IBT Staff Reporter

Findings of the second major investigation by the government into the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, may press BP into putting over $30 billion on the table to quickly settle its outstanding legal headaches.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner pressed euro zone finance ministers in a brief meeting on Friday to leverage the bloc's bailout fund to help solve the sovereign debt crisis, a senior euro zone official said.

World shares rose half a percent to one-week highs on Friday while the euro clung to gains from the previous session on hopes that European policymakers would finally come up with a bold plan to combat a deepening debt crisis.

European shares were set for a stronger open on Friday and the euro steadied as investors hoped for a big policy move from European finance ministers to combat the region's growing debt crisis.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) raised interest rates on Friday for the 12th time in 18 months and said it will persist with its anti-inflationary policy stance, even as growth slows in Asia's third-largest economy.

Carrying two worn bags full of toothbrushes and toothpaste, Raj Verma rides his battered bicycle around villages in India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh, leaving fresh supplies of Colgate products at the small shops he visits.

It might not sound like much of a victory. The United States and other oil consuming countries release emergency stocks of oil to put a lid on prices. The result: oil prices in London rise by $1 since the program began, three months ago.

Asian stocks jumped on Friday and the euro steadied, after rising sharply the previous day, as investors hoped for a big policy move from European finance ministers to combat the debt crisis.

Private equity firm Silver Lake is considering a bid for Internet firm Yahoo Inc, according to media reports late Thursday.

Gold slipped more than 1 percent on Friday, heading for its biggest weekly drop since March 2009, as stock markets gained and the euro rose after major central banks around the world strived to fight the debt crisis in Europe.

Mao Zedong famously said a single spark could start a revolutionary prairie fire. That fear is now driving his Communist Party successors to grapple with how to tame China's expanding legions of microbloggers.

State-run oil firms will raise petrol prices by nearly 5 percent from Friday, a move that eases their subsidy burden but adds near-term pressure to stubbornly high inflation in Asia's third-largest economy.

The BSE Sensex rose 1 percent early on Friday, tracking firm Asian markets that were boosted by a relatively stable euro, and ahead of the RBI's policy.

A former art dealer was arrested in Florida on Thursday on accusations he sold a Los Angeles collector forged paintings he claimed were by Claude Monet, Mark Rothko and others, federal prosecutors said.

A story posted on Parade magazine's website on Thursday in which Brad Pitt talks about his life with ex-wife Jennifer Aniston put the actor in damage control mode, saying his words had been misinterpreted.

The union representing many of the 62,000 workers at Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons supermarkets in southern California issued a required 72-hour notice of its plan to cancel its extended contract, a move that could pave the way for a strike.

LG Electronics Inc <066570.KS> plans to restructure its domestic mobile operation by reducing marketing staff to improve the struggling business, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday.

The U.S. pursuit of offshore tax evaders is widening to include Israel, where U.S. authorities are scrutinizing three of Israel's largest banks over suspicions their Swiss outposts helped American clients evade taxes, people briefed on the matter said.

Swiss bank UBS said it had lost around $2 billion due to rogue dealing by a London-based trader at the Swiss bank and police said they had arrested a man on suspicion of fraud.

A criminal investigation involving eBay is a game changer that should slow Craigslist's attempts to obtain documents and depositions in a parallel civil case, an eBay lawyer said in court.

Europe must take immediate and decisive action to safeguard its banking system, while the U.S. economy is at stall speed and needs a dose of fiscal stimulus, top bankers and investors said on Thursday.

The jury has reached a verdict in a courtroom battle between Trust Company of the West and former investment chief Jeffrey Gundlach, concluding a six-week trial that has transfixed the financial industry.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia appointed several top executives on Friday, including a key Credit Suisse dealmaker, highlighting its efforts to acquire top talent under its new chief executive.

Troubled euro zone banks probably need more aggressive capital injections to get through turmoil caused by Europe's worsening debt crisis, top investors said at a Bloomberg Markets 50 Summit on Thursday.

It's not just dictators. Governments around the world, many of them popularly elected, have tried for years to control the Internet and social media, dismayed by their potential to incite violence, spread mischief and distribute pornography and dissent.

Breast cancer and cervical cancer kill 625,000 women every year, according to a new study that shows the diseases are on the rise. To put the death toll in perspective, 625,000 deaths a year is equivalent to six jumbo jets crashing every single day.

To see why Bank of America Corp can cut 30,000 jobs from its consumer banking business, just stop by one of the 14,000 new automatic teller machines it has installed over the last three years.

Hewlett-Packard Co and top executives misled investors for months before unveiling a series of major decisions, such as the demise of the TouchPad, that hammered its shares, a shareholder alleged in a proposed class-action lawsuit filed this week.

A former account manager at a semiconductor company who pleaded guilty in the government's campaign against insider trading was sentenced to 18 months in prison on Thursday.