IBT Staff Reporter

When Charles Berry started his career as a bonds trader in 1993, he used to draw point and figure charts on pieces of paper. He checked his old charts recently to remind himself how calm markets were in those days. Back then, it took three months for a price to move 200 ticks -- the measure traders use to show changes in futures or currency markets. Now the market moves 400 ticks in a week.

The leaders of Germany, France and Spain will hold crisis talks about Europe's spiraling debt crisis on Friday after China and Japan called for global policy cooperation following a market rout.

The Thai parliament elected the nation's first female Prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra , on Friday. Ten years back another South East Asian country had elected its first female president. Megawati Sukarnoputri became Indonesia's first female president in 2001. Both women have a somewhat similar background. Will both share the same fate too?

Wall Street equity futures were lower on Friday ahead of the critical payrolls report, a day after U.S. stocks suffered their worst sell off since the middle of the financial crisis in early 2009.

Arsenal have been handed a tough route into the UEFA Champions League group stages after they drew Italian side Udinese in the qualifying play-offs.

The Cesc Fabregas saga will continue to rumble on as Arsenal, according to widespread reports, have rejected yet another bid from Barcelona as it fell short of their valuation of the player.

Severe heat wave grips US

The leaders of Germany, France and Spain will hold crisis talks about Europe's spiraling debt crisis on Friday after China and Japan called for global policy cooperation following a market rout.

Polygamist Church Leader Warren Jeffs was convicted on Thursday of sexually assaulting two of his teenage wives.

Motorola accidentally posted the specifications of its upcoming Verizon LTE phone, the Droid Bionic, which is touted as "an all-powerful, unstoppable machine."

In one of the world's biggest lawsuits, Apple Inc has sued Samsung Electronics for slavishly copying the 'look and feel' and 'design' of its products iPad tablet and iPhone smartphone. Both Samsung and Apple entered into a legal battle over patent infringement in the month of April 2011. Samsung counter sued Apple in 4 countries in 3 different continents.

Will Marc Anthony manage to win J.Lo back?

When Honda Motor's <7267.T> 2012 Civic debuted at the New York auto show in April, critics universally panned its cheap, hard-plastic interior .

Japan's finance minister said he was closely watching yen moves on Friday, signaling a readiness to continue selling the currency after intervention on Thursday that likely totaled a record amount around 4.5 trillion yen ($56 billion).

NASA's achievements are commendable considering its results between 1960 and 1970, especially for putting men on the moon. However, NASA's recent performance and its discoveries are considered to be of no practical value for mankind. There are various other causes that require funds in the United States rather than allocating more funds for NASA.

Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Friday, adding to the two-week slump as investors continued to sell, spooked by the prospect of another recession.

China and Japan called for global cooperation on Friday after a financial market rout signaled fear that Europe's debt crisis could spin out of control and the U.S. economy may slide into another recession.

With the famine spreading further in and around Somalia, the Aid groups are appealing for more funding to cope with the crisis.

Digital mischief goes aerial as researchers configure a U.S. military drone plane to act as a hacking platform to breach firewalls erected by corporates and countries alike.

Royal Bank of Scotland slid to a pretax loss of 678 million pounds ($1.1 billion) in the second quarter, bruised by writedowns on Greek government bonds and Irish customers struggling to repay loans.

ZURICH, Aug 5 - Swiss National Bank Chief Philipp Hildebrand will not put up with further appreciation in the franc without acting, a Swiss newspaper has reported him as saying.

Royal Bank of Scotland slid to a pretax loss of 678 million pounds ($1.1 billion) in the second quarter, hit by losses on Greek government bonds and Irish customers still struggling to repay loans.

They are a rag-tag bunch, often working from home or tiny offices scattered round the world, from rural Texas to Beverly Hills and a suburb near Australia's Bondi Beach.

More light was shed on the murder defendant Brandon McInerney's abusive childhood when his aunt testified on Thursday about the physical and verbal abuse that his father leveled at him.

The yen plunged briefly against the dollar on Friday, spurring market talk that Japan intervened again after a massive campaign the day before to tame the currency, but there was no official confirmation of government action.

A record 82 percent of Americans say that they disapprove of the way Congress is doing its job, compared with 14 percent who approve, according to a New York Times/CBS News public opinion poll published on Thursday.

Hermit North Korea is trying a new pitch to attract foreign investors into one of the world's most closed, and impoverished, economies. This time it might even work.

China's top official newspaper on Friday dismissed as irresponsible suggestions Beijing was the state actor behind massive Internet hacking of governments and companies that security company McAfee this week said it had discovered.

A gauge of online labor demand in the United States grew in July compared to a year earlier, but dipped on a monthly basis as the need for employees slowed in the summer months, a private research group said on Friday.