IBT Staff Reporter

The president of Tunisia has dismissed his government and called for early elections, according to a report from the country's state TV network.

Jan 14, 2011

Germany faced mounting pressure from its euro zone partners on Friday to boost a rescue fund for troubled member states after French Economy Minister Christine Lagarde said governments were considering expanding it.

Jan 14, 2011

A former leader and two other members of the San Francisco branch of La Mara Salvatrucha or the dreaded MS-13 criminal gang have pleaded guilty in federal court to various federal charges that include racketeering (RICO) conspiracy, conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering, and the use or possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, according to the Department of Justice.

Jan 14, 2011

The U.S. Department of Justice has struck a severe blow on the members and associates of the Gambino Organized Crime Family of La Cosa Nostra (the Gambino Family) by securing a guilty pleas from the final two of the 14 defendants, all of whom were charged with crimes that included racketeering, murder, sex trafficking, extortion, and wire fraud in April 2010.

Jan 14, 2011

Churchill Downs Inc., the race track operators, announced a five-year extension of their sponsorship agreement with Yum Brands Inc, making the restaurant company the presenting operators of the Kentucky Derby.

Jan 14, 2011

Howrey is struggling with its European intellectual property (IP) practice following the departure of its London-based managing partner Mark Hodgson, who has joined Field Fisher Waterhouse.

Jan 14, 2011

Artificial knee and hip maker Smith & Nephew said on Friday it was not in talks on a merger or takeover, after a report it was weighing a deal with privately owned U.S. rival Biomet sent its shares higher.

Jan 14, 2011

CMS Cameron McKenna said it has hired Simmons & Simmons US securities partner Daniel Winterfeldt to head its newly launched international capital markets (ICM) group.

Jan 14, 2011

Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) has strengthened its regulatory practice with the appointment of DLA Piper's financial services litigation expert Daren Allen.

Jan 14, 2011

Global law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has appointed Robert Ashworth for the role of Asia managing partner.

Jan 14, 2011

Legal dramas on television helped an Illinois ex-con hone his acting skills and pass off as a hotshot lawyer, enabling him to represent paying clients for between $500 and $4500 till a court clerk recognized him and blew the whistle.

Jan 14, 2011

Stronger-than-expected earnings from JPMorgan Chase & Co lifted the stock market slightly on Friday, offsetting weak economic data and putting the S&P 500 on track for its seventh straight week of gains.

Jan 14, 2011

A robber, who has been nicknamed the Holiday Bandit by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), has been identified as Marat G. Mikhaylich and is being sought after pulling his third bank robbery in the New York City over the past few weeks, the federal authorities said.

Jan 14, 2011

Nevada's new governor-elect and former federal judge Brian Sandoval has named his former clerk Lucas Foletta as his general counsel even though the latter has not passed the Nevada state bar exam.

Jan 14, 2011

A man who had hijacked a Puerto Rico-bound Pan American flight 281 to Cuba four decades ago and then voluntarily returned to the United States in October 2009 and surrendered to federal authorities so that he could see his family again, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison without parole.

Jan 14, 2011

Bank of America (BofA) has paid $2.8 billion to mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to settle claims that it had sold mortgages to them that did not meet specifications.

Jan 14, 2011

Federal authorities are clueless about the mysterious circumstances in which the dead body of a former Pentagon political appointee in President George W. Bush's administration had landed up in a dumpster.

Jan 14, 2011

Seven hospitals located throughout the southern part of United States have agreed to pay a total of $6.3 million to resolve False Claims Act allegations that they were overcharging for osteoporosis procedures, said Department of Justice (DOJ).

Jan 14, 2011

A federal judge has ordered the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) to hold off a $60 million contract awarded to Microsoft to integrate 13 DOI e-mail systems and consider competing bids from Google and others.

Jan 14, 2011

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE), the federal agency, which oversees U.S. offshore drilling, has allowed Shell Offshore Inc. and 12 other oil and gas companies to resume deepwater drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico without the need to submit revised exploration or development plans for supplemental National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews.

Jan 14, 2011

A former and longtime employee at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland has been charged with illegally exporting infrared military technology to South Korea, though he is not accused of taking technology or related materials from the research center, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

Jan 14, 2011

Sharply higher prices at the pump pushed overall consumer prices up at their fastest pace in a year and a half, though core prices, which strip out volatile food and energy costs, barely budged, a government report released on Friday showed.

Jan 14, 2011

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - Jo Ann Montrose-Eichelberger, 55, never thought she would meet her second husband on an online dating site -- especially not one for seniors.

Jan 14, 2011

The new council of U.S. regulators will face a major test on Tuesday when it unveils recommendations on how to enforce one of the most recognizable if inscrutable aspects of the six-month-old Wall Street reform law: the Volcker rule.

Jan 14, 2011

CES 2011 is over but Motorola Xoom still continues to wow the media, even as reports tumble out that the Xoom can act as a weatherman too but RIM is closing in with its PlayBook which received rave reviews at the event.

Jan 14, 2011

Sales at U.S. retailers rose slightly less than expected in December while underlying inflation remained calm, government reports showed on Friday.

Jan 14, 2011

Hasbro Inc reported weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter sales as demand for its toys slackened late in the holiday season but backed its forecast for earnings and revenue growth in 2011.

Jan 14, 2011

JPMorgan Chase & Co reported a 47 percent increase in quarterly earnings, and said loan demand and trading profit could grow this year, boosting investor optimism that revenue for major banks will recover.

Jan 14, 2011

Retired professor Chen Chongyu and his wife Liu Zhenjuan dreamed of coming back to China from their daughter's home in France, but until last year the couple had nowhere to go.

Jan 14, 2011