IBT Staff Reporter

Lawyers for Bernard Madoff argued that a U.S. court erred in jailing him pending sentencing and will ask an appeals court to reinstate his bail and house arrest, according to court papers filed on Friday.

A longtime banking executive who sold his company to a Bank of America Corp predecessor is calling on other shareholders to oust the embattled Kenneth Lewis as chairman of the largest U.S. bank.

On March 13 Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) spokesperson announced that the three foreign aid workers held hostage in war-torn Darfur are ‘in good health’ and unharmed.

Some Federal Reserve insiders are breaking ranks in alarm over action by the U.S. central bank to tackle the credit crisis, but this unusually blunt display of dissent will not force a reversal in policy.

Oil fell toward $46 a barrel on Friday, as bearish demand forecasts outweighed the potential for OPEC agreeing to further production cuts at its weekend meeting.

Credit protection costs for Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc on Friday traded at a level more appropriate for a borderline junk-rated company or emerging market nations such as Turkey or Peru after Berkshire lost its AAA credit rating.

A man wanted for rape abducted his 5-year-old daughter in a light airplane and tried to smash it into a busy shopping center in a Brazilian city, missing it but killing them both, police said on Friday.

Insolvent German chipmaker Qimonda will continue talks with potential investors beyond March and will reduce production to standby-mode by the end of this month, according to its insolvency administrator.

Widely used methods of automated forecasting for production and inventory control contribute to the severity of recessions. We describe an approach to forecasting that should reduce the damage caused by the use of current statistical packages when encountering a substantial change in business conditions.

NASA said there is a high probability of sending its shuttle Discovery to the international space station on Sunday after delaying it for over a month while they fixed a fuel leak.

Surfers on the Internet are at increasing risk from governments and corporations tracking the sites they visit to build up a picture of their activities, the founder of the World Wide Web said on Friday.

Mikhail Fridman has won some of the fiercest battles in Russia's corporate history but his five-year row with Norway's Telenor comes to a head on foreign soil, as his fortune shrinks in the global downturn.

Bank of America Corp investor Jerry Finger and his family is calling on other shareholders to vote to replace Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis as chairman of the board.

Oil fell $1 on Friday to below $46 as the stock market dropped and traders awaited OPEC's meeting this weekend.

New York State Supreme Court Justice Bernard Fried said at the end of a hearing on Friday that he would issue a ruling within the next week in a legal tussle between New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and Bank of America Corp , which bought Merrill on January 1. The judge will rule whether the names of 200 top bonus earners at Merrill Lynch & Co should be kept confidential.

NEW YORK - U.S. stocks fell on Friday as uncertainty about how the government will help clean up bank balance sheets tempered earlier optimism and hurt financial shares, while large-cap techs weighed.

Switzerland, Austria and Luxembourg offered to relax strict bank secrecy in some tax evasion cases on Friday in a response to a global crackdown on tax havens that is rattling the offshore banking industry.

U.S. stocks fell on Friday as uncertainty about how the government will help clean up bank balance sheets tempered earlier optimism and hurt financial shares, while large-cap techs weighed.

Top White House economic adviser Lawrence Summers on Friday called for the United States to lead a global effort to improve regulatory standards and warned against allowing regulators to compete against one another.

Stocks fell in choppy trade on Friday as financial shares retreated and a drop in big-cap technology shares derailed Wall Street's attempt to notch up a fourth straight day of gains.

A judge said he expects to rule by the end of next week on whether the names of top bonus recipients at Merrill Lynch & Co should remain confidential.

Switzerland, Austria and Luxembourg offered to relax strict bank secrecy in some tax evasion cases on Friday in a response to a global crackdown on tax havens that is rattling the offshore banking industry.

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett saw his net worth plunge 40 percent in 2008 as his holdings tumbled along with the rest of the market. Meanwhile, his annual salary remained $100,000 for the 28th straight year.

U.S. consumers' mood grew less grim in March, according to a survey released on Friday, while the latest figures showed the U.S. trade deficit narrowed in January to its smallest in more than six years.

Hong Kong shares jumped 4.4 percent in its fourth day of gains on Friday, leading the main index to its best weekly rise in a month and a half, with China stocks outperforming as investors continued to cheer hints of economic recovery in the mainland.

From the fire of the festival to the lure of literature, the island of Ireland boasts a rich tapestry of arts, cultural activities, best sounds of music and nature's best friend, fascinating heritage...

The Dow and the S&P 500 stock indexes rose for a fourth straight day on Friday after Citigroup said it did not need any more government aid, bolstering hopes that stabilization is returning to banking.

Mints around the world say demand for gold coins has risen sharply as interest in the precious metal soars on the back of financial instability and concerns over the inflation outlook.

Clothing maker American Apparel Inc said on Friday that it got about $80 million in financing from British private equity firm Lion Capital LLP.