IBT Staff Reporter

The federal judge handling scores of lawsuits against Toyota Motor Corp over cars that raced out of control has set the first court hearing on the combined litigation for next month.

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - After idling for decades, train travel in the United States, while not quite out of the station, is beginning to work up a healthy head of steam.

No. 1 toy company Mattel Inc surprised Wall Street with a quarterly profit on strong demand for its classic brands and newer product lines, and its shares rose more than 3 percent.

(Reuters) - More U.S. babies are being born with syphilis, many of them to women in the South who use crack cocaine and work in the sex trade, according to a U.S. government report released on Thursday.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People with inflammatory bowel disease commonly believe that stress can trigger their symptoms, and a new study suggests they may be right.

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama issued a memo on Thursday that would require hospitals accepting Medicare or Medicaid funds to allow visitation rights to gay and lesbian partners.

Europeans are increasingly using their cellphones for satellite navigation in cars, directly threatening the personal navigation industry, research firm comScore said Friday.

General Electric Co reported a sharply higher profit than Wall Street had expected and sees potential for upside to its earlier forecast of flat 2010 results.

Bank of America Corp trounced expectations with its first quarterly profit since the summer of 2009 as it generated outsized bond trading revenue and set aside less money to cover bad loans.

Wall Street was poised for a lower on Friday after earnings from Google failed to meet heightened expectations as GE and Bank of America reported quarterly results.

European finance ministers discussed Greece's debt crisis on Friday but said Athens was seeking to clarify how an emergency aid mechanism would work, rather than requesting it.

No. 1 toy company Mattel Inc surprised Wall Street with a quarterly profit on strong demand for its classic brands and newer product lines, in yet another sign of a revival in consumer demand.

Global shares edged off 16-month highs on Friday as an unexpected jump in U.S. jobless claims and persistent uncertainty over a solution to Greece's debt crisis tempered optimism over the global economic recovery.

Credit Suisse is hiring Vedika Bhandarkar, a veteran investment banker at rival JPMorgan , to beef up its investment banking business in India.

Britain's consumer affairs watchdog has slapped a record 225 million pound ($349 million) fine on two tobacco firms and nine retailers accused of fixing prices on tobacco products between 2001 and 2003.

U.S. stock index futures edged lower on Friday after Google earnings failed to meet lofty expectations, but strong results from GE and Bank of America stemmed declines.

Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson swung to a surprise first-quarter pretax profit on Friday as its push into the growing smartphone market and hefty cost cuts boosted margins.

TOKYO (Reuters Life!) - Simply flipping through a book may not seem like the best to way to scan it, but a Japanese research group at Tokyo University has created new software that allows hundreds of pages to be scanned within minutes.

Around 60 percent of the $24.8 trillion credit derivatives market can rapidly move to central clearing and reduce systemic risk, but moving much beyond that could be counterproductive, according to market experts.

Good morning dear traders, how was your trading yesterday? This way I imagine a trading day: you put your orders into the trading platform and go for a walk with your dog. When you come back, the trade is completely running for you.

Thomas Cook , Europe's second-biggest travel firm, said on Friday it had raised over $1 billion through new sterling and euro bond issues with the proceeds to be used for general corporate purposes.

Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Friday, with equities poised to reverse recent strong gains after Google's results, and ahead of General Electric and Bank of America earnings.

Global shares softened from 16-month highs on Friday after an unexpected jump in U.S. jobless claims tempered optimism over the global economic recovery.

European finance ministers discussed Greece's debt difficulties on Friday but said Athens was for now seeking to remove any obstacles to the rollout of emergency aid if needed, rather than requesting it officially.

Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson swung to a surprise first-quarter profit as its push into the growing smartphone market and hefty cost cuts boosted margins.

Consumer spending on home entertainment products, including DVDs, Blu-ray discs and digitally distributed content, in North America fell 8 percent to $4.8 billion in the first quarter of 2010, said the Digital Entertainment Group on Wednesday.

by Vikram S SubhedarAsian stocks retreated from 22-month highs, and higher-yielding currencies fell, as investors booked profits after risky assets ran up in recent sessions on the back of good economic data.

Credit Suisse is hiring Vedika Bhandarkar, a veteran investment banker at rival JPMorgan , as head of investment banking for India, the Swiss investment bank said on Friday.

Top Federal Reserve officials on Thursday showed little urgency about softening the central bank's commitment to hold rates low for a long time, suggesting the Fed will repeat the pledge when it meets late this month.