IBT Staff Reporter

A new action movie based on the G.I. Joe line of toy soldiers crushed enemy forces at the worldwide box office during the weekend, ending the three-week reign of the sixth Harry Potter fantasy.

The Federal Reserve meets this week with the delicate task of curbing a surge in expectations that it is ready to starting raising interest rates, without snuffing out crucial optimism on the economy.

The US Dollar lost considerable ground against the Pound and EURO early last week with both currencies breaking through the physiological resistance barriers of 1.70 and 1.44 respectively.

The Aussie dollar rallied momentarily following Friday's release of the RBA's quarterly statement on Monetary Policy spiking from 0.8395 to an intraday high around 0.8420.

China's state secrets watchdog has accused mining multinational Rio Tinto of engaging in commercial spying over six years, saying data on Rio computers showed the espionage came at a huge loss to China.

Oil fell toward $70 a barrel on Monday, extending the previous session's decline, as strength in the U.S. dollar encouraged investors to take profit from a recent rally.

After hearing about her not returning to American Idol, two rival shows have already offered Paula Abdul new opportunities.

Recession has shaken nearly every corner of the U.S. economy but Trinity Yachts is still turning out custom-built luxury boats, thanks in part to a sagging U.S. dollar.

The bodies of seven people killed in a crash between a sightseeing helicopter and a small plane over the Hudson River have been recovered, the National Transportation Safety Board said today.

A much slower pace of U.S. job losses in July and improvement in housing and manufacturing lifted U.S. stocks on Friday, but a more surprising beneficiary of the news was the U.S. dollar.

Leaders of the United States, Mexico and Canada -- also known as the three amigos -- begin a summit on Sunday in Mexico to talk about simmering trade issues and the threat of drug gangs.

Typhoon Morakot battered China's commercial east coast on Sunday, killing a child and flattening houses.

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson talked often to the head of Goldman Sachs at the height of the credit crisis but did not actively seek to help the bank he once ran, a spokeswoman for Paulson said on Saturday.

The outcome of the bidding process for GM's German unit Opel is not a foregone conclusion despite widespread backing for rival bidder Magna, the head of RHJ International said in a newspaper interview.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pressed Angola on Sunday to do more to fight corruption during a two-day visit to the oil-producing country aimed at bolstering ties between the two nations.

Wall Street's rally could persist this week as investors' conviction grows that the U.S. economy is on track for a recovery. But retailers' results, CPI and other consumer data could cast a pall if shoppers fail to show signs of life.

Publicis struck a $530 million deal with Microsoft to buy the Razorfish ad agency and boost its position in digital communications, the world's third-largest communications group said on Sunday.

The Japan Meteorological Agency reported an earthquake with the magnitude of 6.9 shook Tokyo and surrounding areas on Sunday.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Angola on Sunday in a bid to bolster opportunities for U.S. business in the major oil producer.

U.S.-Swiss talks to settle a tax evasion row against UBS have stalled as the two states have yet to agree legal details on how to allow the transfer of some bank client data to Washington, a Swiss paper said on Sunday.

A lot of old games were fading slowly due to the emerging technology that changes old school games like Super-Mario, super contra and Caesar's Palace to name a few.

A journal issued by China's state secrets watchdog has accused the mining multinational Rio Tinto of commercial spying over six years, saying data found on Rio computers showed the espionage had come at a huge cost to China.

The majority of big banks that deal directly with the Federal Reserve are confident the central bank can exit from its unorthodox policies, though they don't expect the Fed to have to raise rates until 2010 or later.

Bank regulators closed three banks on Friday, bringing the number of failures so far this year to 72 as the weakened economy takes its toll on the financial services sector.

A small plane crashed into a tourist helicopter on Saturday causing both planes to plunge into the Hudson River and claiming the lives of all nine occupants.

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson had frequent conversations with Goldman Sachs Group Inc's chief executive during last fall's financial crisis, raising questions about his ties to his former firm, according to a New York Times report.

A sightseeing helicopter collided with a small plane on Saturday and both crashed into the Hudson River near lower Manhattan, police reported.

A tour helicopter collided with a small plane in midair and both crashed into the Hudson River near lower Manhattan, police reported Saturday.

Sonia Sotomayor was sworn in on Saturday as the first Hispanic, and the third woman, to sit on the United States Supreme Court bench.