IBT Staff Reporter

President Barack Obama said on Friday the United States wants a new beginning with communist Cuba and was willing to work with its government on issues ranging from human rights to migration and the economy.

Herb Allison, who has been chief executive of Fannie Mae since it was seized by the government last September, has been tapped to oversee the $700 billion financial rescue fund aimed at restoring rattled markets, the White House said on Friday.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy was under fire Friday for allegedly saying U.S. President Barak Obama was not up to standard and Spain's Premier not very clever.

U.S. President Barack Obama stood by his auto task force head on Friday, saying Steven Rattner had not been accused of any wrongdoing related to an alleged pension kickback scheme in New York.

The U.S. tech sector's road to recovery may take a bit longer than expected, if mixed results reports from two of the largest players are a guide.

A week of Twitter mania culminated on Friday with actor Ashton Kutcher winning a popularity contest against cable news giant CNN on the Web platform and Oprah Winfrey sending her first tweet.

Prominent Wall Street economist, Henry Kaufman, said on Friday that the Federal Reserve allowed the global credit crisis to happen and must be redrawn as a tough regulator to stop big financial institutions from taking excessive risks.

Stocks rose on Friday, with the Dow scoring its biggest six-week gain since July 1938, helped by a reassuring report on the mood of consumers and stabilization in General Electric and Citigroup's quarterly results.

Herb Allison, who has been chief executive of Fannie Mae since it was seized by the government last September, has been tapped to oversee the $700 billion financial rescue fund conceived to restore rattled markets, the White House said on Friday.

The U.S. tech sector's road to recovery may take a bit longer than expected, if mixed results reports from two of the largest players are a guide.

The Federal Reserve allowed the global credit crisis to happen and must be redrawn as a tough regulator to stop big financial institutions from taking excessive risks, prominent Wall Street economist Henry Kaufman said on Friday.

California has a record unemployment rate of 11.2 percent following a rise in March rising from 10.6 percent a month earlier.

U.S. videogame makers are expected to shake off slack sales later this year as top titles like Harry Potter return, but investors may stay on pause until signs show a clear win.

Stocks rose on Friday, capping the S&P 500's longest weekly winning streak since 2007, helped by a reassuring report on the mood of consumers and stabilization in General Electric and Citigroup's quarterly results.

Ashton Kutcher has gone to beat CNN in gaining 1 million followers on the popular micro-blogging site, Twitter, in a battle between TV and Web media.

Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson said on Friday it plans to cut one in five jobs this year in its battle to return to profit as a sluggish market brought a hefty first-quarter loss, as expected.

The United Nations’ anti-racism conference will open on May 20 at Geneva, its European headquarters. Concerns rise that it might spark high tension and fall into clashes once again.

Citigroup reported better-than-expected results as an accounting benefit for distressed companies, cost-cutting and improved trading results helped offset red ink from consumer lending and credit cards.

Two influential investor advisory groups sharply rebuked Bank of America Corp Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis over his handling of the buyout of ailing Merrill Lynch & Co, recommending he be thrown off the bank's board at its upcoming annual meeting.

Leading Democratic senators and three of the largest U.S. banks are narrowing the scope of legislation that could let troubled homeowners avoid foreclosure through bankruptcy courts, several sources familiar with the negotiations said.

Stocks rose on Friday, capping the S&P 500's longest weekly winning streak since 2007, helped by a reassuring report on the mood of consumers and stabilization in General Electric and Citigroup's quarterly results.

Canadian police, acting on a tip-off from the United States, charged a Toronto man on Friday with trying to illegally export nuclear technology to Iran.

Human rights groups said on Friday the United States and the European Union should take part in next week's U.N. conference on racism now that diplomats have removed the most contentious sections of the conference declaration.

The founder of Thailand's yellow shirt political protest movement, which was behind the week-long occupation of Bangkok's main airports late last year, was shot and wounded early on Friday by unknown assailants.

The Obama administration opened the way to regulating U.S. greenhouse gas emissions on Friday by declaring climate-warming pollution a danger to human health and welfare, in a sharp policy shift from the Bush administration.

Farm ministers of the Group of Eight meeting in Italy this weekend aim to forge a strategy to secure food supplies and stabilize prices, as rich nations scramble for acreage abroad to feed their people.

Diplomats reached agreement on Friday on a declaration for next week's politically charged United Nations conference on racism, adding to the pressure on Washington and Brussels to decide whether to attend.

Stocks rose on Friday, capping the longest weekly winning streak since 2007, helped by a reassuring report on the mood of consumers and stabilization in General Electric and Citigroup's quarterly results.

Leaders from across the Americas gathered on Friday for a summit overshadowed by an intense debate over a possible reconciliation between the United States and Cuba and how this could be achieved.