IBT Staff Reporter

LOS ANGELES - The man who created the first version of the uber-successful Madden NFL Football video game is suing Electronic Arts over tens of millions of dollars in owed royalties and potentially billions in profits over the franchise, which has sold more than 85 million copies in the more than 20 years since it hit the marketplace.

Credit rating agency Fitch downgraded Portugal on Friday saying the debt-laden country needed a bailout, while rival agency S&P cut Ireland's rating after bank stress tests revealed another black hole.

Africa's largest telephone group Telkom is selling part of its loss-making Multi-Links operation in Nigeria for $52 million to Visafone Communications, sending its shares higher.

An Internet privacy group that prodded U.S. regulators to scrutinize Google Inc is miffed about getting cut out of a class action settlement over the search behemoth's Buzz social network.

Corrects paragraph to say $4.9 billion, instead of million

Bethesda releases new shots from the latest in its Elder Scrolls series

Oil prices rose on Friday in choppy trading, with U.S. crude reaching a 2-1/2-year high as supportive U.S. jobs data reinforced economic growth expectations.

Private equity firm TPG Capital has agreed to sell a minority stake in itself to two sovereign wealth funds, the Kuwait Investment Authority and the Government of Singapore Investment Corp, a source familiar with the situation said on Friday.

Tottenham Hotspur isn't the only side with injury concerns ahead of their Champions League quarter-finals clash against Real Madrid after Jose Mourinho admitted that Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema will not be fit for the clash.

U.S. stocks climbed on Friday after solid data on the labor market strengthened confidence in the recovery and comments from a Federal Reserve Bank president signaled support for economic stimulus efforts.

It would be a surprise if the U.S. Federal Reserve did not complete its $600 billion in bond purchases, though the benefits of doing more have fallen, a top Fed official said on Friday.

Employment grew solidly for a second month in March and the jobless rate hit a two-year low of 8.8 percent, underscoring a decisive shift in the labor market that should help to underpin the recovery.

The U.S. economy may add jobs more rapidly in coming months as the recovery gathers steam, but that is not a reason for the Federal Reserve to reverse course, a top Fed official said on Friday.

The U.S. manufacturing sector grew at a marginally slower pace in March although a measure of prices rose to their highest level since July 2008, according to an industry report released on Friday.

Raising interest rates by the end of 2011 should be on the table, depending on how the economy improves over the next few months, Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Plosser said on Friday.

A U.S. lawmaker with oversight of technology expressed concern that AT&T Inc's plans to take over T-Mobile USA would stifle innovation in the wireless market.

President Barack Obama said on Friday lawmakers negotiating a six-month budget extension that stretches until the end of the current fiscal year are close to a compromise and it was time to agree.

Plans to introduce mobile phone coverage on the London Underground in time for the 2012 summer Olympics have broken down as the Tube's antiquated network of narrow tunnels proved too difficult to connect in time.

General Motors Co said on Friday that its U.S. sales rose 11.4 percent in March as higher gasoline prices drove demand for smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles.

The European Union filed an appeal against an aircraft subsidies ruling on Friday just hours after calling it a victory, a tactical move in a transatlantic game of global trade chess.

Oil prices rose on Friday in volatile trading, as stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs data reinforced economic growth expectations but also the possibility it might trigger a pull back from loose monetary policy and strengthen the dollar.

A study in Nature Climate Change from the Institute for Atmospheric Physics at the German Aerospace Centre may show that contrails have just as large an effect as carbon dioxide on climate.

The U.S. labor market is finally luring back some discouraged workers. They may find the most help wanted signs at bars, restaurants and doctor's offices.

The Huffington Post is reporting that Jersey Shore star Nicole Snooki Polizzi was paid $32,000 to speak at Rutgers University.

Nasdaq OMX and IntercontinentalExchange bid $11.3 billion for NYSE Euronext in a politically charged effort to trump Deutsche Boerse's friendly deal to acquire the New York Stock Exchange.

Nasdaq OMX and IntercontinentalExchange have launched a rival bid to buy NYSE Euronext for about $11.3 billion in cash and shares.

Standard & Poor's cut Ireland's debt rating by just one notch and gave the thumbs-up to its bank bill on Friday but rival Fitch's warning of another downgrade and a big drop in growth expectations spelled trouble ahead.

General Motors Co U.S. sales in March came in below expectations on Friday as the automaker eased off the generous incentives it offered car buyers over the first two months of the year.

NEW YORK, April 1 - The Japanese nuclear crisis has created a public-relations headache for General Electric Co , but the company so far has escaped any legal fallout, and many experts expect it will continue to do so.