IBT Staff Reporter

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou on Saturday denied there was even unofficial discussion over Greece quitting the euro zone and asked that his troubled country be left alone to finish its task.

Apple iPad 2 mania gripped China as customers and scalpers formed serpentine queues outside at Apple's four stores in Beijing and Shanghai.

Sony Corp has defended its response to a massive Internet security breach in a letter to Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal, who has accused the company of dragging its feet in notifying consumers.

Citibank said a former employee had committed fraud in Indonesia and sought to reassure card clients on Saturday, a day after the central bank slapped lengthy bans on its credit card and wealth management businesses.

Sony said on Saturday it had removed from the Internet the names and partial addresses of 2,500 sweepstakes contestants that had been stolen by hackers from about 100 million user accounts of its PlayStation Network and PC-based online gaming services, said in a statement details posted on the inactive website also included three unconfirmed e-mail addresses.

Mazda North American Operations (MNAO) today reported April 2011 sales of 20,638 vehicles, an increase of 9.0 percent versus April of 2010. Through the first four months of the year, Mazda's sales are up 13.8 percent, with 85,197 vehicles sold

Luxury carmaker Jaguar has put its hybrid supercar concept into production, the company said in a statement on Friday.

Sony said on Saturday it had removed off the Internet the personal details of 2,500 people that had been stolen by hackers and posted on a website.

Anwar al-Awlaki, the U.S.-born radical cleric who was reportedly targeted this week by an American drone missile, called the September 11, 2001 attacks an accident just two days after they occurred.

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker warned on Friday that trillion-dollar deficits posed a threat to the stability of the U.S. economy and the dollar, and said he is frustrated by the gridlock in Washington.

Goldman Sachs, which in April predicted this week's major correction in oil prices, said on Friday that oil could surpass its recent highs by 2012 as global oil supplies continue to tighten.

A day after oil prices plunged an unprecedented $12 a barrel, a New York trader sat on the steps of the dormant oil futures pit, playing a word game on his tablet computer.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein was in good spirits on Friday at his firm's annual meeting, despite battling some testy shareholders and what seemed to be a cold.

When commodities melt down as abruptly as they did on Thursday, the first assumption is that big investors dumped massive long positions.

Finance ministers from Germany, France, Italy and Spain did not discuss Greece leaving the euro zone or the possibility of a Greek debt restructuring during a meeting in Luxembourg on Friday, Eurogroup Chairman Jean-Claude Juncker said.

Stock investors head into next week with added worries about the sustainability of the recent rally and a desire to reduce risk, as shown by the stampede out of commodities on Thursday.

Mortgage finance giant Fannie Mae on Friday said it would ask for an additional $8.5 billion from taxpayers as it continues to suffer losses on loans made prior to 2009.

Top finance officials of the euro zone's biggest economies met to discuss Greece's debt crisis on Friday and Athens denied a media report that it was considering whether to leave the bloc.

Some Buddhists are preparing to celebrate the Buddha's birthday next week. The traditions and exact dates of the celebrations vary. However the birth is mostly celebrated at the same time in various east Asian nations with the exception of Japan.

The mayor of Mexico City, a quake-prone metropolis of 20 million people, said on Friday he is planning a warning system that will send alerts directly to mobile phones seconds before an earthquake strikes.

Jerry Seinfeld loves breakfast cereal, Superman and stand-up comedy. And on Friday he launched a website dedicated to one of those passions.

Two Federal Reserve officials on Friday stressed there will be no rush to roll back the U.S. central bank's super-easy monetary policy with the labor market still healing and inflation expectations largely in check.

PIMCO's Bill Gross, who runs the world's largest bond fund, said on Friday the only way he would reverse his short position on U.S. government-related bonds and purchase Treasuries again is if the United States heads into another recession.

PIMCO's Bill Gross, who runs the world's largest bond fund, said on Friday the only way he would reverse his short position on U.S. government-related bonds and purchase Treasuries again is if the United States heads into another recession.

Discovery Communications Inc and Oprah Winfrey have pushed out Christina Norman as chief executive of OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network, after a tough start for the five-month old cable network.

Visitors are continuing to flock to the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan where Osama bin Laden was killed on Sunday and the Al Qaeda chief’s final hideout is becoming a ‘ghoulish’ tourist attraction.

Oil's sharp slide this week is welcome because high prices may hurt the world economy and in the longer term accelerate the use of alternative fuels, OPEC delegates said on Friday.

JPMorgan Chase & Co is in advanced talks with U.S. regulators to resolve a probe into its role in selling subprime mortgage-backed bonds in 2007, a case that highlights a rare misstep by Chief Executive Jamie Dimon.

Oil fell on Friday to cap a frenzied trading week that sliced prices by a record of more than $16 a barrel on demand worries and a move by investors to slash commodities exposures.