The United Auto Workers union set a Monday morning deadline for reaching a contract deal with General Motors Corp. and threatened to send 73,000 GM factory workers on strike if no deal is reached.
He wears a $15 watch, flies economy class and does not own a house or car. For years few guessed that Chuck Feeney was one of the world's biggest philanthropists, secretly giving away his billionaire fortune.
A leading Asia-Pacific stock index hit a record high on Monday as shares took their cue from gains on U.S. markets late last week, though trading was light due to holidays in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.
Fear is still affecting world financial markets, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said in an interview released on Sunday in which he also backed France's candidate to head the IMF.
The dollar dipped to a 15-year low against a basket of currencies on Monday and hovered near a record low against the euro as investors shrugged off more gripes about the single currency's strength from French officials.
China highlighted Mattel's apology over its recall of huge numbers of toys on Monday to press its claim that Chinese exports are generally safe and foreign politicians and media have unfairly hyped quality scares.
A steep cut in U.S. interest rates should have eased debt worries but inflation in oil and food prices is a concern.
A former drummer from the 1980s punk band, The Ramones, sued Apple Inc, Wal-Mart Stores Inc, RealNetworks Inc and others for copyright infringement, claiming the companies lacked permission to sell downloads of six songs he authored.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said on Friday that a strong U.S. dollar was in American interests and said he was optimistic the U.S. economy would continue to grow this year.
The weather anomaly La Nina could influence global weather patterns through the early part of 2008, according to the National Weather Service.
U.S. stocks jumped on Friday as higher-than-expected results from software maker Oracle Corp and a share buyback from Texas Instruments Inc boosted technology shares.
Talks on global warming in the United States next week may be complicated by differences among developing countries as their climate policy positions diverge.
HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe's biggest bank, said on Friday that it would close its U.S. subprime mortgage unit, cutting 750 jobs and taking $945 million in charges and write-downs, because the business is no longer sustainable. It was the latest blow from the meltdown in the U.S. market for loans to home buyers with poor credit histories.
The European Union will press ahead with plans to include aviation in its emissions trading system despite United States' efforts through a U.N. body to discourage it, a spokeswoman for the EU executive said on Friday.
General Motors Corp and the United Auto Workers union broke off negotiations early on Friday and agreed to return to the bargaining table later in the day, as 73,000 GM workers returned for another day of work without a new contract.
Oil prices slipped a little on Friday, after hitting a succession of record highs this week which were fuelled in part by oil company production shutdowns in the Gulf of Mexico because of a storm threat.Oil slipped below $82 on Friday, but was still close to record highs because of concerns over supply disruptions from a storm in the Gulf of Mexico.
China could become the world's top wind power market in three to five years but will grow faster if it reforms its subsidy system, executives of major wind turbine maker Vestas said on Friday.
Gold rose to its highest in nearly three decades on Friday as a struggling U.S. dollar lifted its safe-haven appeal and purchases from speculators helped the metal defy selling pressure.Gold hit a 28-year high in Europe on Friday as the dollar's continued slide to record lows versus the euro raised the metal's appeal to speculative investors.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Thursday the central bank slashed interest rates this week to brace the U.S. economy against damage from financial turmoil but warned the outlook remains uncertain.
Japan's NEC Corp said on Friday its ADRs would likely be delisted from the Nasdaq exchange as it could not file a report or restate results to standards required by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The personal computer industry is in for a wave of consolidation, the president of Acer said on Friday, adding the Taiwanese PC maker did not plan any buys itself for up to two years.
SAP AG will unveil on Wednesday a line of business management programs to be delivered over the Web, becoming the first major software company to make a big bet on software as a service.
