IBT Staff Reporter

Playboy founder Hugh Hefner changed American pop culture, one centerfold at a time.

A German man has been charged with trying to extort $100,000 from former supermodel Cindy Crawford and her husband over a photo of their daughter gagged and bound to a chair, authorities said.

President Nicolas Sarkozy awarded U.S. actor and director Clint Eastwood one of France's top honors on Friday, hailing him as a cinema legend and a symbol of the type of America that the French adored.

Former Oasis guitarist and vocalist Liam Gallagher says that he and the other members of the band -- aside from his brother Noel -- are writing songs and will perform as a new group.

Google and the Authors Guild filed a new version of a deal to create a massive online library on Friday in hopes of answering antitrust and copyright concerns in the United States and overseas.

Swedish carmaker Koenigsegg will terminate more than a third of U.S. Saab dealers when it completes its purchase of the premium brand from General Motors Co, GM said in a letter to dealers on Thursday.

EU ambassadors failed to approve a genetically-modified maize made by Swiss firm Syngenta in talks on Friday, meaning the application will now be sent to EU ministers for a decision next week.

Taiwan's Chi Mei agreed to be merged with Innolux through a share swap worth about $1 billion to create a new company that aims to have a stronger foothold in the highly competitive LCD industry dominated by bigger Korean rivals.

Toyota Motor Corp will soon offer to fix the accelerator pedals of up to 4 million vehicles in the United States that are subject to the company's largest ever safety recall, Kyodo News reported on Saturday.

Billionaire Warren Buffett said that while his businesses have bottomed after the worst financial crisis in decades, he saw few upticks and ruled out a buoyant holiday season.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Japan's largest bank, will issue about $11 billion in new shares to meet stricter capital requirements and boost lending in Asia, three sources familiar with the matter said.

Hollywood studios are now thinking twice about splurging on A-list movie stars and costly productions in reaction to the poor economy, but also because of the surprising success of recent films with unknown actors.

The top U.S. futures market regulator on Friday fined hedge fund EMF Financial Products LLC $4 million for making false statements about its market positions relating to U.S. treasury note futures.

Funds specializing in niche assets such as art and wine, long the preserve of ultra-rich hobbyists, are seeing a spike in interest from more mainstream investors seeking an antidote to the complexity of hedge funds.

Investor Carl Icahn on Friday raised his offer for the senior notes of bankrupt CIT Group to $650 per $1,000 of principal notes tendered.

Hedge fund billionaire John Paulson's firm took a stake in Citigroup , while cutting holdings in Bank of America and its interest in Goldman Sachs , according to a regulatory filing on Friday.

U.S. regulators are looking hard at banks' expected future tax benefits and the result for some financial institutions could be more writedowns.

Even as they are forced to wait like everyone else for swine flu vaccines in short supply, thousands of nurses and other front-line healthcare workers are fighting mandatory flu immunization policies being put in place by some U.S. hospitals.

The US trade deficit widened more than expected in September although import prices increased less than expected, suggesting that inflation in remaining steady.

Blackstone Group said on Friday its Chief Operating Officer sold $67.5 million of his stake in the private equity firm to invest in various Blackstone funds.

After an $81 billion refunding this week, the U.S. government securities market turns its attention in the coming week to the state of the economy and what that portends for Federal Reserve monetary policy.

Palm will officially launch its Palm Pixi, the smaller companion to the Palm Pre, this Sunday, Nov. 15. In terms of features,The Palm Pre has a slide out keyboard, while the Palm Pixi's keyboard is on the actual phone itself.

The Palm Pre's little brother, the Palm Pixi, is due to hit the market this Sunday, November 15th, and retailers are already offering the phone at discounted prices.

Intel Corp on Friday said that it has named Douglas Melamed as senior vice president and general counsel.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc is helping well over 1,000 of its apparel suppliers secure financing based on the strength of its own credit rating.

The United States needs a credible way to dismantle large troubled financial institutions to squash a belief that some firms will always be rescued, a top U.S. government watchdog said on Friday.

Apple Inc, which is expected to ship 11 million iPhones in the quarter, has sold 30,000 units in China since its debut on October 30, according to an analyst note issued on Friday.

Chicago Federal Reserve President Charles Evans said on Friday that U.S. monetary policy was likely to remain accommodative well into next year, but that the tools for shifting gear were being explored.

The International Monetary Fund is studying a wide range of possible ways to impose a levy on banks, including taxes on profits, assets and financial transactions, its chief economist said on Friday.