IBT Staff Reporter

Internet search engine Google plans to launch Google Offers, its own version of online discount-coupon sensation Groupon, to help notify subscribers about deals in their area.

US President Barack Obama will run his re-election campaign based out of Chicago even as his close aide laid to rest media speculations about Obama seeking a re-election in 2012.

Wall Street was set for a higher open on Friday after two days of declines as strong earnings from General Electric and Google boosted investor optimism.

BMO Capital Markets upgraded two U.S.-based staffing companies, On Assignment Inc (ASGN) and Hudson Highland Group (HHGP) to 'Outperform' from 'Market Perform.'

Citing previous commitments to HBO he exited the movie

The companies that reported earnings before the markets open on Friday are: General Electric, Bank of America, Schlumberger, BB&T, Air Products and SunTrust Banks.

General Electric Co reported better-than-expected earnings, helped by the recovery of its finance arm and a rise in revenue at its industrial units, including a sharp pickup in sales of locomotives.

Stock index futures rose on Friday after two days of declines as strong earnings from General Electric and Google boosted investor optimism.

Venus William's time at the Australian Open was cut short after injury forced her to retire from her third round tie with Andrea Petkovic.

Special Forces from South Korea stormed a cargo ship taken over by pirates in the Arabian Sea and rescued the 21-member crew. The rescue attempt occurred a week after the cargo ship, Samho Jewelry, was hijacked by Somali pirates. The ship had eight South Koreans, two Indonesians and 11 people from Myanmar and was carrying chemicals from the UAE towards Sri Lanka.

Valdosta's wide-receiver/corner back, Malcom Mitchell committed himself to University of Gerogia, along with Valdosta team-mate Jay Rome. Alabama are now reportedly trying to secure the services of Enrique Florence and Tim Jernigan.

Apple's walled garden approach is not merely limited to its Ios or Apps Store but even extends to its hardware as it just fenced its iPhone, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro with new screw design, called Pentalobular, which cannot be opened using a standard screwdriver.

Google Inc co-founder Larry Page will take over as CEO from Eric Schmidt, a surprise move to make the company more nimble at a time when competition heats up with fast-growing rivals like Facebook.

British government plans to introduce new rules this April to cap visas for less skilled workers from non-European countries to cut the number of immigrants from outside Europe.

The American Opportunity Tax Credit is expected to benefit 9.4 million college students in the country in 2011

Warner Bros has finally roped in the hot-shot director to do a third remake of the original

Japan’s Sony Corp on Thursday said a streaming video service will become available in Japan on January 26 across Sony 2010 and 2011 network-enabled Bravia TVs.

Roger Federer strolled over his third-round Belgian opponent, Xavier Malisse, with a 6-3 6-3 6-1 victory in the Australian Open, while Novak Djokovic, Tomas Berdych were amongst the other seeded winners.

India’s third largest software exporter Wipro Ltd. has announced the resignation of the joint Chief executives of its IT Business, Suresh Vaswani and Girish Paranjpe

The Taliban have ordered harsh limits on the use of mobile phones in a remote area of northwestern Afghanistan, residents and officials said, a sign of the militants' increasing influence in a once peaceful area.

San Francisco-based Jawbone has unveiled the world's first motion-controlled Bluetooth headset - a tiny computer on the ear - taking wearable devices to an entirely new level.

World stocks edged up on Friday but were set to post their biggest weekly drop in eight weeks on concerns that rising inflation in emerging economies could lead to aggressive policy action and hurt global growth. Spain's stocks rose. Madrid plans a partial state takeover of its weakest savings banks as it seeks to reassure investors a costly bank rescue will not weigh on its deficit, sources and ...

Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin and YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim are investing $8 mln in Series A funding into Qwiki, a startup pioneering the information experience via on-the-fly transformation of data into rich media narratives

President Barack Obama will name General Electric Co. Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt to head a new advisory panel focused on promoting economic growth by investing in business, the White House said on Friday.

The Ministry of Land and Resources of China on Wednesday has brought 11 rare earth mines under states control, in order to improve the protection, utilization of the country's strategic resources and drive up prices of the element in global markets.

LG Display, the world's No.2 LCD flat screen maker, posted its first quarterly loss in seven quarters, hit by a $289 million price fixing fine and as panel prices plunged on weak demand from television makers.

General Motors will invest $540 million to build fuel-efficient engines at its plant in central Mexico.

Taiwan's HTC Corp, the world's No.4 smartphone brand, expects revenue and shipments to more than double in the first quarter of 2011, helped by a new generation of products.

LG Display, the world's No.2 LCD flat screen maker, warned of lower shipments and weaker screen prices after posting its first loss in seven quarters, as it battles weak demand from television makers.