 5 we have to-date.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy inched closer on Friday to asking for an EU bailout for his country, but said he needed first to know what conditions would be attached and what form the rescue would take.