IBT Staff Reporter

The Huffington Post is reporting that Jersey Shore star Nicole Snooki Polizzi was paid $32,000 to speak at Rutgers University.

Nasdaq OMX and IntercontinentalExchange bid $11.3 billion for NYSE Euronext in a politically charged effort to trump Deutsche Boerse's friendly deal to acquire the New York Stock Exchange.

Nasdaq OMX and IntercontinentalExchange have launched a rival bid to buy NYSE Euronext for about $11.3 billion in cash and shares.

Standard & Poor's cut Ireland's debt rating by just one notch and gave the thumbs-up to its bank bill on Friday but rival Fitch's warning of another downgrade and a big drop in growth expectations spelled trouble ahead.

General Motors Co U.S. sales in March came in below expectations on Friday as the automaker eased off the generous incentives it offered car buyers over the first two months of the year.

NEW YORK, April 1 - The Japanese nuclear crisis has created a public-relations headache for General Electric Co , but the company so far has escaped any legal fallout, and many experts expect it will continue to do so.

The Royal Wedding was a top target for Friday's pranks in the press. According to MSNBC, The Daily Mail joked that princess-to-be, Middleton, went shopping for baby clothes. The paper had a Middleton look-a-like shopping for baby clothes. The photographer was Will Sandkate.

Music Unlimited, Sony’s streaming music service, is coming to the PSP, according to Sony.

Google and a few other tech companies have gotten in on the fun of April Fools Day. Here's a look at a few of the pranks making the rounds on the internet.

Nasdaq OMX and IntercontinentalExchange unveiled a rival bid to buy NYSE Euronext for about $11.3 billion in cash and stock, a 19 percent premium to an offer made by German competitor Deutsche Boerse.

The prince of coffee table books believes paper books are dead. Now he wants to be king of the app.

The U.S. Federal Reserve should not be too sanguine in believing that the time to reverse easy monetary policy is a long way off and that it will be gradual, a top Fed official said on Friday.

Removes reference to ECB adding margin to Irish debt after ECB says that will not be the case due to fourth rating agency DBRS still rating Ireland at A

No deal has been reached on a budget extension, but it appears there's a working target on the size of budget cuts, as lawmakers continue to negotiate on what the specific cuts will be made and what non-budget related riders will be included in a bill to put up for a vote.

U.S. employment recorded a second straight month of solid gains in March and the jobless rate fell to a two-year low of 8.8 percent, marking a decisive shift in the labor market that should help to underpin the economic recovery.

China is facing an obesity crisis of magnanimous proportions, an issue best underscored by Lu Zhihao, a 4-year-old from Foshan in Guangdong province who weighs 132 lbs and is 3 feet 7 inches tall.

After a standoff between AMC, Lionsgate and Matthew Weiner, the show's creator, an agreement has been reached for the production of seasons fix and six of the hit TV show.

U.S. stocks rose on Friday after employment notched a second straight month of solid gains while the jobless rate fell to a two-year low.

Floundering hipster brand American Apparel posted a loss of $86 million in 2010, and said it may have to file for bankruptcy protection if it did not manage to get enough funds to keep going, a filing dated March 31 said.

Oil prices cut back gains of over a dollar on Friday after stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs data indicated the improving economic recovery of the world's largest oil importer was firmly on track, boosting the dollar.

Radioactive material has been found in the groundwater near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Spot Gold slumped 1.4% lunchtime Friday in London, falling back from its highest-ever monthly close as the Dollar jumped on news of stronger-than-expected US jobs hiring in March.

Corrects last paragraph. More than one percent, not more than a tenth

U.S. stocks rose on Friday after employment notched a second straight month of solid gains while the jobless rate fell to a two-year low.

Standard & Poor's stripped Ireland of its last 'A' rating on Friday, citing future risks to bondholders, but the one notch cut was less severe than feared and gave the thumbs up to the state's bank bill.

Upon completion of the four-year program offered by the Yale-NUS College, students will graduate with a Bachelor of Arts or Science (Honours) from the Yale-NUS College, awarded by NUS.

Apple has given a big lead to forecasters as to what the next iPhone will carry when it launched the iPad 2 in March. The other most important lead to predict the future iPhone 5 is the competition in the current market. Post-CES 2011, HTC, Motorola and Samsung have launched some powerful and slender Android devices, which have set the critical minimum standard that Apple will have to reach to make a mark with its new iPhone 5.

After India's triumph against Pakistan in the Cricket World Cup semi-finals, a petition was filed in the Lahore High Court against the Pakistan Cricket Team, accusing the team of match-fixing in order to create friendly ties with India.

A team from Dechert LLP is serving as legal advisor to Golub Capital, including partners Thomas Friedmann, David Harris and Richard Hervey and associates William Tuttle and Jordan McKay