IBT Staff Reporter

Standard & Poor's plans to update its credit ratings for the world's 30 biggest banks within three weeks and may well mete out a few downgrades in the process, possibly surprising battered global bond markets.

Veteran talk show host Regis Philbin on Friday ended his run on the popular television program Live! with well-wishers including Mayor Michael Bloomberg stopping by to pay tribute to his nearly three decades on the daily show.

Over the past 15 years director-writer Alexander Payne has created a small but potent body of work that shows his talent for balancing comedy and drama including Sideways, which earned Payne a screenwriting Oscar, and About Schmidt.

Banks in London, already on high alert for how to deal with a break-up of the euro zone, will on Tuesday be tested to see how they would cope with a cyber attack on their operations.

European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi told euro zone governments on Friday to act fast to get their rescue fund up and running, expressing exasperation at their lack of progress in responding to the escalating debt crisis.

The leaders of Germany and Britain sent out conflicting signals on Friday about how to solve the euro zone's debt crisis and admitted they had failed to narrow differences over the introduction of a financial transaction tax in Europe.

On Thursday, Herman Cain became just the 12th presidential candidate in history to receive Secret Service protection during his campaign.

Amazon.com Inc may launch its own smartphone in the fourth quarter of 2012, Citigroup said, citing its supply-chain channel checks in Asia.

MF Global's administrator KPMG has told the failed futures broker's clients they will get back much-needed funds before it had finally settled all positions.

Fear over European banks' exposure to risky government debt stalked markets and harried bank executives on Friday, as unsecured lending between banks evaporated and the cost of secured loans rose.

James Capoot, 43, a Vallejo police officer, was shot to death, when he was chasing two bank robbery suspects on Thursday afternoon.

Canada Life Ireland, a unit of Canada's second-largest life insurer Great-West Lifeco (GWO.TO: Quote), is the lead candidate buy Irish Life & Permanent's (IPM.I: Quote) insurance arm, a source close to the matter said on Friday.

Former Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was arrested on Friday for electoral fraud, which carries a life sentence, at a Manila hospital, preventing her departure from the country to seek medical treatment.

Stocks were little changed on Friday, but easing European sovereign debt yields kept the S&P 500 above a key technical level.

Stocks were little changed on Friday, but easing European sovereign debt yields kept the S&P 500 above a key technical level.

The dollar firmed to a session high against the U.S. currency on Friday after data showed Canada's October inflation rate came in higher than forecast, curbing market bets on an interest rate cut.

Canada is looking to diversify the market for oil sands crude by courting buyers in Asia, and is not trying to punish the United States for delaying TransCanada Corp's Keystone XL pipeline to Texas, the country's natural resources minister said on Friday.

AT&T has the fastest data speed and web browsing for Apple's iPhone 4S, while Verizon has the best call performance and video quality.

The New York Islanders overcame the loss of starting netminder Evgeni Nabokov in the first period to defeat the Montreal Canadiens 4-3 at Nassau Coliseum on Thursday.

Barclays Capital started coverage of several Canadian exploration and production companies, including PetroBakken Energy (PBN.TO: Quote), with a positive stance, saying the industry is well-positioned with low-risk growth and attractive dividend yields.

Canada's annual inflation rate moderated in October from a near three-year high in September but was still higher than expected, scaling back market bets for a central bank interest rate cut.

The Bank of Canada expects the economy to grow next year at its weakest pace since 2009, driven by domestic demand, while exports continue to underperform.

The Rhode Island legislature passed a pension overhaul bill that will raise the retirement age for most public workers, suspend cost-of-living adjustments and combine guaranteed pensions with 401(k)-style accounts. Proponents say the overhaul is necessary to save the state's foundering pension system, but public workers' unions cried foul.

LONDON - In some cultures, the number 7 is mystical and magical; in the euro zone, it's a Mayday call.

Fear over European banks' exposure to risky government debt stalked markets and harried bank executives on Friday, as unsecured lending between banks evaporated and the cost of secured loans rose.

A U.S. law aimed at curbing tax evasion by citizens using foreign accounts could cost large multinational banks as much as $100 million apiece to implement in one-off systems costs, a top asset manager and a tax lawyer told a conference on Friday.

Shell Oil Company has set a world record in drilling and completing a subsea well 9,627 feet below sea level at its Perdido Development in the Tobago Field 200 miles southwest of Houston.

Mitt Romney's presidential campaign says it was a standard practice for departing staffers in the Massachusetts governor's office to buy their state-issued hard drives and wipe e-mails from the office server. But officials from three previous gubernatorial administrations say that wasn't standard at all.

Financial exchanges Deutsche Boerse AG and NYSE Euronext are offering to sell some businesses and give rivals access to a major derivatives clearing house to win support from antitrust regulators for their $9 billion merger.