IBT Staff Reporter

The all weekend EDS Credit Union Plano balloon festival for 2009 begins Friday at 4pm CDT marking its 30th anniversary will begin today in Plano, Texas.

A U.S. federal judge in Manhattan has dismissed three Parmalat SpA fraud lawsuits against Bank of America Corp and the auditing firm Grant Thornton LLP over their roles in the Italian dairy company's 2003 collapse.

India's Reliance Industries is looking at acquiring some or all of bankrupt petrochemicals maker LyondellBasell, an Indian television network reported, citing sources.

Continental Resources Inc, a crude-oil concentrated, independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company, on Friday sold $300 million of senior notes in the 144a private placement market, said market sources.

LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA said on Friday that a Paris tribunal found eBay Inc liable for brand counterfeiting, and ordered the Internet auction and retail company to pay the French luxury brand 80,000 euros.

Chrysler executive Jim Press has been sued by a California credit union for failing to repay more than $400,000 on a loan dating back to his stint as chief of Toyota Motor Corp's U.S. operations, court records show.

This upcoming weekend of September 19 and 20 will be the final days of the 2009 San Gennaro Festival, an annual festival marking the patron of the saint of Naples.

The Internet and advances in technology are transforming fashion, making it easier for designers to create collections and less expensive for the them to show and sell their work, experts say.

UBS AG has formally warned wealthy American clients that their secret Swiss accounts may be revealed to U.S. tax authorities after next Wednesday's expiration of a U.S. amnesty program.

From Detroit's union halls to its boardrooms, the consensus belief is that billions of dollars in federal investment and loans kept the American auto industry from collapse.

Apple's new Snow Leopard operating system has hit the ground running, according to research data released Thursday.

Leaders of the Group of 20 nations are expected to agree at their summit in Pittsburgh next week to coordinate their public statements on exit strategies, G20 sources preparing for the meeting said on Friday.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski will unveil in a speech on Monday new proposals that would force Internet providers to treat the flow of content equally, sources familiar with the speech said on Friday.

Global stocks faltered and oil prices fell below $72 a barrel on Friday as waning risk appetite lifted the U.S. dollar against most major currencies.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called the Holocaust a lie Friday, raising the stakes against Israel just as world powers try to decide how to deal with the nuclear ambitions of an Iran in political turmoil.

This year's Toronto film festival lowers its final curtain this weekend after 10 days of red carpet premieres and industry networking that produced few movie deals but showcased some good bets for Oscars.

Robert Maday, a dangerous Illinois convict who escaped on Thursday was captured in West Chicago Friday noon after he crashed when trying to escape police in a Volkswagen Jetta he hijacked.

The global economy should recover from recession in the first half of 2010, but it will take time for unemployment levels to decline, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said.

The world economic downturn has passed its low point, with financial markets rebounding, Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack said on Friday.

Christie's will offer for sale what it calls a Rembrandt masterpiece in December, and expects to fetch up to 25 million pounds ($41 million) in what would be an auction record for the artist.

Half a million people are expected to fill Havana's Revolution Square Sunday for a concert that is supposed to be about peace, but has become another front in the war of words between Havana and the Cuban exile community in Miami.

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune is poised to exit bankruptcy by the end of September after a federal bankruptcy judge approved a reorganization plan that gives ownership of Minnesota's largest newspaper to its senior lenders.

Taiwan's second-largest city is reconsidering plans to show a film about Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer over concerns it would upset China just weeks after the Dalai Lama's visit to the island, officials said on Friday.

United Technologies Corp on Friday said it would immediately modify the first stage fan blade tips of the F135 engine it builds for the Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter jet.

Aircraft leasing company AerCap Holdings said on Friday it would buy rival Genesis Lease Ltd for about $302.6 million in stock, giving it greater scale and access to more funds for aircraft purchases.

Robert Maday, an extremely armed and dangerous convict who escaped as he was transported to a hearing on a criminal case, was captured on Friday around noon after getting into a crash in Rolling Meadows, Ill, ABC7.com reported.

U.S. stocks rose on Friday as a brokerage upgrade of Procter & Gamble lifted shares of consumer staples companies, putting the market on track for a second week of gains.

Visteon Corp has sought U.S. Bankruptcy Court permission to drop contracts to supply auto interiors, fuel tanks, climate controls and lighting components to General Motors Co under a deal with the automaker that would give it more than $22 million.

With more requests than money, the U.S. Department of Energy faces the tough task of allocating more than $4 billion among hundreds of utilities that want to modernize the country's aging electricity grid.