IBT Staff Reporter

Standard & Poor's will likely lower the credit standing of five European nations, including top-rated France, by one or two notches if the region slips into recession and government borrowings increase, the rating agency said in a report.

Five years after making a grand foray into retail, Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries is nowhere close to the scale he had hoped his company, India's largest listed group, would achieve in a fragmented and fast-growing industry.

Stocks bounced on Friday after France and Germany said a comprehensive euro zone debt deal was on its way, if a little late, although a weaker euro and rising bund futures suggested not everyone was convinced.

Stocks bounced on Friday after France and Germany said a comprehensive euro zone debt deal was on its way, if a little late, although a weaker euro and rising bund futures suggested not everyone was convinced.

This year, the Orionid meteor shower will be peaking before Friday dawn. The meteor shower should continue through this Saturday.

Mobile phones do not increase the risk of cancer, according to a large study involving more than 350,000 people by Danish researchers published Friday.

European stock index futures rose on Friday after Asian shares edged up and the euro clung to overnight gains, but markets largely stayed within range, as investors awaited a weekend meeting of European leaders for signs of progress in resolving the region's debt crisis.

Senate Republicans and Democrats rejected each other's economic stimulus bills on Thursday, underscoring their inability to craft a bipartisan solution on job creation before next year's elections.

Senate Republicans and Democrats rejected each other's economic stimulus bills on Thursday, underscoring their inability to craft a bipartisan solution on job creation before next year's elections.

The race for cash among foreign banks in China is heating up as some struggle to rake in enough yuan deposits to meet a regulatory requirement that kicks in at the end of the year.

Asian shares inched up while the euro clung to overnight gains on Friday, but markets largely stayed within range, as investors awaited a weekend meeting of European leaders for signs of progress in resolving the region's debt crisis.

Liquidnet Inc, a U.S. venue where institutions anonymously trade public stocks, was sued by Wedbush Securities Inc for allegedly stealing trade secrets to start a rival business trading shares of private companies.

President Barack Obama on Thursday nominated a prominent critic of large banks for a key banking industry regulatory post.

An evangelical broadcaster whose end-of-the-world prophecy earlier this year stirred a global media frenzy has vanished from the public eye and airwaves ahead of his recalibrated doomsday date, set for Friday.

A landscape painting by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt that had been stolen by the Nazis is expected to fetch more than $25 million when it is sold at auction next month, Sotheby's said on Thursday.

The U.S. Senate, on a bipartisan vote of 74-26 on Thursday, confirmed former energy company executive John Bryson as commerce secretary, despite the objection of some Republicans due to his background as an environmentalist.

Flash memory supplier SanDisk (SNDK.O) forecast quarterly revenue near analysts' expectations thanks to growth in tablets and smartphones, but other chipmakers warned that a lackluster economy is hurting demand.

California regulators on Thursday approved final regulations for a carbon market that is one of the biggest U.S. responses to climate change.

Two top Federal Reserve officials are arguing the U.S. central bank should consider resuming controversial large-scale mortgage bond purchases to support a fragile economic recovery.

Dexia loaned 1.5 billion euros ($2.07 billion) of fresh capital to its two largest institutional shareholders which then used the cash to buy Dexia shares before 2008, the Financial Times reported on Friday.

While it lacks the gory monsters of The Thing and the gotcha scares of Paranormal Activity 3, Martha Marcy May Marlene may be the most terrifying movie opening in theaters this month. It slowly but assuredly packs on the dread and the discomfort in a style that Roman Polanski would admire, resulting in the kind of movie you can feel tensing up the base of your spine.

Senior Obama administration officials and a bipartisan group of U.S. senators agreed on Wednesday to push for cybersecurity legislation as quickly as possible, the White House said on Thursday.

Looking to buy a pair or two of parachute pants online? We have the search engine for you -- but you'll have to wait a bit for it.

Recovering drug addict Chris Rene will become a star thanks to The X Factor but he needs to find the right material in order to win the TV singing contest, judge Antonio L.A. Reid said on Thursday.

Could Thursday night's season finale be our last chance to see the whole Jersey Shore gang together?

A.G. Lafley, the former chairman, president and CEO of Procter & Gamble, has joined the board of directors of Legendary Entertainment, the company announced Thursday.

No longer will you have to wait for Game of Thrones or visit a fake castle to witness jousting.

Apple Inc co-founder Steve Jobs refused potentially life-saving cancer surgery for nine months, shrugging off his family's protests and opting instead for alternative medicine, according to the tech visionary's biographer.

Get ready for more Mitt, Michele, Herman and Rick.