IBT Staff Reporter

A woman has been reunited with her son via social networking site Facebook, 27 years after he was 'kidnapped' by his father.

Oil rose to a six-month high above $66 per barrel on Friday, on track for its largest monthly percentage gain in more than a decade, after U.S., Japanese and Indian data suggested the economic downturn may be easing.

Defaults on privately insured U.S. mortgages fell to a six-month low in April, providing evidence that deterioration in the nation's housing market may be slowing.

The International Space Station's crew now has six members for the first time in its 10-year history, after a Russian capsule carrying three astronauts docked at the orbiting outpost on Friday.

The two largest U.S. cable operators expect slower customer growth in the current quarter across all their products when compared with the first quarter.

U.S. stocks were mostly flat on Friday as rising oil prices lifted energy stocks and investors digested a mixed bag of data, including regional business activity and consumer sentiment.

President Barack Obama said on Friday he would name a top cybersecurity official to the White House as he released a report that recommended how to safeguard the nation's cyber network.

Canadian auto parts group Magna has reached a preliminary deal with General Motors Corp to invest in Opel, boosting hopes for a deal with the U.S. and German governments to save the carmaker.

Auto parts maker Magna International took pole position in the battle for General Motors' German unit, Opel, after reaching what sources said was a preliminary deal with GM.

Spanish firm Gamesa confirmed it is keeping its wind turbine sales guidance for 2009 with a combined capacity to produce between 3,300 and 3,600 megawatts in electricity.

Canadian car parts group Magna has reached a preliminary deal with General Motors to invest in its German unit Opel, sources close to the negotiations told Reuters on Friday.

The U.S. dollar fell to five-month lows against a basket of currencies on Friday as an advance in global equities and signs of an easing global recession drove investors to snap up higher-yielding currencies and riskier assets.

Stocks were mostly flat on Friday as rising oil prices lifted energy stocks and investors digested a mixed bag of data, including regional business activity and consumer sentiment.

Tiffany & Co posted a 62 percent drop in quarterly earnings on Friday, worse than Wall Street had expected, as jewelry sales languished in the recession.

Canadian car parts group Magna has reached a preliminary deal with General Motors to invest in its German unit Opel, sources close to the negotiations told Reuters on Friday.

The Federal Housing Administration will allow the new $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit to be applied directly toward home purchase costs when using an FHA-insured mortgage, the Department of Housing and Urban Development said on Friday.

Optimism over the U.S. government's stimulus programs to combat the recession lifted consumer confidence in May to its highest level in eight months, a survey released on Friday showed.

Time Warner Cable Inc, the second largest U.S. cable operator, said on Friday it is seeing slowing customer growth in the current quarter across all its products when compared with the first quarter.

Citigroup Funding Inc and Citibank NA, units of Citigroup Inc, on Thursday jointly sold $5 billion of FDIC-guaranteed notes in four parts, said IFR, a Thomson Reuters service. Citigroup was the sole bookrunning manager for the sale.

General Motors and Canadian auto parts group Magna International have reached an agreement in principle that could rescue ailing German carmaker Opel, sources close to the negotiations said on Friday.

Europe's drugs watchdog has recommended that restrictions on the use of UCB's drug Neupro for Parkinson's disease and restless leg syndrome should be lifted, boosting sales prospects for the medicine.

The Agricultural Bank of China is set to open in New York and London, building a round-the-clock commodity trading team and taking global Beijing's ambition to be a major force on commodity markets.

U.S. President Barack Obama is likely to hear Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah air his worries about the festering Arab-Israeli conflict and rising Iranian influence when he visits Riyadh next week.

Toronto-Dominion Bank's investment management unit said it plans to terminate three mutual funds, citing reduced investment opportunities and falling client demand due to changes to the tax-treatment of income trust securities.

Japan's biggest refiner, Nippon Oil Corp, plans to refine 4 percent less crude in June from a year ago, a company executive said on Friday, as domestic demand for oil products remains sluggish.

British drug firm GlaxoSmithKline Plc is in talks to buy a 51 percent stake in India's unlisted Shantha Biotech after prospective bidder Sanofi Aventis dropped out, the Economic Times said on Friday.

More than 20,000 Tamil civilians were killed in the final days of Sri Lanka's military operation to defeat Tamil Tigers rebels, The Times newspaper reported on Friday.

David Sokol, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc's (BRKa.N) MidAmerican Energy Holdings and a contender to succeed Warren Buffett, warned that the U.S. housing market still has a ways to go before bottoming out.

The United Auto Workers will emerge from a General Motors Corp restructuring as the second-largest stockholder in the reorganized automaker and with a more direct stake in its success, union President Ron Gettelfinger said on Thursday.