IBT Staff Reporter

Advances in media and technology give teenagers and kids an advantage in making better ads.

U.S. securities regulators on Friday sued a partnership and one of its founders, alleging they made bogus offers to buy such well-known entities as Sony Corp. and Playboy Enterprises Inc. in an effort to manipulate their stock prices.

U.S. telecommunications company AT&T Inc. said on Friday it will buy rural wireless carrier Dobson Communications Corp. for $2.8 billion in cash to expand its reach in rural and suburban markets.

KBR Inc. and its former corporate parent Halliburton Co. have been sued by four women claiming they suffered sexual harassment and, in two cases rape, by co-workers while working for KBR in Iraq, the Houston Chronicle reported on its website Friday.

Investors are hoping the coming week brings some answers to the question of whether an improving U.S. economy unleashes inflationary forces, and one place to look will be in the June payrolls data.

U.S. stocks fell on Friday as banks and brokers retreated on concerns about the impact of tightening credit on takeovers and the subprime mortgage industry.

United Auto Workers union members have approved a deal that gives Delphi Corp. concessions on wages, benefits and plant closings that the auto parts maker has said it must have to exit bankruptcy.

Central bank holdings of U.S. dollars continue to mount, despite talk of diversification into other currencies, but questions remain about the sustainability of the rise in dollar reserves.

Shares of NewWest Gold Corp. soared more than 30 percent on Friday, after NewWest and Fronteer Development Group said late on Thursday that Fronteer may buy the Nevada-focused gold explorer in a share swap.

Scared by losses at two hedge funds that invested in securities backed by home loans, investors in securities backed by mortgages, junk bonds, and other assets are demanding more protection for the first time in years.

Wall Street underwriters kept busy in the second quarter, yet ebbing investor appetite for lower-rated debt and riskier assets may dampen their summer.

Ford Motor Co. is ahead of where it expected to be in reducing an overhang of excess production capacity at this point in its turnaround effort and has made encouraging progress in stabilizing its U.S. market share, a senior executive said on Friday.

Shares of Office Depot Inc. fell nearly 5 percent on Friday, a day after the office supplies retailer said a soft U.S. economy will hurt its domestic sales and quarterly earnings.

Bank regulators tightened standards for mortgage lending on Friday in a bid to curtail risky practices that have been blamed for a record level of foreclosures.

Sanofi-Aventis SA is withdrawing its application to sell obesity drug rimonabant -- its biggest new drug hope -- in the United States, the French drugmaker said on Friday.

In a sign of the growing influence that restaurants have on how and where consumers spend their money, a major retail trade group has included for the first time six restaurant companies on its list of the top 100 retailers, released on Friday.

Shares of Apple Inc. and AT&T Inc. firmed more than 1 percent on Friday ahead of the release of the iPhone, amid expectations of growing demand for advanced, multi-feature wireless devices.

Commerce Bancorp Inc. on Friday announced the sudden departure of Chairman and Chief Executive Vernon Hill and said it had agreed with federal regulators on governance changes after coming under fire for its business dealings with insiders.

Oil rose to $71 a barrel on Friday as investors focused on falling gasoline inventories in top consumer the United States and a regional drop in crude stocks.

Japanese officials gathered on Friday to commemorate the latest step in the nation’s agriculture export push, as Japan resumed rice shipments to China this week following a four year ban.

A founder of payment processor NETeller Plc pleaded guilty on Friday to a conspiracy charge over the handling of billions of dollars in illegal gambling proceeds.

The filmmaker said he was barred from the New York Stock Exchange for an interview.

Liz Claiborne Inc. President Trudy Sullivan is leaving the company to become the chief executive of Talbots Inc., the apparel companies said on Friday.

A California judge has dismissed misdemeanor fraud charges against Hewlett-Packard Co.'s former ethics chief and two private investigators involved in the computer maker's hunt for the source of boardroom leaks, a prosecutor said on Friday.

Apple Inc.'s iPhone hits store shelves on Friday in a consumer spectacle that has whipped gadget fans into a frenzy over a device that challenges business as usual in the mobile phone industry.

Forty-five years ago, Private First Class Joe Dresnok got fed up with the U.S. Army and decided to try his luck on the other side of the demilitarized zone, in North Korea.

NBC Universal Chief Executive Jeff Zucker has said the General Electric Co.-owned media group was constrained from matching News Corp.'s $5 billion bid for Dow Jones & Co. Inc. due to the size of the premium.

Marriott International Inc., the top U.S. hotel operator, said on Friday it would more than triple its hotel portfolio in India by the end of 2010 as it cashes in on rising business and leisure travel.

The yen faced fresh losses on Friday, while bonds were flat as investors put this week's wave of risk aversion behind them, comforted by a relatively neutral statement from the Federal Reserve.