IBT Staff Reporter

Usher is the latest celebrity to say that he will return the money he was paid for performing at a Gadaffi family party in St. Barts.

Brent crude prices rose above $118 a barrel and U.S. prices pushed to their highest level since September 2008 on Monday, before paring gains in volatile trading, lifted by Libya's conflict and the threat of wider supply disruptions in the Middle East.

YRC Worldwide said on Monday that its chief financial officer was resigning as the top U.S. trucker tries to turn around its troubled finances.

The best way to buy Gold is to aquire it as cheap as possible. There are several factors influencing the effective price, and one of them is of overpowering importance. Gold, and other precious metals, are the best performing asset class of all over the last decade and multiplied their nominal value by a factor of five.

Top hedge funds turned conventional wisdom on its head in the fourth quarter by swapping out Wall Street powerhouse Goldman Sachs Group Inc for battered bailout survivor Citigroup Inc .

Stocks fell on Monday, weighed down by a downgrade of the semiconductor sector and worries about the effect of higher oil prices on the economy, which is unlikely to change soon.

Al Qaeda's attempts to recruit in the United States and three incidents over the past two years involving killings or attempted killings of Americans are what prompted an investigation into the extent of radicalization in the Muslim community, Rep. Peter King of New York said on Sunday.

Though details are scant, the game will take flight later this year.

A partner at Foley & Lardner has sued the firm for discrimination and breach of contract, citing in his complaint that the firm treated younger, female and/or non-white employees more favorably.

At a time law graduates would sell their arms and legs and maybe something more to get into a BigLaw, a Sidley Austin associate has dumped his cushy job to go hiking from Delaware to California with a tent and his dog, Mabel.

The lawyers representing former Pennsylvanian judge Mark Ciavarella, who was convicted last month by a federal jury in Scranton of 12 of the 39 counts in the 'kids for cash' case, said he is innocent and are seeking an acquittal or a new trial.

The death knell for embattled BigLaw Howrey could ring as early as this week with firm partners reportedly set to vote on winding down its operations.

Central banks worldwide are unified in seeking to anchor expectations for future inflation, but that does not mean they will all go about it in the same way, policymakers said Monday.

Charlie Sheen can certainly use his catchphrase winning to describe his latest Twitter feat.

Moody's slashed Greece's credit rating by three notches on Monday due to an increased default risk, raising the specter that the distressed euro zone sovereign may have to restructure its debt, perhaps before 2013.

Bob Diamond, the new chief executive of British bank Barclays Plc, was paid a bonus of 6.5 million pounds ($10.6 million) for last year and received a similar amount in shares under a long-term plan.

A senior U.S. Federal Reserve official warned on Monday that he would vote to scale back or stop the central bank's $600 billion bond-buying program if it proves to be demonstrably counterproductive.

Kate Middleton plans to wear a gown by Alexander McQueen designer Sarah Burton. The Telegraph is reporting that the gown will combine Middleton's and Burton's ideas.

Uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa have increased U.S. economic uncertainty, and Federal Reserve policy-makers should not rule out further bond purchases if things worsen, a top central bank official said on Monday.

Brent crude rose as high as $118.50 a barrel and U.S. oil hit its highest level since September 2008 on Monday on concern over wider supply disruptions in the Middle East before both markets pared gains.

The Gold Price rose new all-time highs vs. a falling US Dollar on Monday morning in London, hitting almost $1445 per ounce as European stock markets held flat and major-economy government bonds slipped, nudging interest rates up.

Gold climbed to a record high above $1,440 an ounce on Monday as the threat of violence spreading in the Middle East and North Africa pushed oil prices to 2-1/2 year highs and burnished the metal's safe-haven appeal.

Pent-up demand has resulted in a surge in Iraqi stocks due to political gains and lifting of UN sanctions, says investment management company Global Capital Investments.

The new combined company will retain the Western Digital name and location.

Comedian Kathy Griffin will guest star in an upcoming episode of the hit show Glee. She will play a sectionals judge described as a recent Tea Party candidate and home schooler - a Sarah Palin type.

What: Bank of England's March monetary policy decision

Stocks edged higher on Monday as a flurry of acquisition activity boosted optimism about share prices and oil prices eased from earlier highs sparked by tensions in the Middle East.

The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) said worldwide sales of semiconductors for the month of January rose 14.0 percent from last year to $25.5 billion on significant growth across all major end-use sectors. Sequentially, sales increased 1.5 percent.

A spike in food and oil prices has made the threat of inflation more acute, leading central banks said on Monday, but they warned tightening of policy in response will not proceed at the same pace.