IBT Staff Reporter

International law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton plans to launch Hong Kong practice and wants Norton Rose's China corporate finance head Freeman Chan to lead the new team.

Stocks closed their best week in a month on Friday, shrugging off tepid jobs growth in a sign that the rally may have further to run.

Auctions of $123 billion in U.S. securities will draw traders' focus in the U.S. government securities market next week and could push U.S. Treasury yields higher.

The United States and South Korea have a reached a deal on auto issues that have blocked congressional approval of a free-trade agreement for three years, sources familiar with the talks said on Friday.

Citigroup Inc said Carlos Gutierrez, former Commerce Secretary under President George W. Bush, will join the bank as vice chairman for its institutional clients group, the bank said on Friday.

A U.K. biotechnology company called Oxitec has tested genetically engineering mosquitoes to pass on a suicide gene that kills them before they mature, to control the spread of dengue, a sometimes fatal disease.

The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan said Friday it was not in talks, nor was it anxious to sell, its majority stake in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, the owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team and the Toronto Raptors basketball team.

A 23-year-old Russian man pleaded not guilty on Friday to charges he operated a spam e-mail business that may have accounted for a third of global spam, and he was ordered held without bail.

Three of the world's most influential newspapers have finally come to terms with the notion that charging readers online is the only way to survive.

Google Inc has signed a deal to buy a huge Manhattan building, where it is a tenant, for $1.8 billion in one of the largest sales of a single building this year, according to a person close to the transaction.

The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan said on Friday it was not in talks, nor was it anxious to sell, its majority stake in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, the owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs pro hockey team and the Toronto Raptors pro basketball team.

U.S. and South Korean negotiators reported progress on their pursuit of a free trade deal on Friday, including an agreement regarding autos.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke did not rule out further purchases of Treasury bonds beyond the $600 billion program announced last month, CBS television reported Bernanke as saying in an interview on the show 60 Minutes.

CVS Caremark Corp named a recent Wal-Mart Stores Inc executive as the new president of its retail pharmacy business, prompting Wal-Mart to sue over an alleged breach of a noncompete agreement.

Clearwire Communications has priced $1.325 billion in debt, with a possibility of raising an additional $760 million.

A downbeat jobs report boosted shorter-dated U.S. government debt prices on Friday, paring back traders' expectations of faster U.S. economic growth in reaction to a recent string of upbeat data.

John Kinnucan, the owner of an independent research firm that has been implicated in a major insider trading investigation, said he received a subpoena on Friday morning to provide federal prosecutors with documents dating back to January 2008.

Amgen Inc could pay more than $10 billion for Swiss biotech firm Actelion Ltd without hurting its 2011 earnings, but the deal is unlikely to happen given the lack of business overlap that would allow for cost savings, according to an analyst.

WikiLeaks directed readers to a web address in Switzerland on Friday after two U.S. Internet providers ditched it in the space of two days, and Paris tried to ban French servers from hosting its trove of leaked data.

U.S. regulators unveiled plans on Friday that will determine which companies and funds will be forced to hold more cash to trade in the lucrative over-the-counter derivatives market.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said on Friday he and colleagues were taking steps to protect themselves after death threats following the publication of leaked U.S. diplomatic cables on their website.

The presidentially appointed commission on the national debt failed today to approve its own plan for tackling the nation’s long-term fiscal problems, but several members called it a victory nonetheless.

U.S. stocks rose on Friday to close out their best week in a month, shrugging off tepid jobs growth in a sign that the rally may have further to run.

Global law firm Clifford Chance plans to foray into the dynamic Turkish market and expand across South Eastern Europe by opening an office in Istanbul.

U.S. employment barely grew in November and the jobless rate unexpectedly hit a seven-month high, hardening views the Federal Reserve would stick to its $600 billion plan to shore up the anemic recovery.

A bold plan to slash the U.S. budget deficit fell short on Friday of winning support needed from a presidential commission to trigger congressional action, but it was expected to help shape future budget debates.

Controlling a small ball with a smartphone is just the tip of the iceberg for entrepreneur Ian Bernstein.

Google Inc admitted to trespassing, but will pay just $1 to resolve a lawsuit over its use of photos of a couple's Pennsylvania home for its Street View mapping service.

Manufacturing orders in the U.S. posted a drop in October following a rise for three consecutive months, the U.S. Department of Commerce reported on Friday.