IBT Staff Reporter

French economic growth ground to a halt in the second quarter of 2011, raising pressure on President Nicolas Sarkozy to cut spending and abolish tax breaks ahead of elections as he tries to convince nervous financial markets that he will deliver on debt reduction targets.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has asked rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) to disclose which employees knew of its decision to downgrade U.S. debt before it was announced last week, the Financial Times said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Syrian forces killed at least 19 people in raids near the Lebanon border and in the country's Sunni tribal heartland, activists said, pursuing a military campaign to crush street protests against President Bashar al-Assad.

President Barack Obama distanced himself from a deeply divided U.S. Congress on Thursday, pledging to deliver fresh ideas to create jobs and slamming lawmakers for "bickering" that gets in the way of recovery.

Shares in L&T Finance Holdings fell as much as 5.2 percent on their trading debut on Friday, casting a shadow over the prospects of new share sales in a sluggish stock market.

Handing out flyers at the corner of 47th Street and Fifth Avenue in New York City's Diamond District, Mariabi Peenya is having trouble finding passersby eager to sell their gold jewelry for cash.

Bank of America Chief Executive Brian Moynihan met privately this week with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve governor Daniel Tarullo amid the campaign to calm investors and employees about the bank's share price fall, the Wall Street Journal reported.

PARIS/MADRID - A ban on short-selling financial stocks in four European countries including France takes effect on Friday, a coordinated attempt to restore confidence in a market hit by rumors and higher borrowing costs.

Is fashion chain Forever 21 pushing a strong Christian agenda, with its recent launch of shirts featuring religious words? The shirts, which retail around $14 dollars, target mainly teens and include text such as "Love, peace, faith, hope, Jesus," "God,", "Believe in me," "Three words to live by: prayer faith and trust," and "Never doubt,", among others.

Spain's stock market regulator, the CNMV, said on Thursday it banned short selling on financial stocks for 15 days from August 11 and added it would extend the period if necessary.

Scientists have discovered a fossil of an embryonic marine reptile contained within the fossil of its mother.

These rare and vivid World War 2 photos portray the people and jobs during that era. Many of the photos during that time were captured in black and white, but color photography was an emerging feature.

Women have a significant increased risk of 25% than men for coronary heart disease caused by cigarettes. "It will be some years before the full effect of smoking on coronary heart disease risk is known in women,"

Video game publisher Zynga may for the first time be less reliant on its top games to make money, but it still depends on under 5 percent of its users for all of it sales.

Facebook is not the only game in town anymore.

The U.S. government effort to set up state-run health insurance exchanges may be falling behind schedule, but technology firms are lining up for the lucrative contracts to build the network's infrastructure.

Nvidia Corp beat third-quarter revenue forecasts, sending its shares skyrocketing, as the graphics chipmaker accelerates a push into the fast-growing mobile device market.

A Jamaican banker who ran a Ponzi scheme that bilked thousands of investors in Florida and the Caribbean out of $220 million was sentenced on Thursday to 30 years in a U.S. prison, officials said.

TCW's incoming CEO in 2009, Marc Stern, tried to sow discord and drive a wedge between Jeffrey Gundlach and his tight-knit mortgage-backed securities team, Gundlach testified on Thursday.

Consumers will be able to text and send multimedia messages to 9-1-1 emergency call centers under a new plan from the top communications regulator.

People who use Google Inc's social network Google+ will be able to play games, a feature available on its biggest rival Facebook.

Chipmaker Nvidia Corp posted second-quarter revenue slightly above expectations as it rushes to diversify its graphics expertise from PCs into more mobile gadgets, sending its shares up sharply.

Zynga Inc, developer of popular Facebook games such as Farmville, said it is changing how it measures the average playing time for its paying users and has arranged a $1 billion revolving line of credit.

Chinese social networking site Renren Inc posted a small quarterly profit as online advertisement segment rose, but forecast third-quarter revenue largely below market expectations, sending its shares down 8 percent in aftermarket trade.

AMR Corp may spin off its regional unit American Eagle as an independent airline with a nine-year contract to fly for American Airlines, the parent company said on Thursday.

These days, every day in the market is an adventure. But some daytraders are making a killing, taking advantage of wild market swings that have scared off even strong-stomached investors.

U.S. banks still wrestling with legal troubles springing from the subprime mortgage crisis are lobbying the new consumer agency for strong legal protection for future home loans.

Stocks shot up 4 percent on Thursday as bargain-hungry investors overcame the recent wave of fear that drove selling over the last two weeks.

Ava Sambora, the 13-year old daughter of actress Heather Locklear and Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora, will make her acting debut under director Judd Apatow. The teenage model is set to appear in a new comedy film by Judd Apatow that is set for release June 2012. Variety reported that Ava will make a cameo as the best friend Apatow's daughter, Maude.