IBT Staff Reporter

The 2007 holiday shopping season kicked off on Friday with crowds of shoppers, many braving the bitter cold, snagging early bargains on one of the busiest shopping days of the year. Analysts expected moderate sales this year as consumers struggle with the slumping housing market, a credit crunch, rising food and fuel costs and uncertainty about their jobs.

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said on Friday that chances of a U.S. recession would be more than 50 percent if it were not for the remarkable flexibility of the economy.

A cache of Asian art, Chinese jade and porcelain goes under the hammer in Hong Kong next week at what global auction house Christie's expects will be another record-breaking sale in an apparently insatiable market.

The earliest known full-length portrait of Queen Elizabeth I, thought to have been commissioned to help the English monarch advertise herself to potential suitors, sold on Thursday for 2.6 million pounds ($5.3 million).

Five Hollywood studios have sued a Chinese online service and internet cafe they accuse of offering pirated downloads of Pirates of the Caribbean and other hit films, state media reported on Thursday.

A New York judge on Wednesday ordered a theater owner to reopen Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical despite a strike by stagehands that has shut down most of Broadway.

Naguib Sawiris, the billionaire head of Egyptian cell phone group Orascom Telecom, has approached Vivendi about a possible telecoms tie-up but the pair failed to agree on price, Les Echos said on Friday.

Chinese Intenet users see the Web as a key to socializing and sharing opinions

Singapore's Media Development Authority, which regulates and censors media and the arts, has scored an unexpected hit on YouTube with a rap video about the city-state's media ambitions.

South Korea's parliament voted on Friday to allow an independent counsel investigate the Samsung Group after a former top legal executive accused the country's largest conglomerate of bribing public officials.

The credit crisis is putting pressure on investors -- even those who do not have to mark assets to market every quarter -- to cope with valuing complex securities when they cannot rely on market prices.

A North Carolina state judge rejected an attempt by Wal-Mart Stores Inc to block public access to certain court documents in a tax dispute with state authorities, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday in its online edition.

Bid target Rio Tinto is likely to focus on trumpeting its prospects as an independent firm rather than revealing defense tactics as it gives its first detailed response on Monday to an all-share takeover proposal from mining rival BHP Billiton. Rio, which has said BHP's three-for-one share proposal vastly undervalues the firm, will likely showcase the strength of its own assets during Monday's presentation, analysts said.

Japan's big automakers such as Toyota and Honda are expanding in the Middle East and other smaller markets.

The dollar plumbed record lows against major currencies on Friday and briefly got close to $1.50 to the euro as concerns about the U.S. economy rattled investors but Asian and European stocks advanced.

A near 20-percent correction has wiped 5 trillion yuan ($700 billion) off China's booming stock market in less than six weeks, and some global investment banks now hear the sound of a bubble bursting.

The euro set fresh record highs versus the dollar on Friday, but the $1.50 level proved out of reach for now as the euro was knocked more than a cent off its peak by comments from a euro zone policymaker.

Oil edged back up above $97 a barrel in thin trade on Friday, buoyed by the unrelenting decline in the U.S. dollar, while some OPEC members showed signs of stepping up output ahead of their policy meeting in two weeks.

Gold gained more than $6 an ounce on Friday as bargain hunting intensified after the U.S. dollar tumbled to record lows against the euro on expectations the Federal Reserve will slash interest rates next month.

The South Korean won's recent weakening against the U.S. dollar is seen as a natural phenomenon in line with globally-increased risk aversion, Vice Finance Minister Lim Young-rok said on Friday.

Thousands of people made homeless by Bangladesh's deadliest cyclone in 16 years scrambled for cover after rumors spread that a tsunami was about to hit the devastated coastline, officials and reporters said on Friday.

A bomb hidden in a box of birds killed 13 people and wounded 57 at a popular pet market in central Baghdad on Friday, police and witnesses said, describing the deadliest attack in the Iraqi capital in two months.

Lebanon's turmoil worsened on Friday with rival political camps failing to find a consensus that would allow parliament to choose a new head of state before pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud's term expires at midnight.

Almost all the 154 passengers and crew from a cruiseliner sinking in the Antarctic Ocean have escaped onto life rafts, a British coastguard spokesman said on Friday.

Exiled former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, the man President Pervez Musharraf deposed, is set to return to Pakistan from Saudi Arabia within days, aides said on Friday.

The holiday shopping season kicked off on Thursday even before the turkey was carved, as retailers, worried that gift buying may slow this year, posted special deals on their Web sites on Thanksgiving day. Numerous retailers, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc, Best Buy Co Inc and Circuit City Stores Inc, are offering special deals online.

UK union leaders at Ford Land Rover and Jaguar brands have voted to support a Tata Motors bid for the brands if Ford sells them, UK union Unite said.

China wants next month's international talks on global warming to focus on future greenhouse gas cuts by rich countries and moving more clean technology to poor countries, an official said on Thursday.

The U.N. nuclear watchdog chief said on Thursday Iran was clarifying atomic development efforts on schedule, countering Western doubts, but Tehran must step up cooperation to resolve remaining questions this year.