IBT Staff Reporter

Obama administration officials outlined comprehensive proposals to rein in the free-wheeling market in financial derivatives on Friday, which has been blamed for helping to create the global economic crisis, and proposed stronger investor protections.

JPMorgan Chase & Co , seeking to extricate itself from a federal bailout program, wants warrants held by the government to be sold at auction, after the Treasury Department demanded too high a price for the bank to buy them back.

A G8 summit made scant progress toward a new U.N. climate treaty due to be agreed in December with some nations back-pedaling on promises of new action even before the end of a meeting in Italy.

The Dow industrials and the S&P 500 fell on Friday, dropping for the fourth straight week, after Chevron Corp warned about its quarterly results and consumer confidence fell to it lowest level since March.

Average U.S. ethanol margins have risen for the fourth week running as prices for corn, the top raw material cost for distillers, have fallen more than $1 a bushel over the month, experts said.

The memorial service of slain ex-NFL quarterback, Steve McNair was attended as many as 5,500 at Mount Zion Baptist church on Thursday.

A group of unsecured creditors objected on Friday to a request by bankrupt Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc for more time to draft its reorganization plan, claiming the delay will cut into the $13 billion they say they are owed, according to court documents.

Power.com, a San Francisco based aggregator of social networking sites, on Friday sued Facebook in a California court to try to resolve who owns data on social networking websites -- users or the sites.

The owner of a website onto which a purportedly stolen Goldman Sachs Group Inc computer code was downloaded has declined to say whether or not other people accessed the code while it was on the site.

Power.com, a San Francisco based aggregator of social networking sites, on Friday sued Facebook in a California court to try to resolve who owns data on social networking websites -- users or the sites.

Katie Holmes' performance on July 23 will be amazing and real, her choreographer Tyce Diorio told reporters after Thursday's elimination show on So you think you can dance, People Magazine reported.

The U.S. Energy Department announced on Friday it will provide more than $448 million in Recovery Act funding to expand weatherization programs in thirteen states, and more than $141 million to support energy efficiency and renewable energy projects in six states.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Friday proposed clamping down on dealers in freewheeling markets for derivatives, the little-understood, complex securities that helped create a crisis in U.S. and world financial markets.

A new General Motors emerged from bankruptcy protection on Friday -- far more quickly than most industry-watchers had expected -- as a leaner automaker pledging to win back American consumers and pay back taxpayers.

Cyber attacks slowing U.S. and South Korean websites could enter a new phase on Friday by attacking personal computers and wiping out hard disks, a South Korean government agency and web security firm said.

'New GM' emerges, Oil rebound in 2010, AIG to pay more bonuses?

'New GM' emerges, Iron-gate, U.S. Cigs expansion

Cisco Systems Inc said on Friday it was not in a new round of layoffs in response to an analyst report referring to 2,000 job cuts underway.

Real estate research site Trulia.com says 24.6 percent of current homes on the market in the United States as of July 1, have had at least one price cut, totaling $27.1 billion in reductions.

Lax lending standards alone did not bring about the housing bubble, according to a study by the New York Federal Reserve, challenging the widely held view of the origins of the collapse in home prices.

Most Americans still consider having enough money for downpayment and closing costs to be the biggest obstacles to buying a home

Some Americans are swapping homes for motels as the ranks of the homeless swell during the recession, crowding out shelters and forcing cities and states across the country to find new types of housing.

The Obama administration is asking the largest mortgage finance companies to quicken the pace of modifying home loans and so help more troubled borrowers avoid foreclosure.

Property investors are turning to the student accommodation sector as a would-be phoenix rising from the ashes of the UK real estate market, promising growth in returns and size for at least the next few years.

President Barack Obama made headlines on Friday after a photo of him at the G8 summit apparently showed the president looking at a junior delegate from Brazil Mayora Tavares.

Direct investments in European commercial real estate fell 42 percent in the first half of 2009, compared with the final six months of 2008, with buyers held back by a lack of bank lending, a report said on Friday.

Stocks fell on Friday, with the Dow industrials and the S&P 500 set for their fourth weekly drop, after Chevron's warning about its second-quarter results prompted investors to sell some energy shares.

American International Group Inc. is reportedly consulting with the Obama administration about its plans to pay $235 million in retention bonuses to employees at the AIG's financial products unit. The insurance giant's plans are now being presented before White House compensation czar, Kenneth R. Feinberg.

Armed with a computer, an internet connection and his own intellect Ahmed Al-Omran is one of a few Saudi bloggers trying to push for change and make themselves heard in the conservative Gulf Arab monarchy.