IBT Staff Reporter

Kazakh state-run bank BTA has filed for protection from creditors in a Manhattan bankruptcy court after some of them took action against the lender which is restructuring $11.6 billion in debt.

Major U.S. indices are range-bound in the morning session on Friday as investors digest the U.S. unemployment rate report and monitor the ongoing sovereign debt contagion from Greece. The Dow has been hovering around the psychologically important level of 10,000 this session, dipping below it at various times.

Researchers from Britain's Cambridge University tested the device on 17 children with type 1 diabetes during a series of nights in hospital and found it kept their blood sugar levels within the important normal range for 60 percent of the time.

U.S. stocks edged higher on Friday after a mixed jobs report and despite lingering worries over the fiscal health of some European countries.

The project follows recalls of tainted toothpaste, pet food, seafood and other products from China, as well as a contaminated blood thinner blamed for dozens of deaths in 2008.

Fewer U.S. homeowners expect the value of their homes to decline in the year ahead, but they also believe gains are unlikely, according to a Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan survey published on Friday.

The Indian government has moved to establish its own body to address and monitor science surrounding climate change, saying it cannot rely on the official United Nation panel.

Facebook has celebrated its sixth anniversary by rolling out several new features and a redesign of its home page.

The senator leading the effort to pass a financial reform bill said on Friday he has reached an impasse with his Republican counterpart and will begin drafting new legislation to be considered later this month.

U.S. stocks edged higher on Friday after a mixed jobs report and despite lingering worries over the fiscal health of some European countries.

U.S. private equity firm Blackstone and British buyout firm Resolution Group have talked to National Australia Bank about teaming up for its possible bid for more than 300 Royal Bank of Scotland branches, people familiar with the matter said.

Only about a third of seniors were vaccinated in 2008 against pneumonia, a complication of seasonal flu, according to the report released by the Trust For America's Health, the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Toyota President Akio Toyoda apologized for safety problems that have left the Japanese carmaker in crisis as the group considered another recall -- this time over the brakes on the newest Prius hybrids.

Once Li Shufu, head of China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, closes the deal to buy Ford Motor's Volvo unit for up to $2 billion, the sedate, safety-conscious Swedish brand may be in the running to replace the Audi A6 as Chinese state officials' car of choice.

Air Products and Chemicals Inc launched an unsolicited $5.1-billion cash bid to buy rival Airgas Inc on Friday in a move to create the largest industrial gas company in North America.

President Barack Obama, looking for ways to drive down high U.S. unemployment, will announce plans on Friday to expand credit for small businesses, a main source of job creation in the United States.

The number of U.S. homes listed for sale rose in January compared to December after 18 consecutive months of decline, according to data released on Thursday by real estate brokerage ZipRealty.

The US Justice Department still thinks a proposal to give Google digital rights to millions of books threatens and stifles competition and are undermining copyright laws.

Toyota Motor Corp is seeking to recall its third-generation Prius hybrid cars in Japan to fix a software glitch related to braking, a source with knowledge of its discussions with safety authorities said.

Payrolls unexpectedly fell in January, but the unemployment rate surprisingly dropped to a five-month low, according to a government report on Friday that hinted at labor market improvement.

Wall Street was set to open little changed on Friday, as stock index futures pared earlier losses, after data showed the unemployment rate declined in January, even as payrolls fell.

North Korea said on Friday it will release U.S. religious activist Robert Park, arrested in December for illegally entering the country in a journey to raise awareness about Pyongyang's human rights abuses.

British state prosecutors said on Friday they would charge four legislators with false accounting over alleged abuses of the parliamentary expenses system.

Employers unexpectedly cut 20,000 jobs in January, but the unemployment rate surprisingly fell to a five-month low of 9.7 percent, according to a government report on Friday that hinted at some labor market improvement starting to take root.

Stock index futures turned positive on Friday after jobs data showed the unemployment rate fell to a five-month low last month, even as employers unexpectedly cut jobs.

A Vietnamese court convicted a dissident writer of assault on Friday, bringing to 16 the number of people imprisoned since October in an unusually harsh crackdown on dissent in the one-party state.

Dubai would seek the arrest of Israel's prime minister if it found evidence intelligence service Mossad was behind the killing of a senior Hamas official, its police chief said in a newspaper Friday.

Iran has been using delaying tactics instead of taking action to resolve the dispute over its nuclear programme, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said on Friday.

A suspected suicide bomber on a motorcycle killed 12 Shi'ite Muslims in a crowded bus in Pakistan's commercial capital Friday, hospital and police officials said.