IBT Staff Reporter

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Saturday that countries including Venezuela, Russia and Iran had proposed the U.S. dollar should be replaced as the currency used for the oil trade.

Sweeping rule changes meant to shed light on so-called dark pools, where stock-trading is done anonymously, could ultimately hurt the traditional investors that regulators are trying to empower, trading executives warned over the past few days.

The United States must live within its means once its economy recovers if it is to preserve global confidence in the U.S. dollar's status, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Friday.

Economy Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg expressed confidence on Saturday that Germany could address EU concerns about a sale of carmaker Opel to Canada's Magna, saying they did not put the deal at risk.

General Motors Co's bid to find an outsider to replace its chief financial officer is being complicated by pay restrictions imposed on companies that got big U.S. government bailouts, The Wall Street Journal said on Saturday.

General Motors Co's bid to find an outsider to replace its chief financial officer is being complicated by pay restrictions imposed on companies that got big U.S. government bailouts, The Wall Street Journal said on Saturday.

General Motors Co's bid to find an outsider to replace its chief financial officer is being complicated by pay restrictions imposed on companies that got big U.S. government bailouts, The Wall Street Journal said on Saturday.

Best known for leading the alt-country rock bands Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt, Jay Farrar teamed with Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard for his latest project, an album with lyrics based on the prose from Jack Kerouac's 1962 novel Big Sur.

ARTIST: MICHAEL JACKSON SINGLE: THIS IS IT

Rod Stewart brings a splash of color to the staid surroundings of the Beverly Hills Hotel. He's wearing a blue striped shirt, a white business suit jacket with thick red trim and blue Converse slip-ons -- a look that combines nautical and vaudeville, which seems perfectly fitting for Stewart, the perpetual showman.

Los Amigos Invisibles, the Venezuelan funk band from Caracas that relocated to Brooklyn more than eight years ago, will celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2011. But the party has already started, with the group enjoying an ever-growing following throughout Mexico, South America and its adopted home country.

Most of the lyrics by the hard rock/glam metal band Steel Panther are too vulgar for radio. And Michael Starr, the parody act's frontman, says MTV handed Steel Panther the longest edit sheet in the network's history in response to the group's first attempt at a music video.

Toys R Us is facing a U.S. antitrust probe over whether the toy retailer used its market clout to stifle discounting by retail competitors and force consumers to pay higher prices for baby products, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.

Film director Roman Polanski, arrested in Switzerland three weeks ago to face extradition in a U.S. sex case, has been moved from jail for medical treatment, his French lawyer said on Saturday.

Some 3,000 people lined the streets on Saturday for the funeral of Boyzone singer Stephen Gately, who died on the island of Majorca a week ago.

Commercial finance company CIT Group Inc and a group representing its bondholders have agreed on changes to the company's proposed restructuring plan as it looks shore up its finances.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised a lengthy diplomatic battle to delegitimise United Nations charges that Israel committed war crimes in the Gaza Strip, an official said on Saturday.

Several thousand red shirt protesters rallied in Bangkok amid tight security on Saturday to demand the Thai government submits its petition seeking a royal pardon for fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

Pakistani forces launched a ground offensive against Taliban militants in South Waziristan on the Afghan border on Saturday, with soldiers advancing from three directions, officials said.

The United States said on Friday it would allow a senior North Korean official to visit this month, a move analysts said could be a first step toward talks between the two on ending Pyongyang's nuclear programs.

U.S. President Barack Obama lashed out on Saturday against the deceptive and dishonest efforts of health insurance companies, who he said are trying to kill healthcare reform, no matter the cost to the country.

Several international political figures have phoned President Hamid Karzai, his office said on Saturday, in what appeared to be an intense diplomatic offensive to end a row over Afghanistan's disputed presidential election.

The U.S. budget deficit hit a record $1.4 trillion in the just-ended fiscal year, the government said on Friday, as the deep recession and a series of bank rescues cut a gaping hole in public finances. The tally was $162 billion smaller than the White House had forecast in August, but it still amounted to 10 percent of total U.S. economic output, the most for any budget shortfall since World War Two.

China will be able to sustain the momentum of its current V-shaped recovery, setting the stage for stronger growth next year than in 2009, Yao Jingyuan, chief economist of the National Bureau of Statistics, said on Saturday.

The U.S. airline industry, finally poised for rebound after a near financial meltdown in 2008, may owe its survival to the creative minds who brought you fees, fees and more fees.

Microsoft is ratcheting up for the launch of its latest and greatest operating system next week, riding the heels of Apple's earnings report, but the Mac maker shouldn't fear the new salvo from its long-time arch-rival.

When we give a presentation to a future client not only do our appearance, visual aids, and body language relay a message, but the words we use create pictures in their minds.

In business situations, when you are trying to reach the person who has the authority to make decisions regarding your product you are very likely to have to go through one or more people before reaching that person.

Too many salespeople, when faced with clients who range from dissatisfied to down right angry, choose the loser's path by postponing handling the situation. This results in one of two things happening.