IBT Staff Reporter

President Barack Obama put a stop on Friday to new rules that would limit smog pollution, unexpectedly reversing course on a key policy measure after businesses said it would kill jobs and cost them billions of dollars.

Stocks tumbled 2 percent on Friday after data showing zero jobs growth in August brought investors face-to-face with the prospect of another recession.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp has agreed to pay $33.8 million in severance and benefits to Robert Kelly, who stepped down as chief executive this week after disagreeing with the board over how to manage the company.

Mitt Romney promised on Friday to propose a bold jobs plan that seeks cuts in federal spending and business taxes, a reduction in burdensome regulations and a balanced budget.

A major Republican-linked fundraising group has amassed $25 million this year to finance attacks on President Barack Obama and other Democrats in the 2012 elections.

Berkshire Hathaway extensively revised documents related to the acquisition of Wesco Financial at the insistence of securities regulators, according to an April letter made public on Friday.

The International Monetary Fund, in a report summarizing its assessment of potential spillover impacts of global economic policy, suggested on Friday that debt sustainability was a key area of concern.

After a slow start that has frustrated U.S. business groups, the next four months could be important to President Barack Obama's legacy on trade.

A brush fire broke out in the middle of a major California interstate on Friday and spread to a nearby neighborhood, threatening homes and forcing the highway's closure.

Bank of America Corp executives are discussing plans to potentially shed 25,000 to 30,000 jobs over the next several years, the Charlotte Observer said.

General Motors Co and the United Auto Workers union are discussing buyouts for higher-wage, skilled trade workers as contract talks between the union and all three Detroit automakers intensify, people familiar with negotiations said.

Former champion Maria Sharapova was knocked out of the U.S. Open on Friday by Italian Flavia Pennetta in the biggest upset of the tournament so far.

A U.S. judge on Friday ordered a new trial for baseball star Roger Clemens, refusing to throw out charges that he lied about steroids use despite a mistrial after prosecutors used evidence that had been barred.

Vera Zvonareva struggled once again at the U.S. Open but the second seed managed to defeat pesky Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-4 7-5 Friday and move into the fourth round of the year's final grand slam.

High-flying Netflix Inc saw its shares fall 8.6 percent on Friday after failing to secure a chunk of movie content for the online service it touts as the future of its popular video rental business.

Outside, the sun is shining, but it is dark in the production room where more than 150 Ubisoft artists, animators and engineers are racing to finish the latest edition of Assassin's Creed, one of this holiday's hotly anticipated games.

Juan Martin Del Potro might be forgiven for thinking he is the forgotten man of the U.S. Open.

Volatile Chicago Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano will miss the rest of the season after his 30-day suspension ends on September 11, the Major League Baseball (MLB) team said on Friday.

LaShawn Merritt performed the Virginia Shuffle before storming down the final 100 meters to overhaul his Jamaican and South African rivals and win the world 4x400 meters relay title for the United States on Friday.

Canadian director David Cronenberg's latest movie A Dangerous Method explores the role a little-known Russian woman played in the birth of psychoanalysis at the turn of the 20th century.

For the amount of time that he's been in the spotlight, Keanu Reeves has managed to retain a remarkable amount of privacy. Charming but evasive in interviews, unwilling to court the paparazzi's flashbulbs for the sake of extended publicity, the Speed star has maintained an almost Sphinx-like aura of mystery.

A ride in a luxury bus from Arkansas to a halfway house in Atlanta has landed Grammy Award-winning rapper T.I. back behind bars just two days after his release from federal prison.

Oakland will be hosting International Cannabis & Hemp Expo, the first marijuana street fair that will take place in the country ever since medicinal marijuana was legalized more than 15 years ago.

A U.S. regulator plans to sue major banks in coming days over subprime mortgage bonds, two sources said, in a lawsuit that may hamper a broader government mortgage settlement with banks.

Libya's new leadership reaffirmed its commitment to democracy and good governance on Friday as it worked on how to spend billions of dollars released from the frozen assets of fugitive strongman Muammar Gaddafi.

A top California lawmaker unveiled legislation on Friday to help advance a proposal for building a new stadium in downtown Los Angeles to bring the National Football League back to the second-largest U.S. city.

A darkening U.S. economic outlook is forcing Federal Reserve officials to dig ever deeper into an already depleted policy toolkit and consider measures until recently deemed too radical.

Ontario has ordered a full environmental review of a proposed mega-quarry backed by one of Boston's best-known hedge funds, a move that may threaten a project that has already raised local opposition.

The International Monetary Fund on Friday said it approved a $2.11 billion disbursement to help debt-stricken Ireland as part of a broader bailout package.