IBT Staff Reporter

Employers hired more workers than expected in September and job gains for the prior two months were revised higher, easing recession fears.

Iowa has planned its presidential caucus for Jan. 3, 2012 -- ensuring the Republican primary season will begin just after New Year's Day for only the second time.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc's international business is growing. Its Sam's Club warehouse unit shines. Its expanding online operation is being revamped. Still, investors largely care about just one thing: can the retail giant finally fix its U.S. stores?

After nearly falling into bear-market territory, U.S. stocks on Friday finished the week higher, building gains on encouraging jobs data and hopes that Europe is dealing with its debt crisis.

Teen star Demi Lovato is going back out on the road, a year after entering treatment for bulimia and other emotional problems.

Sprint Nextel Corp signaled that it could spend more money than it brings in over the next few years, even without accounting for the high costs of selling the Apple Inc iPhone, sending its shares down 13 percent.

Reports surfaced Thursday of an influential medical group of doctors and advisers vote against routine screenings of prostate cancer for healthy men.

Fitch Ratings on Friday cut Italy's sovereign credit rating by one notch and Spain's by two, citing a worsening of the euro zone debt crisis and a risk of fiscal slippage in both countries.

Walt Disney Co Chief Executive Bob Iger will step down in March 2015 after less than 10 years at the helm of the largest U.S. media and entertainment conglomerate.

Sprint has already committed to purchasing 30.5 million iPhones over 4 years, which is estimated to cost $20 billion at current rates. The decision could reap rewards for the struggling carrier, or could have devastating consequences.

Microsoft secured EU approval on Friday to purchase internet voice and video service Skype for $8.5 billion, its biggest ever acquisition.

Chrysler Group LLC intends to reach a four-year labor contract with the United Auto Workers without arbitration, but Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne warned that the union's deals with its crosstown rivals may be too costly for the smallest U.S. automaker.

Walt Disney Co Chief Executive Bob Iger will step down as CEO in March 2015 after nearly a decade at the helm, setting in motion a succession plan for the largest U.S. media and entertainment company.

Nearly 200 acts survived their first encounters with Simon Cowell on The X Factor, but this week's boot camp episodes of the TV singing contest will sort out the weak from the strong.

Filmmakers Alex Gibney (“Enron”), Peter Joseph (“Zeitgeist”), Michael Moore (“Capitalism: A Love Story”) and Charles Ferguson (“Inside Job”) top the list of documentarians whose work scrutinizes the establishment and actually calls it what it is: damaged goods.

BOSTON (Reuters Life!) - Social media is legendary for its transparency and speed, but that also means that your mistakes can be wildly visible. Being upfront is a good way to start recovering, says Harvard Business Review.

Steve Jobs was one of the few people in history to revolutionize the way the world communicates.

Research In Motion has reached a deal to buy Ireland's NewBay, a provider of photo, video, and social-network tools for smartphones and computers, the BlackBerry maker said on Friday.

Catching a flight home this Thanksgiving? Here are four simple tips to getting the best deal on airfare.

Intellectual Ventures, a privately-held patent holding firm co-founded by former Microsoft Corp chief technology officer Nathan Myhrvold, sued Motorola Mobility Holdings in the U.S. District Court of Delaware for patent infringement.

Belgium's federal government and its regions clashed on Friday over the fate of the Belgian banking activities of stricken Dexia SA , delaying a joint Franco-Belgian rescue of the group.

Sprint Nextel Corp plans to upgrade its network in time to launch high-speed wireless services by the middle of 2012 and expects to complete its upgrade by the end of 2013, a top executive for the company said on Friday.

Stocks declined on Friday after downgrades of Spain's and Italy's credit ratings underscored worries about the European debt crisis, overshadowing better-than-expected U.S. jobs data.

An entire north-central Illinois community was evacuated after a train carrying ethanol alcohol derailed overnight and caught fire, authorities said on Friday.

Facing the prospect of a deeper crisis in Europe, the International Monetary Fund is weighing whether it could expand its rescue lending capacity through debt issuance or bilateral borrowing.

The risk of U.S. inflation is minor compared with an ongoing morass in the jobs market, two top Federal Reserve officials said after the government reported a steady 9.1 percent jobless rate.

Stocks declined on Friday after downgrades of Spain's and Italy's credit ratings underscored worries about the European debt crisis, overshadowing better-than-expected U.S. jobs data.

Sprint Nextel Corp declined to detail its commitments to Apple Inc for selling the iPhone and said its financial forecast does not include iPhone costs.

Sprint Nextel Corp expects to upgrade its high-speed wireless services network faster than it expected, sending its shares up more than 7 percent on Friday.