IBT Staff Reporter

Two U.S. journalists will be tried by North Korea on June 4 on accusations of illegal entry and hostile acts.

About $1 billion has been recovered to pay back the defrauded customers of swindler Bernard Madoff, but settlements in the coming weeks will boost the number significantly, the trustee winding down the Madoff firm said on Thursday.

U.S. securities regulators plan tougher rules to hold investment advisers more accountable for their clients' money following money manager Bernard Madoff's massive fraud of as much as $65 billion over two decades.

Ford Motor Co's restructuring is on track to bring a profit as soon as 2011, without the need for emergency government bridge loans, executives told stockholders on Thursday at the automaker's annual meeting.

Stocks rose on Thursday as a resurgent appetite for riskier equities fueled a rebound in the financial and technology sectors as investors were tempted back into the market after a recent pullback.

It was relatively easy for the Obamastration to dispense with a band of rogue hedge funds that were worrying the impending Chrysler-Fiat alliance. Once the names of the holdout creditors were made public, their revolt was crushed by public opinion. They used to be so, so cool, but we all hate hedge funds now.

The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday announced changes to encourage mortgage lenders to slash loan payments in the worst-hit markets and use so-called short sales to extract troubled home owners from unaffordable mortgages.

Pope Benedict practiced dialogue and diplomacy on Thursday, discussing Iran's threats against Israel with the Jewish state's prime minister and singing a peace song at an inter-faith meeting with Muslims and Jews.

A proposed alliance between AMR Corp's American Airlines and British Airways would create a monster monopoly, British entrepreneur Richard Branson said on Thursday.

President Barack Obama warned graduating students on Wednesday not to follow in the footsteps of swindler Bernard Madoff as they enter the workforce and look for jobs.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc reported a flat quarterly profit that met Wall Street expectations on Thursday as the stronger U.S. dollar offset increased sales from shoppers seeking deals in its stores amid a global economic slowdown.

North Korea said on Thursday it would put two U.S. journalists it arrested in March on trial on June 4, ratcheting up tension with Washington after a rocket launch and a threat to conduct a nuclear test.

Japan's Konica Minolta Holdings said on Thursday it planned to expand its range of high-tech film for LCD panels in a move to broaden its customer base.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc reported a flat quarterly profit on Thursday as its low prices attracted shoppers amid a global economic slowdown, but the retailer's results suffered from the stronger U.S. dollar.

Japan should hold an election in July and appeal to voters with promises of more public spending for the recession-hit economy, former prime minister Shinzo Abe said on Thursday amid signs of a tough election battle ahead.

The World Trade Organization's top court issued a mixed ruling on Thursday in a case involving U.S. treatment of unfairly priced imports but urged the United States to comply with previous WTO rulings in the dispute.

Stocks rose on Thursday, lifted by a rebound in technology shares, while a surprisingly big rise in weekly jobless claims brought new worries about the economy and pushed defensive shares higher.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc , which sent global markets into a tailpsin after filing for bankruptcy in September 2008, is looking at spinning off its remaining assets, the Wall Street Journal said in an unsourced article.

The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits rose more than expected last week, government data showed on Thursday, pushed up by auto plant shutdowns related to Chrysler's bankruptcy.

The completion of an Israeli strategic missile shield underwritten by the United States has been called into question as the budget-strapped Pentagon eyes a U.S. alternative.

Chrysler LLC plans to shed 789 of its U.S. 3,200 dealerships, many located in the suburbs of major U.S. cities, it said in a bankruptcy court filing Thursday.

Thousands of civilians under rebel fire waded across a lagoon to escape Sri Lanka's war zone, where government forces have surrounded Tamil Tiger separatists for the final battle of a 25-year conflict, the military and a U.N. official said.

Corrects fifth paragraph to losses instead of lawsuits

Pakistan will defeat the Taliban militarily but could lose the public relations war if it fails to help the hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the fighting, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani said on Thursday.

The largest solar deal in the world to date was announced between California utility Pacific Gas and Electric Co and solar firm BrightSource Energy Inc. on Wednesday, for a total of 1,310 megawatts of clean energy.

Wachovia Capital Markets upgraded Johnson Controls Inc to outperform, saying the auto parts maker was well positioned to generate strong earnings growth in 2010 and beyond.

Colombia's state oil company Ecopetrol said on Thursday it could seek up it $3.7 billion in debt this year, including issuing bonds on the international market, and is studying other types of credit.

Two decades after his downfall and four years after his death, reformist Chinese leader Zhao Ziyang has broken the official silence on the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown, denouncing the killings of protesters as a tragedy.

Stocks rose on Thursday, underpinned by a rebound in technology shares, while renewed concerns about the economy boosted defensive stocks.