IBT Staff Reporter

North Korea made the final preparations to launch a multistage rocket today, raising international tensions and sending worries through its nearest neighbor, Japan.

Chrysler LLC's lenders are in talks with the U.S. government to reduce the automaker's debt by swapping some of it out for equity, new debt or a lesser amount in cash, sources familiar with the talks said on Friday.

From cheering fans lining the streets to an adoring crowd packed into a sports arena, Obama-mania was in full swing in Europe on Friday.

President Obama said on the eve of a NATO summit meeting that U.S. needs to renew its partnership with Europe to boost up the NATO alliance.

Texas Instruments Inc has sued Citigroup Inc , Morgan Stanley and Bank of New York Mellon Corp , accusing the banks of misleading the chipmaker into buying $524 million of auction-rate securities that have become illiquid.

A judge extended a temporary freeze on the assets of Peter Madoff, brother of jailed swindler Bernard Madoff, on Friday, but agreed that he could have $10,000 a month in expenses.

Stocks rose on Friday, with the Dow marking its best four-week winning streak since 1933, lifted by robust results from Research in Motion and comments by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, who said the central bank will do everything it can to stabilize banks.

Continuing bonuses paid to employees at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are offensive since taxpayers are helping keep the mortgage-finance companies afloat, a leading Senate Republican said on Friday.

Stocks rose on Friday, with the Dow marking its best four-week winning streak since 1933, lifted by robust results from Research in Motion and comments by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, who said the central bank will do everything it can to stabilize banks.

President Barack Obama's pledge to boost IMF resources to help other crisis-hit economies could prove a tough sell for a Congress suffering from bailout fatigue and worried about mounting U.S. debt.

The U.S. unemployment rate soared to 8.5 percent last month, a 25-year high, as employers slashed jobs and cut workers' hours to the lowest level on record, the government said on Friday.

Tennessee Valley Authority, the largest public utility company in the U.S., agreed Thursday to buy up to 2,000 megawatts of electricity from renewable energy sources by 2011.

Top Federal Reserve officials pledged on Friday to use all the tools at their disposal to spur lending and a U.S. economic recovery, but warned a rebound could be slow in coming.

Oil prices settled above $52 a barrel on Friday, slightly lower on the day after a report that U.S. unemployment in March soared to a 25-year high.

Capital One Financial Corps rating was downgraded on Friday.

Microsoft's Virtual Earth has released the Virtual Earth Silverlight Map Control community technology preview (CTP) which supports video, animation, and vector graphics.

Ritz Camera Centers Inc has announced that it will close over 300 stores or 40% of its total stores in a court-supervised bankruptcy reorganization.

On Wednesday, internet traffic in Sweden dipped by around 40% percent as the country's new anti-file sharing measures came into force.

Nintendo is rolling out the next generation of its popular handheld gaming console in the United States on Sunday, pitching the product as more of an all-purpose social and entertainment device.

For chronic Facebook addicts, help is at hand. INQ Mobile, the handset arm of Hutchison Whampoa, promises to deliver status update messages from the popular social network site right to its phones' home screens.

The Federal Reserve’s programs to boost credit and liquidity in financial markets have more than doubled the size of the central bank’s balance sheet and it is set to grow much larger, Fed chief Ben Bernanke said today.

Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, is in New York on Friday to meet with hedge funds, private equity funds and pension groups to promote the government's plan to cleanse banks' balance sheets of toxic assets, a source familiar with the meeting said on Friday.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates will unveil his budget recommendations for fiscal year 2010 on Monday in a proposal likely to call for major changes in priorities, a defense official said on Friday.

Oil prices hovered above $52 a barrel on Friday, slightly lower on the day after a report that U.S. unemployment in March soared to a 25-year high.

Strong results from Research in Motion lifted technology shares on Friday, helping nudge U.S. stocks into positive territory despite grim employment and service sector data.

President Barack Obama called on Friday for a rebalancing of global capital flows and said nations had to work together to resolve the financial crisis or risk collective failure.

Ongoing bonuses paid to employees at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are offensive since taxpayers are helping keep the mortgage-finance companies afloat, a leading Senate Republican said on Friday.

The House and Senate Thursday approved President Obama' ambitious and expensive budget blueprints and endorsed a $3.5 trillion spending plan that would trim Obama's spending proposals for the fiscal year that begins in October.

Switzerland's National Bank said Friday that UBS has completed its final installment of toxic assets to a specially-created investment fund of $38.7 billion.