IBT Staff Reporter

NYSE Euronext , LCH.Clearnet, BATS Global Markets and other firms partnered with banks have urged two U.S. legislators to drop a proposed rigid cap on dealer ownership of clearinghouses, according to a letter sent this week.

Google Chrome OS open source version was released on Thursday and already programmers have turned the code into a test version of the new OS that is set to officially debut at the end of 2010. The working Chrome OS has already appeared on several peer-to-peer BitTorrent tracking sites, including Mininova.org and Pirate Bay.

Audrey Hepburn once declared her look was attainable and an upcoming auction of some of the fashionable film star's wardrobe will make that possible.

South Korean model Daul Kim was found hanged in her Paris apartment Thursday, a spokeswoman for the city prosecutor's office said.

Vampire romance movie The Twilight Saga: New Moon raked in $26.3 million at North American box offices in midnight showings, breaking the record set by Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, studio officials said on Friday.

Oprah Winfrey said on Friday that she will end her popular TV show in 2011 because it feels right in her bones after 25 years, and urged viewers not to believe rumors of why she's quitting.

Brazilian Romero Britto has created the 2010 edition of the Montreux Jazz Festival's poster, adding to a long list of striking images by famous artists that have made the posters desirable objects among collectors.

Back in early 1995 when Sheryl Crow won Grammy gold for her debut album, her bank account was hardly glistening.

Roman Polanski will not agree voluntarily to being extradited to the United States over a 1970s child sex case, the film director's lawyer said in an interview with French daily Le Figaro published on Friday.

U.S. stocks fell for third straight day on Friday as investors took weaker-than-expected results from computer maker Dell and homebuilder D.R. Horton as a further sign that the recovery would be anemic.

Investors bet on growth on Friday, bumping up shares in two newly listed companies with strong trajectories while remaining neutral or down on two others whose prospects are murkier.

Mobile phone giant Nokia said on Friday it will axe 330 people from its research and development staff in Finland and Denmark.

Keeping workers healthy, happy and at work through so-called wellness programs remains a priority for many companies despite financial pressures from the global economic downturn, a survey found on Monday.

Former Vivendi CEO Jean-Marie Messier told a U.S. jury he never, never, never committed fraud as he took the stand on Friday in a civil trial pitting international shareholders against the French conglomerate and former top executives.

Senior officials from six world powers said on Friday they were disappointed Iran had not accepted proposals intended to delay its potential to make nuclear bombs, and urged Tehran to reconsider.

The U.N. General Assembly's human rights committee condemned Iran on Friday for a violent crackdown on protesters after presidential elections this year that the Iranian opposition says were rigged.

Ford Motor Co plans to invest 4 billion reais ($2.26 billion) in Brazil to boost output as record-low borrowing costs and a recovery in Latin America's largest economy stoke demand for new cars, Mark Fields, the company's president for the Americas, said on Friday.

Spain's industry minister on Friday said after meeting with a top General Motors executive that no more jobs would be cut at a GM Opel plant near Zaragoza than previously agreed with former prospective buyer Magna.

Herman Van Rompuy's appointment as the first European Union president provoked fears in Turkey that he might hinder Ankara's hopes of joining the bloc, with some media declaring outright that he is anti-Turkish.

One of three wavering U.S. Senate Democrats said on Friday he would vote to start the chamber's healthcare debate, bolstering the chances for a broad overhaul one day before its first crucial test.

Akeel Sachak, global head of the consumer team at Rothschild, may get a seat at the table for this year's sweetest deal after all.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai is an unworthy partner who does not deserve a big boost either in U.S. troops or civilian aid, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.

The supervisory board of indebted automotive holding Porsche SE signed off on a contract to merge with its majority-owned, cash-rich subsidiary Volkswagen by 2011, Porsche said on Friday.

With the clock ticking toward a December 31 deadline, Boeing Co executives on Friday said the company is on schedule for the first test flight of its long-delayed and highly anticipated 787 Dreamliner.

Sales of existing U.S. homes likely rose for second consecutive month in October, reaching their highest level since July 2007, according to a Reuters poll, as buyers scrambled to take advantage of greater affordability and a first-time home buyer tax credit.

The pace of job losses slowed in many U.S. states in October, and the unemployment rate slipped in hard-hit Michigan, the Labor Department said on Friday, hinting the recession may be easing in some areas.

J.M. Smucker Co , best known for its peanut butter and jelly, posted higher-than-expected quarterly results, driven by strong margins at its Folgers coffee business, and raised its full-year profit view, sending its shares to a new 52-week high.

The world's largest cruise ship Oasis of the Seas has arrived in Florida, in the south eastern United States, to prepare for its first cruise ever scheduled for early December.

Petrochemicals group Sasol, the world's leader in making motor fuel from coal, plans to reduce its carbon footprint by capturing its emissions, producing solar power and making its plants more efficient.