IBT Staff Reporter

Japanese prosecutors are to question a former president of disgraced Olympus Corp over an accounting scandal at the camera and medical device maker, as investigators probe for possible involvement of organized crime, media reports said on Friday.

The trustee liquidating MF Global Holdings Ltd's broker-dealer unit won court permission to distribute $520 million of cash to customers, providing relief to customers whose accounts have been frozen since the futures brokerage went bankrupt.

Boeing Co and Indonesian's Lion Air signed on Friday an agreement for the Southeast Asian nation's largest domestic carrier to buy $21.7 billion worth of jets from the U.S. aircraft maker. The deal was announced by the White House during a trip by U.S. President Barack Obama to the Asia-Pacific. Executives signed the deal in Bali, Indonesia, where Obama will attend the East Asia summit.

Asian shares fell for a fourth day in a row and the dollar firmed on Friday as Europe's funding difficulties intensified, with Spanish borrowing costs hitting an unsustainable level and premiums for dollar funds rising further.

Japanese officials are investigating an apparent $4.9 billion hole in the accounts of Olympus Corp as well as possible involvement of organized crime in an accounting scandal engulfing the firm, the New York Times said Friday.

The California attorney general's office has sent subpoenas to Fannie Ma e and Freddie Mac in a wide-reaching probe into the government-backed mortgage giants' lending and foreclosure practices, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.

Activist investor Ralph Whitworth is joining Hewlett Packard Co's board after taking a small stake in the Silicon Valley behemoth, a move that may cheer many on Wall Street frustrated by the company's recent decisions.

Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc said late on Thursday that its stockholders approved the $12.5 billion deal to be acquired by the search giant Google Inc.

Japanese officials are investigating an apparent $4.9 billion hole in the accounts of Olympus Corp as well as possible involvement of organized crime in an accounting scandal engulfing the firm, the New York Times said on Friday.

Intuit, the maker of accounting and tax preparation software posted a narrower loss for its first quarter than a year earlier as the growth of the products it makes for small business customers helped it weather one of its seasonally slower quarters.

Marvell Technology Group gave a cautious revenue forecast as widespread flooding in Thailand hurts demand for its hard-drive controllers, but upbeat news about expansion in China gave the chipmaker's stock a bump.

Fisker Automotive is on track to meet production goals for its electric sports cars in 2012 despite production delays that have sharply reduced the start-up carmaker's projected deliveries this year.

Dean McDermott deleted a picture from his Twitter account that appeared to show his 4-year-old son with a topless Tori Spelling in the background, but not before everyone who got word of the gaffe stampeded the actor's profile to look at what he posted on Wednesday.

Richard Branson's Virgin group has got the green light to tap mobile phone services in Mexico, a market with high penetration that would require big money to attract customers and build brand recognition.

Bill Miller, a star mutual fund stock-picker who posted a 15-year-long winning streak before losing his touch as the financial crisis hit, will step down from his flagship fund at Legg Mason Inc in April.

Richard Branson's Virgin group has got the green light to tap mobile phone services in Mexico, a market with high penetration that would require big money to attract customers and build brand recognition.

Anglo-Dutch publishing and events group Reed Elsevier Plc/NV posted a 1 percent rise in underlying sales for the first nine months of the year and said macroeconomic uncertainty had had only a marginal effect on its results.

Apparently gamers just don't appreciate the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animal's wacky sense of humor. The animal rights activists recently attacked gaming icon, Mario, for wearing the Tanooki-suit, a mystical raccoon in Japanese culture. PETA's site proclaims that Mario Kills Tanooki, and alleged that figure sent the wrong message by wearing the suit.

Film and television stars Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher said on Thursday they are ending their marriage after six years, breaking up one of the most widely followed May-December romances Hollywood has seen.

The United States announced a massive order for Boeing jets from Indonesia's largest domestic airline, Lion Air, to be showcased as U.S. President Barack Obama winds up an Asia-Pacific tour.

Canada's public healthcare system is becoming too expensive but could offer better value without drastic cuts or abandoning its state-funded structure, one of the country's most influential economists said on Thursday.

Canada can expect significant positive news on Friday from a World Trade Organization ruling about a U.S. meat labeling law, Canadian government sources said on Thursday.

Honda Motor Co's Canadian unit will start manufacturing its CR-V compact sport-utility vehicle in Canada early next year, Japan's No. 3 automaker said on Thursday.

The United States announced a massive order for Boeing jets from Indonesia's largest domestic airline, Lion Air, to be showcased as U.S. President Barack Obama winds up an Asia-Pacific tour.

Web-based software maker Salesforce.com Inc posted a quarterly net loss as its marketing and sales costs increased, and it forecast current-quarter earnings broadly in line with Wall Street estimates.

Long-time Rambus investors licked their wounds and pondered their loyalty on Thursday after a crushing legal defeat that underscores the risks companies face when they rely heavily on litigation.

Kate Middleton has been pregnant for about six weeks with Prince William's first baby, the celebrity gossip magazine In Touch reported.

Italy's new government has announced far-reaching reforms in response to a European debt crisis that on Thursday pushed borrowing costs for France and Spain sharply higher, and brought tens of thousands of Greeks onto the streets of Athens.

Groupon Inc opened the IPO window a crack earlier this month and now companies, including Yelp Inc, Angie's List and even social-gaming giant Zynga, are climbing through it, too.