IBT Staff Reporter

Italy's government faces a confidence vote in parliament on Friday, called to speed up approval of a 33-billion euro ($43 billion) austerity package intended to restore financial market confidence in the euro zone's third largest economy.

China's top online video firm, Youku.com, said on Friday it has initiated legal proceedings against rival Tudou Holdings for allegedly infringing on the copyright of its videos.

Stock index futures pointed to a higher open for equities on Wall Street on Friday, with futures for the S&P 500, for the Dow Jones and for the Nasdaq 100 rising 0.3 to 0.6 percent.

World stocks rose on Friday after upbeat U.S. data and corporate results, while concerns over the European banking sector and nervousness about potential ratings downgrades in European sovereign debt underpinned German government bonds.

The Beijing city government announced Friday users of popular Chinese microblogging sites like Sina's Weibo must register with their real personal information and have three months to comply.

The Beijing city government announced on Friday users of popular Chinese microblogging sites like Sina's Weibo must register with their real personal information and have three months to comply.

Japan has signaled plans to strengthen disclosure rules on mergers and acquisitions after a $1.7 billion accounting fraud at Olympus Corp, one of the nation's worst corporate scandals, which involved a series of shady deals.

Finnish gaming firm Rovio, creator of Angry Birds, the world's most popular computer game, is planning an initial public offering on the Hong Kong stock exchange in 2013, Finnish weekly Tekniikka&Talous reported on Friday.

LightSquared's prospects for getting its wireless network off the ground were dealt another blow this week as U.S. government tests found that the signal of the telecom startup would cause harmful interference to a majority of GPS devices.

A top U.S. Federal Reserve official on Thursday defended the central bank's decision to provide dollars for overseas banks stressed by Europe's debt crisis, saying the action was needed to protect the U.S. economy.

- - The surprise resignation of Cablevision System Corp's top cable executive Tom Rutledge sparked Wall Street and investor speculation on Thursday that the Dolan family controlled company could become an acquisition target.

Accenture Plc posted strong quarterly results but the technology outsourcing and consulting company's cautious view of the second quarter amid the worsening global economy sent its shares down after market.

Software maker Adobe Systems Inc, the maker of Photoshop and Acrobat software, released quarterly results that beat Wall Street projections, sending its shares up 3 percent.

Fitch Ratings, the third-biggest of the major credit rating agencies, downgraded seven global banks based in Europe and the United States, citing "increased challenges" in the financial markets.

Amgen Inc , the world's largest biotechnology company, said Chief Executive Officer Kevin Sharer will retire next May, and be replaced by Chief Operating Officer Bob Bradway.

Prosecutors are asking a federal judge to rule that financier Allen Stanford has regained competence and can stand trial over an alleged $7.2 billion Ponzi scheme.

Shares of Olympus tumbled as much as 11.4 percent on Friday as the company prepares to meet its creditors later in the day.

Fitch Ratings on Thursday downgraded six global banks as part of its review of the ratings of the world's largest financial institutions.

The top U.S. market regulator is appealing a judge's rejection of a major Citigroup Inc civil securities fraud settlement, according to court papers filed on Thursday.

The Minnesota Twins added some power to their lineup by signing free-agent outfielder Josh Willingham to a three-year deal worth $21 million, the Major League Baseball (MLB) club said on Thursday.

Chevron Corp will stay the course in Brazil even as that country said it has filed a massive $11 billion lawsuit related to an offshore oil spill, a top company executive said on Thursday.

Lady Gaga towered over other female musicians in 2011, heading a list of top earning women with an estimated $90 million in income, according to a Forbes.com survey released on Wednesday.

No country is immune from an escalating euro zone crisis and each one must act to head off the risk of a global depression, the head of the International Monetary Fund said on Thursday.

Empire Co Ltd's Sobeys grocery chain is expanding its high-margin retail gasoline business in Eastern Canada, announcing plans on Thursday to buy 250 gas stations from Shell Canada.

Canadian industries are operating at a production capacity that is approaching pre-recession levels and the housing market remains strong, according to data on Thursday that offered the prospect of steady, if slower, economic growth.

The whistleblower in Japan's Olympus Corp scandal, ex-CEO Michael Woodford, blasted Japanese shareholders on Thursday for failing to stand up for him, amid signs that domestic and foreign investors are split over his campaign to be reinstated.

The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits fell to a 3-1/2-year low last week and factory activity in parts of the Northeast gained speed in December, suggesting a further strengthening of the economic recovery.

Research In Motion posted a 27 percent drop in quarterly profit on Thursday and said it would likely ship between 11 million and 12 million BlackBerry smartphones in the weeks around Christmas, the first decline in years for that historically strong period.

Bill Gross's PIMCO Total Return Fund, the world's largest bond fund, keeps shrinking as investors look to put their money with some of his competitors.