COMPANIES

If you like searching for travel options on Kayak and reading hotel reviews on TripAdvisor, now you can do both at the same time.

Activist investor Carl Icahn announced Thursday he was sweetening a takeover offer for independent petroleum refiner CVR Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVI), proposing to buy all outstanding shares of the company, in cash, at $30 a share.

Apple, the world’s most valuable company, made available the latest version of its OS, dubbed Mountain Lion, for developers Thursday so that it will be able to ship new products by the third quarter.

Ground workers began striking on Thursday at Frankfurt Airport, Europe's third busiest airport, which has caused more than 150 flight cancellations. The strike took place from 3 p.m. until 10 p.m. (CET). Workers are expected to strike on Friday, too. The Financial Times reports that strikes could last until the weekend.

The Fair Labor Association (FLA) has embarked on a study of the working conditions in factories run by eight of Apple's suppliers in China, according reports by Reuters. Auret van Heerden, president of the FLA, noted that the working environment imposed onto the workers, which inevitably perpetuates boredom, could have contributed to the tragic suicides. After several days' worth of visits to the facility, Heerden commended that the conditions were not as slave-like as reported previously....

Josh Powell, who killed himself and his two boys in a Feb. 5 explosion, is still not buried. While his sons Charlie,7, and Braden,5, were laid to rest on Saturday at Woodbine Cemetary, the people of Pierce County, Washington are fighting against Powell being buried next to his children. Before the explosion, Powell took a hatchet to his two boys.

Apple announced its upcoming operating system for Mac computers on Thursday, dubbed Mountain Lion. Here's a breakdown of all of the newest features:

Designers Joshua Cooper and Laurence Chandler of Rochambeau, French for the popular game rock-paper-scissors, focused on the men in the menswear for their inspiration, much to the pleasure of Theophilus London, who snagged a few items for himself. View the slideshow to see photos of the Fall 2012 Rochambeau collection at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy used his brand new Twitter account to official announce that he would seek re-election during France's 2012 presidential race.

Joanna Mastroianni took attendees of her Fall 2012 collection runway show at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York for a journey around the world on Wednesday through the eyes, and wardrobe, of Iris Apfel, an influential textile designer and noted fashion maven. View the slideshow to see photos of the Fall 2012 Joanna Mastroianni show at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York.

Moody's Investors Service placed 114 financial firms , as well as 17 banks and securities firms with global capital markets operations, under ratings review due to the ongoing Eurozone crisis.

Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook told the Wall Street Journal that the Cupertino, Calif.-based company's new Macintosh operating system, dubbed the Mountain Lion, will use several different features from the iPhone.

Everyone knows that industry consolidation leads to improved shareholder returns. India's mobile market may be the exception. Revocation of 2G licences and now a change in M&A rules are expected to force a long-awaited deal frenzy in this challenging sector.

General Motors Co (GM.N) posted a weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter profit as disappointing performance overseas offset strong results in North America.

General Motors Co. posted a weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter profit as disappointing performance overseas offset strong results in North America.

Chinese e-commerce group Alibaba may take its Hong Kong-listed unit Alibaba.com Ltd private at about the price of its 2007 initial public offering for about HK$18 billion ($2.3 billion), the Hong Kong Economic Times reported on Thursday, citing sources.

Three former executives of Japan's disgraced Olympus Corp were arrested on Thursday over their role in a $1.7 billion accounting fraud at the maker of medical equipment and cameras, Japanese media reported.

Apple Inc has asked a bankruptcy court for permission to sue Eastman Kodak, accusing it of infringing its patents.

Moody's Investor Service warned Thursday it could downgrade the credit ratings of 17 global banks and securities firms due to more fragile funding conditions, increased regulatory burdens and a more difficult operating environment.

Moody's said Wednesday it was taking ratings actions on 114 financial institutions in 16 European countries to reflect the impact of the continent's debt crisis and the deteriorating creditworthiness of governments in the region.

Legal wrangling over the proposed $8.5 billion settlement of some of Bank of America Corp's mortgage-backed securities liability could drag through the courts for years, a top appeals court judge said during arguments in the case.

Apple is gearing up to release the iPad 3 for an early March release, but reports are now surfacing that the next-generation tablet will also feature Siri, the AI virtual assistant currently exclusive to the iPhone 4S. Siri may have debuted on an iPhone, but it can make a name for itself on the iPad.

The ongoing kerfuffle between classic TV services and the web's intermediaries has a new web-streaming combatant, Aereo, which announced on Wednesday a $20.5 million infusion of funding from media veteran Barry Diller.

Australia's flagship airline, Quantas, is expected to cut hundreds of employees when it discloses its half-year results on Thursday, the nation's Herald Sun newspaper reported.

Shares of Zynga, the principal game site on Facebook, plunged nearly 18 percent after the company posted a huge fourth-quarter loss, its first as a public company.

Apple iPhone 4S is stealing your contact information and you don't even know it. Worse, there could be dozens of iPhone apps doing the same thing. Now Congress wants answers.

Citigroup Inc has agreed to pay $158.3 million to settle U.S. civil claims that it defrauded the government into insuring thousands of risky home loans made by its CitiMortgage unit.

Cisco Systems Inc has challenged EU clearance of Microsoft Corp's acquisition of Internet voice and video service Skype at Europe's second highest court, saying the commission should have put tougher conditions on the deal.

Kellogg Co agreed to swallow Pringles potato chips for $2.7 billion in a cash deal that makes the cereal company second only to PepsiCo Inc in the global snack food market.