IBT Staff Reporter

Dear Sam: I'm relocating back to the city after living in a small town for several years, so I'm gearing up for a job search and I had a question.

Bonuses paid to executives at nine banks that received U.S. government bailout money in 2008 were greater than net income at some of the banks, the office of New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said on Thursday.

The worldwide Mobile Phone market is still projected to decline 13 percent in 2009, according to IDC, despite second quarter improvements.

MetLife , the largest U.S. life insurer, posted a quarterly net loss of $1.4 billion on Thursday, as investment losses took their toll.

Security experts have uncovered flaws in Apple Inc's iPhone that they said hackers can exploit to take control of the popular device, using the tactic for identity theft and other crimes.

Michael Jackson's father Joe Jackson has confirmed that Omer Bhatti is really Michael's fourth child.

Unemployment is up and consumer confidence is down, but one silver lining of the recession is that last-minute tickets to hear big acts like Coldplay and Bruce Springsteen are as little as $1.

Yahoo Inc shares fell for a second straight day after the company announced a Web search partnership with Microsoft Corp that failed to live up to Wall Street expectations.

Oil jumped more than 5 percent to near $67 a barrel on Thursday as economic data sparked fresh optimism that the recession may be bottoming out.

In the same week that Chris Brown went to YouTube to apologize for assaulting former girlfriend Rihanna, a viral videoclip of a wedding party dancing down the aisle to Brown's song Forever returned him to the charts.

MetLife , the largest U.S. life insurer, said on Thursday it had a net loss of $1.4 billion, driven by losses on derivatives.

The U.S. President Barack Obama said on Thursday the so-called beer summit is a beer not a summit.

Security experts have uncovered flaws in Apple Inc's iPhone that they said hackers can exploit to take control of the popular device, using the tactic for identity theft and other crimes.

Several large, troubled banks that received government assistance paid hundreds of employees bonuses of at least $1 million last year, according to New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. Cuomo criticized the top U.S. banks for paying boom-time bonuses in an era of economic peril. At least 4,793 bankers and traders were paid more than $1 million in bonuses last year.

Stocks rose on Thursday as solid corporate profit reports and a drop in the number of Americans on jobless benefits gave investors reasons to buy equities following the S&P 500's two days of losses.

The cap-and-trade bill will do little to stop trade wars overseas and will instead start conflicts that will threaten American workers at home and abroad, Missouri senator Kit Bond said Thursday during remarks at the Senate Environment and Public Works hearing.

When a major swimwear factory in Bangkok found its sales plummeting in the downturn, it laid off some 1,900 workers, almost all of them women.

Former project manager Bob Short has a ready answer to describe which job is more difficult -- his old post at Nuveen Investments or his current position as stay-at-home dad.

The Walt Disney Co. on Thursday reported earnings for the third fiscal quarter, with net income declining 26 percent and revenues down 7 percent.

Walt Disney Co posted a 26 percent plunge in quarterly earnings as sales fell sharply at its media networks and theme parks, sending its shares nearly 3 percent lower.

With the once-resilient videogame industry mired in a slump, investors are looking to big-name titles and potential price cuts for game consoles in the second half of the year to help spur a rebound in sales.

The Walt Disney Co posted a 26 percent lower profit on Thursday as the global economic woes pulled down operating profits by double digits at its powerhouse media networks and theme parks.

Stocks rose on Thursday as solid corporate profit reports and a drop in the number of Americans on jobless benefits gave investors reasons to buy equities following the S&P 500's two days of losses.

At 6pm this evening President Barack Obama will have a somewhat different meeting on his agenda as he meets with the two men he joined last week at the center of an uproar over race in America for a few cold ones outside the president's oval office.

With polls showing public support for President Barack Obama's healthcare reform waning, Senate negotiators hit another snag on Thursday when a key Finance Committee Republican said the panel would not be ready to vote until September.

U.S. lawmakers debating a huge overhaul of the nation's healthcare system are increasingly focusing on proposals that healthcare cooperatives could be formed to help provide medical coverage.

Southwest Airlines Co. has submitted a bid worth at least $113.6 million to acquire Frontier Airlines Holdings Inc under a bankruptcy auction, the companies said today.

Karl-Georg Altenburg, head of JP Morgan's German business, said he expects companies to learn from the financial crisis and aim for a stronger capital base in the longer term, according to a German paper.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is expected to make a visit to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in California on August 8.