IBT Staff Reporter

Student Damon Weaver gives U.S. President Barack Obama a hard time over education, school meals and bullying.

Oil prices posted their biggest loss in more than two weeks on Friday after a report showing weak U.S. consumer confidence darkened the economic outlook and tanked stocks on Wall Street.

Pop diva Madonna may have upset some Catholic Poles by timing her debut Polish concert to coincide with a big religious holiday on Saturday, but she is sure of a warm welcome if she visits the tiny village of Rumin.

Search market leader Google Inc holds greater loyalty among its users, who conduct more searches a month than those on Yahoo! and Microsoft, new data issued on Friday showed, posing a challenge for the new team of rivals to Google.

Floating, cocktail drink in hand, in the pool of a five-star hotel in Cuba, Alexis basks in a holiday experience that for years was out of reach for him in his own homeland.

The Obama administration is proposing to fund the enhanced policing of financial firms by levying fees on the largest banks, while sparing community banks from increased costs, a Treasury official said on Friday.

U.S. stocks fell broadly on Friday, with major indexes dropping more than 1 percent as weak consumer sentiment data fueled concerns about the strength of an economic recovery.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp is taking Colonial BancGroup Inc into receivership and will sell the struggling lender's branches and deposits to BB&T Corp , Dow Jones said, citing a person familiar with the situation.

Boeing Co said on Friday an Italian supplier stopped production in June on two sections of its long-delayed 787 Dreamliner after structural flaws were found on fuselages.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp is taking Colonial BancGroup Inc into receivership and will sell the struggling lender's branches and deposits to BB&T Corp , Dow Jones said, citing a person familiar with the situation.

Activist investor Carl Icahn is under fire from a hedge fund that accuses the billionaire investor of enriching himself at the expense of minority shareholders in XO Holdings Inc , a company he controls.

Pregnant Kourtney Kardashian says getting pregnant with her finance (who was also her ex-boyfriend) Scott Disick, was unplanned.

Police was called to Jon Gosselin and Kate Gosselin's house on Thursday afternoon as the ex-couple goes through divorce proceedings, People magazine reported.

Energy prices plunged on Friday after the Reuters/University of Michigan index of consumer sentiment fell sharply in the first period of August. The index gave signals to traders that consumers will be tight on spending.

J.C. Penney Co Inc posted a smaller-than-expected net loss on Friday, as it reined in costs, but the retailer signaled that full-year profit might miss expectations, and its shares fell over 6 percent.

U.S. high-technology exporters on Friday welcomed President Barack Obama's decision to undertake a comprehensive review of U.S. export controls rooted in Cold War fears of the former Soviet Union.

Britain's Chrysalis Group, publisher of Michael Jackson hit songs including

Meat Loaf, Yes singer Jon Anderson and former Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley will be the headline

Veteran rock band Aerosmith has scrapped its ill-starred North American tour a little over a week after singer Steven Tyler fell off the stage and broke his shoulder.

U.S. stocks fell on Friday, dropping more than 1 percent across the board following the release of weak consumer sentiment data.

U.S. consumer confidence fell in early August as a growing number of Americans fretted about their finances even though they expected the broader economy to improve, a survey showed on Friday.

Consumers retreat, Boeing's late report, China backs down

A federal court on Thursday froze $1 billion of Colonial Bank's assets after a judge ruled in favor of Bank of America which had requested a temporary restraining order to keep Colonial from liquidating or transferring assets. According the federal judge the bank is on the verge of failure. Individual depositors are protected through the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

U.S. consumer confidence fell in early August as a growing number of Americans fretted about their finances even though they expected the broader economy to improve, a survey showed on Friday.

U.S. stocks fell more than 1 percent on Friday as investors retreated from a recent rally after data showing weak consumer sentiment fueled doubts about an economic recovery.

China has confirmed its back down from a plan to preinstall controversial Green Dam filtering software on all personal computers sold in the country, though it will still be rolled out in schools and Internet bars.

U.S. industrial output gained for the first time in nine months in July and inflation remained muted, but consumer confidence was unexpectedly weak this month, according to reports on Friday.

The U.S. government is covertly testing technology in China and Iran that lets residents break through screens set up by their governments to limit access to news on the Internet.

The U.S. government is covertly testing technology in China and Iran that lets residents break through screens set up by their governments to limit access to news on the Internet.