IBT Staff Reporter

NASA has canceled Saturday's launch attempt of space shuttle Endeavour on a construction mission to the International Space Station to assess possible damage from overnight lightning strikes, officials said.

Volkswagen has sweetened its bid to purchase almost half of sports car maker Porsche AG and is prepared to offer considerably more than 4 billion euros ($5.58 billion), Germany's Der Spiegel reported.

The tax-evasion case first gained notoriety in June last year, when it was revealed that a former UBS AG banker once smuggled a client's diamonds into the United States in a toothpaste tube to avoid detection by U.S. authorities.

U.S. President Barack Obama told Africans on Saturday that Western aid must be matched by good governance and urged them to take greater responsibility for stamping out war, corruption and disease plaguing the continent.

President Barack Obama in a response to criticism that his administration's $787 billion stimulus bill has failed to help pull the economy out of the recession said the Recovery Act has worked as intended.

A court hearing scheduled for Monday to determine who will get temporary guardianship of Michael Jackson's children has been moved to July 20 at the request of Katherine Jackson and Debbie Rowe.

Petrochemical firm Saudi Basic Industries Corp said on Saturday Chinese authorities have approved an equally-owned joint-venture plant with Sinopec.

Sanofi Aventis has recalled three cough mixtures for babies and children in France after traces of a toxic substance were discovered in a bottle, the French health authority said on its website on Saturday.

Discount retailer 99 Cents Only Stores expects that middle and upper income customers who helped boost its first-quarter sales will continue shopping there after the recession, the company's chief executive said on Friday.

Michael Jackson's father said on Friday he suspected foul play in the death of his pop star son, as lawyers disclosed talks aimed at settling guardianship of the singer's two children with his ex-wife.

The following is the full prepared statement of President Obama's speech in Accra, Ghana on July 11, 2009 as presented by the White House, according to the Associated Press.

Volkswagen has improved an offer to buy almost half of Porsche, a magazine reported on Saturday, a deal that would reverse an ambitious bid by the luxury carmaker for VW that unraveled in the crisis.

Actor Ryan Reynolds has been cast as the DC Universe's most popular Green Lantern, Hal Jordan in the live-action film.

Shuttle Endeavour is ready for liftoff for its latest mission to space on Saturday; however, forecasters are predicting a 60 percent chance of afternoon and evening thunderstorms and electrical activity that could cause another delay.

Italy's Roberto Nocentini took the overall lead at the Tour de France by six seconds on Friday while Spain's Alberto Contador sprinted to second place in the last kilometers of the 7th stage, two seconds ahead of Lance Armstrong of the U.S.

Under normal circumstances, Goldman Sachs Group Inc might be afforded a moment of gloating as it struts toward what could be a banner earnings announcement just nine months after being roiled by Wall Street's worse crisis since the Great Depression.

North Korea's military is behind a series of cyber attacks against South Korean and U.S. websites that slowed or disabled access by saturating them with traffic this week, a South Korean news report said on Saturday.

The issue of reserve currencies and the reform of the international monetary regime will probably not take place at the Group Eight Summit (G8) with the so-called Group Five (G5) nations, despite the calls from China and other countries, according to industry experts.

A former lawyer was found guilty on Friday of a broad conspiracy in the fraud that caused the 2005 collapse of commodities broker Refco Finance Holdings LLC in a partial verdict by a jury whose deliberations became heated this week.

The Obama administration wants to give the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission broad powers to identify and ban compensation practices at investment brokers and advisers that interfere with their fiduciary duties to clients.

The biggest U.S. banks, including Wells Fargo & Co. and Bank of America Corp., JP Morgan Chase and Citibank announced plans to stop exchanging the registered warrants for cash after Friday.

U.S. consumers' moods soured in early July on persistent worries about jobs, a survey showed on Friday, offering little hope their spending will help the sputtering economic recovery.

The British newspaper arm of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp denied on Friday allegations its journalists had hacked into the phones of thousands of public figures, following days of damning headlines.

A new General Motors emerged from bankruptcy protection on Friday -- far more quickly than most industry watchers had expected -- as a leaner automaker pledging to win back American consumers and pay back taxpayers.

U.S. President Barack Obama warned Iran on Friday the world will not wait indefinitely for it to end its nuclear defiance, saying Tehran had until September to comply or else face consequences.

The U.S. Treasury said on Friday that State Street Corp. paid $60 million to buy back stock warrants, becoming the first of the largest U.S. banks to completely free itself from the government's financial bailout program.

California has enough cash available to pay its priority bill through September thanks to the IOUs it has been issuing, but it may not be able to make payments in October due to the state's budget crisis, the state controller's office said on Friday.

The G8 summit in L'Aquila, Italy, concluded on Friday.The U.S. Energy Department announced on Friday it will deploy funds of more than $589 million for energy efficiency and weatherization programs. Continental Automotive awarded for production of lithium-ion batteries.

Altria Group Inc said it will seek a further review of a federal jury verdict against it that threw out $24 million in tax refunds from investments in utilities and other assets.