IBT Staff Reporter

Rating agency Moody's warned on Monday it may cut the triple-A ratings of France, the United Kingdom and Austria while it downgraded the ratings of Italy, Portugal, Spain, Slovakia, Slovenia and Malta.

The cat, now named as Shanks, was greeted by thousands of cheering fans during last week's Liverpool-Tottenham Hotspur English Premier League match. Shanks is now housed at an animal rescue centre in Mereyside, north-west England.

Tributes to Whitney Houston helped Sunday's 54th Annual Grammy Awards draw more than 39 million viewers, the second-largest audience ever for the show, according to preliminary numbers.

A U.S. market regulator is for now dropping insider trading cases against three Swiss asset managers, despite accusations that two of the defendants improperly thwarted its investigation, including by throwing out a BlackBerry.

U.S. and European regulators approved Google Inc's $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility and said they would keep a sharp eye on the web search giant to ensure patents critical to the telecom industry would be licensed at fair prices.

The morning after Clive Davis' Grammy party turned into a celebratory tribute, details surrounding the death of Whitney Houston began to emerge.

Adele's distinctive voice was born again and Whitney Houston was mourned on Sunday in a Grammy Awards show packed with triumphant comebacks and fond farewells.

Independent Chicago broker R.J. O'Brien, which got more former accounts from bankrupt rival MF Global than any other merchant, built on that success in December, while other brokers lost some of that extra business, data showed on Monday.

Europe gave Greece until Wednesday to convince skeptical international creditors that it would stick to the punishing terms of a multi-billion-euro rescue package, endorsed by parliament as rioters torched downtown Athens.

The Obama administration on Monday proposed hiring more prosecutors to pursue intellectual property crimes in the new budget as the entertainment industry pressures the Justice Department to crack down on copyright infringement and counterfeiting.

Apple Inc once again rewarded shareholders richly as its shares surged to new highs above $500 on Monday. There is, though, one part of the iPhone and iPad company's business that is not exactly humming: Its management of a pile of money now probably exceeding $100 billion.

Apple Inc once again rewarded shareholders richly as its shares surged to new highs above $500 on Monday. There is, though, one part of the iPhone and iPad company's business that is not exactly humming: Its management of a pile of money now probably exceeding $100 billion.

U.S. and European regulators approved Google Inc's $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility on Monday and said they would keep a sharp eye on the web search giant to ensure patents critical to the telecom industry would be licensed at fair prices.

Republican leaders in the House of Representatives, in an about face, proposed on Monday extending a payroll tax cut for 160 million workers without offsetting spending cuts.

The White House on Monday proposed big budget boosts for U.S. financial market regulators, which are months behind in finalizing Dodd-Frank reforms and are under pressure to more vigorously police markets in the wake of the 2007-2009 financial crisis.

The Dallas-based company will now charge $36 to upgrade a phone compared to $18 previously.

Coroners on Sunday completed their autopsy on the body of singer Whitney Houston and confirmed that she was found in the bathtub of her Beverly Hills hotel room, but said the cause of death would not be determined until more lab tests were completed.

Sony Music executives will meet this week in New York to determine a strategy for marketing the nine albums, soundtracks and compilations that feature Whitney Houston, the pop singer who died on Saturday at age 48, according to two people familiar with the plans.

Ratings agencies Fitch lowered its ratings on four big Spanish banks while Standard & Poor's cut its rating for the industry as a whole on Monday following recent sovereign downgrades and on concerns of funding difficulties and a weak economy.

Ratings agencies Fitch lowered its ratings on four big Spanish banks while Standard & Poor's cut its rating for the industry as a whole on Monday following recent sovereign downgrades and on concerns of funding difficulties and a weak economy.

Big U.S. manufacturers moved their production out of the country too quickly over the past decades and now see a competitive advantage in building up their footprints back home, top executives said on Monday.

General Electric Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt on Monday defended the U.S. Export-Import Bank against charges the export-facilitating lender is corporate welfare and should be shut down.

General Electric Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt on Monday defended the U.S. Export-Import Bank against charges the export-facilitating lender is corporate welfare and should be shut down.

Facebook diminishes shareholder rights with its dual-class share structure and limits the accountability of its board of directors to investors, proxy advisory group Institutional Shareholder Services said on Monday.

Stocks rose on Monday, led by bank shares after Greece's parliament approved reforms needed to qualify for a cash disbursement and avoid an unruly default.

Stocks extended gains on Monday, with the Nasdaq rising one percent on strength in large-cap tech shares.

Two former Bear Stearns fund managers, who were acquitted of criminal charges over the demise of their mortgage-laden hedge funds, agreed on Monday to pay more than $1 million to resolve a civil lawsuit brought by market regulators.

A long, standing ovation greeted Italy's Mario Monti when he entered the packed Card Room on the seventh floor of the New York Stock Exchange last week.

The U.S. Department of Justice is expected to approve of the transaction as early as this week.