IBT Staff Reporter

Forest products company Weyerhaeuser Co on Friday posted a wider second-quarter loss, hurt by weak demand from the construction industry, but results topped Wall Street expectations.

Searches for the naked video of ESPN reporter Erin Andrews have surged to the top of the Google Hot Trends list last weekend. Erin Andrews has become new internet sensation.

U.S. stocks edged higher on Friday, helped by an improving outlook for business activity in the U.S. Midwest in July.

Standard Chartered is set to buy Royal Bank of Scotland's retail and small and medium enterprises operations in India, China and Malaysia for about $250 million, the Economic Times said on Friday, citing two unnamed sources familiar with the deal.

The U.S. economy probably contracted again in the second quarter, pressured by a huge inventory liquidation, but the pace of decline likely slowed from previous periods, according to a Reuters survey.

The United States and UBS AG have reached an agreement in principle to settle their dispute over U.S. demands for the names of thousands of wealthy Americans suspected of using the Swiss bank to evade taxes, a U.S. Justice Department attorney said on Friday.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Friday there had been an agreement in principle with Switzerland over a tax case involving Swiss bank UBS .

Austria's Takeover Commission on Friday granted Deutsche Lufthansa AG's request to extend a deadline for its planned takeover of Austrian Airlines AG, paving the way for completion of the deal.

Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom hopes this year to agree with U.S. energy major ExxonMobil Corp over gas supplies to a new far eastern pipeline, a senior Gazprom executive said on Friday.

Top U.S. auto dealership group AutoNation Inc posted a 29-percent drop in quarterly earnings but forecast an improving U.S. vehicle market after slashing inventory costs and seeing a sharp gain in July sales.

German carmaker Audi's cash pile grew over the first half of the year, and now accounts for nearly 80 percent of parent Volkswagen's war chest.

Continental AG won a vote to repair its stretched finances but may lose its chief executive and faces pressure to sell its tires business as a power struggle with its main shareholder drags on.

Economy stabilizing, Tax Row Deal, Chevron's plunge

The U.S. government's $1 billion cash for clunkers auto sales incentive program reached its funding limit unexpectedly after an avalanche of business exhausted its funds, an Obama administration official said late Thursday.

The recession has delivered a disproportionate blow to blacks and Hispanics, yet minorities may be more optimistic about the economy than most Americans and many feel they have earned a place at the corporate table.

U.S. employment costs rose by a bigger-than-expected 0.4 percent in the second quarter, as the deep recession and high unemployment held back worker pay and benefits, a Labor Department report showed on Friday.

Utility company American Electric Power said its earnings during the second quarter surged to $316 million or 67 cents per share, a 12 percent increase from its earnings in the same period last year, of $281 million or 70 cents per share.

Eating omega-3-rich seafood may be a mood-lifter for women who are feeling depressed during pregnancy, suggests a study of British women.

Hundreds of red-shirt supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra rallied Friday, aiming to win more than a million signatures for a petition seeking a royal pardon for the fugitive leader.

Japan's main ruling party, facing possible defeat in elections next month, tried to upstage the opposition on Friday with its own policy pledges to boost household income and revive the struggling economy.

The de facto Honduran government insisted Thursday that it would not allow ousted President Manuel Zelaya to return to office, dampening hopes of a deal to end a political crisis after last month's coup.

A Myanmar court on Friday postponed the verdict in the high-profile trial of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to August 11, her lawyer said.

California's new budget deal may brake the recent decline in the state's rating but the one-time nature of many of the measures taken to close a $24 billion deficit leave the state in bad shape, Moody's Investors Service said on Thursday.

Stocks headed for a lower open on Friday after data showed the U.S. economy contracted for the fourth straight quarter and consumer spending dropped sharply, fanned fears that a recovery would be weak.

Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned his political rivals on Friday that their efforts to drive a wedge between him and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would come to nothing.

U.S. President Barack Obama directed federal agencies on Thursday to enact new rules governing federally funded research on human embryonic stem cells.

Teaching new mothers how to breastfeed could save 1.3 million children's lives every year, but many women get no help and give up trying, the World Health Organization said on Friday.

The Aussie experienced a stunning turnaround in Asia yesterday rallying consistently throughout the day from 0.8140 to enter offshore exchange back above 82 cents. The local housing market continues to prove resilient as building approvals and housing finance data both came in higher than expected.

Two Boston groups offered early bids on Thursday to buy the Boston Globe from The New York Times Co, the Globe reported on Friday