IBT Staff Reporter

Less than a year after a series of tornadoes caused some of the worse insured losses in U.S. history, the insurance industry is likely facing substantial costs again after storms killed at least 33 people on Friday.

Less than a year after a series of tornadoes caused some of the worse insured losses in U.S. history, the insurance industry is likely facing substantial costs again after storms killed at least 33 people on Friday.

Tajikistan blocked local access to Facebook and two Russian-language sites that published an article critical of its long-serving president on Saturday, representatives of two Internet providers said.

The euro zone sovereign debt crisis has eased in recent weeks, ECB Governing Council member Athanasios Orphanides said on Saturday, adding more needed to be done to convince markets the euro zone had an effective crisis handling mechanism in place.

China's top grain trader, COFCO Group , will seek to list its commercial property unit in Hong Kong, its chairman told Reuters on Saturday, without clarifying the timing or scale of the offering.

Stocks have proven the naysayers wrong so far in 2012. And the February jobs report could be just the ticket to keep the bulls going next week.

Nomura Holdings and billionaire investor George Soros have cut their stakes in Taishin Financial to about 1 percent each from about 3 percent last year, marking the latest exodus by foreign investors from Taiwan's over-banked market.

The deliberate disruption of mobile phone service last year by transit police in San Francisco has prompted federal communications regulators to consider rules for similar situations in the future.

The Federal Communications Commission said on Friday it was delaying its decision on whether Dish Network Corp can build a wireless cellular network, a move that could hurt the value of the satellite television company's newly acquired wireless assets.

Chipmakers LSI and Mediatek Inc and chip design house STMicroelectronics NV did not violate Rambus Inc's patented chip technology, a judge at the International Trade Commission said on Friday.

A federal judge rejected Credit Suisse Group Inc's bid to dismiss a lawsuit by National Century Financial Enterprises bondholders that accused the Swiss bank of deceiving them about the health care finance company and missing its vast, roughly $2.9 billion fraud.

NASA said hackers stole employee credentials and gained access to mission-critical projects last year in 13 major network breaches that could compromise U.S. national security.

A U.S. trade panel, which hears patent infringement cases, said on Friday that it would undertake a wide-ranging review of its preliminary decision over whether Motorola Mobility violated Microsoft patents.

BNY Mellon Corp is sticking with employee stock options, even as many major U.S. banks cut them, and despite its previous awards losing more than $850 million in value since 2008.

A U.S. trade panel which hears patent infringement cases said on Friday that it would undertake a wide-ranging review of its preliminary decision over whether Motorola Mobility violated Microsoft patents.

Technology security professionals seeking wisdom from industry leaders in San Francisco this week saw more of the dark side than they had expected: a procession of CEO speakers whose companies have been hacked.

Consumer review website Yelp Inc made a sparkling market debut on Friday, buoyed by optimism ahead of Facebook's public listing and hopes for further successful public listings by Internet companies down the road.

Facebook Inc will add banks in coming weeks to help underwrite its initial public offering, two sources familiar with its plans said on Friday.

Facebook Inc will add more banks in coming weeks to help underwrite the company's initial public offering, two sources familiar with its plans said on Friday.

A senior Morgan Stanley investment banker was placed on leave after police accused him of hurling racial slurs at a taxi driver of Middle Eastern descent and stabbing him in the hand with a pen knife over a fare dispute.

Financier J. Ezra Merkin, accused of secretly steering $2.4 billion in client funds to Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff, is close to settling a lawsuit brought by the New York attorney general for about $400 million, according to a person close to the matter.

The S&P and Nasdaq notched their eighth week of gains out of the last nine, but momentum ran out on Friday as stocks ended the day lower in a thinly traded session.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq notched their eighth week of gains in the last nine, but momentum ran out on Friday as shares ended the day lower after a thinly traded session.

An unspecified number of Defense Department personnel in the Washington D.C. area and in the Midwest were cut off from the public Internet for nearly three hours on Thursday because of technical problems, a department spokeswoman said Friday.

Stocks slipped on Friday as a session with sparse economic data gave investors little reason to push indexes higher, but the S&P 500 and Nasdaq remained on track for their eighth positive week in the last nine.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is looking to sell its metal concentrates business due to U.S. regulatory restrictions following its acquisition of RBS Sempra Commodities, and currently faces a deadline of mid-year, industry sources told Reuters.

Eastman Kodak Co has agreed to sell its online photo services business to Shutterfly Inc for $23.8 million, kicking off the bankrupt photography pioneer's relaunch as a much slimmer company although a patent sale seen crucial to its turnaround may still be months away.

Barclays Plc tapped the European Central Bank for 8.2 billion euros ($10.8 billion) of cheap funding this week, marking a U-turn for the bank as it had previously been worried about the risk of political interference if it took funds.

NASA said hackers broke into its computer systems 13 times last year, stealing employee credentials and gaining access to mission-critical projects in breaches that could compromise U.S. national security.