IBT Staff Reporter

The Management Tip of the Day offers quick, practical management tips and ideas from Harvard Business Review and HBR.org http://www.hbr.org. Any opinions expressed are not endorsed by Reuters.

Fitch Ratings downgraded Spain's credit ratings by one notch on Friday, saying the country's economic recovery will be more muted than the government forecast due to its austerity measures.

Diehard fans mobbed Apple Inc stores in Europe and Asia as the iPad went on sale outside the United States on Friday, with some shoppers having queued all night to buy one of the coveted tablet computers.

Stocks fell on Friday as data showed consumer spending was unexpectedly flat last month and growth of U.S. Midwest business activity slowed more than expected.

The Federal Reserve on Friday announced plans to test a new facility it could use to withdraw some of the extraordinary stimulus it pumped into the economy during the recession, but stressed it was not embarking on a tightening of monetary policy yet.

Consumer sentiment rose a bit in May from April but stayed roughly unchanged from levels reported since February, while the one-year inflation expectations climbed to the highest since October 2008, a survey showed on Friday.

Royal Dutch Shell said it would pay $4.7 billion cash to buy privately held East Resources Inc, giving it more exposure to promising shale gas reserves in North America.

Consumer sentiment rose a bit in May from April but was roughly unchanged from levels since February, while the one-year inflation expectations also climbed, a survey showed on Friday.

Talks between Spanish unions and business leaders on labor reform ended without success on Friday, the latest sign that the euro zone is struggling to steer its way out of a debt crisis and into growth.

Consumer spending was unexpectedly flat in April after six straight months of gains, but growing consumer confidence in the economic outlook suggested consumption will remain strong this quarter.

Prudential has entered talks to cut its $35.5 billion offer for AIG's Asian life insurance arm, in a last-ditch bid to salvage a deal criticized by shareholders as too expensive.

(Reuters) - At midnight Valentine Uwingabire's back began to hurt. Her husband ran to tell Germaine Uwera, a community health worker in their village in the fertile foothills of Rwanda's Volcanoes National Park.

Ideally the best thing you can do is try to find an internship which is related to your degree or passion.

(Reuters Health) - Prescribing heroin to addicts who can't kick their habit helps them stay off street drugs, British researchers said Friday.

(Reuters) - Indoor tanning beds sharply increase the risk of melanoma, the deadliest kind of skin cancer, and the risk increases over time, U.S. researchers said on Thursday, and others experts called for tighter regulation.

U.S. consumer spending was unexpectedly flat in April, but real disposable incomes recorded their biggest increase in nearly a year as the labor market improved and inflation remained muted, a government report showed on Friday.

The world's top countries face more wrangling over a global bank tax next week and crunch time over beefing up capital and cutting risks at big banks.

Federal Reserve Bank directors say a Senate plan to kick bankers off the boards of regional Fed banks is an overreaction to one headline-grabbing incident and could harm the U.S. central bank.

The first step in an ambitious project to generate 1,000 megawatts of electricity from offshore wind turbines in Lake Erie was taken this week with an order to General Electric for five massive turbines. The Lake Erie Energy Development Corp., a Cleveland-based nonprofit, said the direct-drive turbines will provide 4 MW each of electricity and would be operational by the end of 2012, generating enough electricity to power 6,000 homes.

Stocks were set for a flat open on Friday as upbeat news from Apple, a technology and retail bellwether, was offset by unexpectedly flat April consumer spending data.

Consumer spending was unexpectedly flat in April, but real disposable incomes recorded their biggest increase in nearly a year as the labor market improved and inflation remained muted, a government report showed on Friday.

European Central Bank policymaker Lorenzo Bini Smaghi said on Friday the euro zone's problems were an early warning to the rest of the world and took a swipe at Germany for fanning the flames of the crisis.

U.S. mortgage rates moved still lower in the past week, nearing a record low set in early December, according to a survey released on Thursday by Freddie Mac, the second-largest U.S. mortgage finance company.

Stock index futures rose on Friday ahead of data on business conditions and consumer sentiment as investors steered toward a three-day holiday weekend.

The Philippines is considering a five year moratorium on exports of iron ore till the completion of its two integrated steel processing plants. According to country's Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the proposed ban comes from the need to conserve the resource for the possible establishment of iron or steel plants as well as the rights of the companies producing iron.

Growing demand for petroleum products in the tiny south-eastern nation of Brunei forced it to import some of its required fuel products for the first time to avoid shortage. Country's only oil refinery, which was built in 1983, can no longer keep up with the increase in domestic demand for petroleum products, making it necessary for the Sultanate to import some of its required fuel products to avoid shortage.

China on Thursday inaugurated Asia's largest solar power plant with a designed installed capacity totalling 166 megawatts. The power plant located at Kunming, capital of Yunnan province went into operation in the first stage with installed capacity of 20 MW.

Stock index futures edged higher on Friday, tracking global stocks, as beaten-down shares continued to entice investors and fears about euro-zone debt receded.

BP Plc still does not know whether its top kill operation designed to plug the biggest oil spill in United States history will be successful and puts the cost of tackling the disaster so far at $930 million.