IBT Staff Reporter

President Barack Obama said on Friday he was hopeful the robust debate taking place in Iran's presidential election would advance his administration's efforts to engage longtime U.S. rival Tehran in new ways.

Oil eased toward $72 a barrel on Friday, a day after reaching a near eight-month high, pressured by a firmer dollar and views that prices have risen too far despite improving economic sentiment.

More than 95 percent of eligible dealers at bankrupt General Motors Corp have signed on or verbally agreed to participate in the new company, Chief Executive Fritz Henderson said on Friday.

U.S. consumer confidence rose to a nine-month high in June, a survey showed on Friday, but inflation gauges showed worrisome signs of price increases that could slow any recovery from the longest recession since the Great Depression.

France's Total said on Friday that 1,200 contractors have walked out on unofficial strike over planned redundancies at its British Lindsey refinery.

Proposed legislation that would provide consumers with a $15,000 tax credit for home purchases to stimulate the depressed U.S. housing market is seen as having very little chance of getting through Congress.

Apple said its so called world's fastest browser Safari 4 has been downloaded 11 million times since it was released three days ago and more than half of the downloads came from PCs and laptops that use rival Windows as its operating system.

Matt Bording doubts many in his financial bind would agree that home prices in California are near a bottom. And there are many in his predicament.

Technology shares led Wall Street's drop on Friday after National Semiconductor's disappointing results, but a rise in defensive sectors like healthcare limited losses in the Dow and S&P 500.

As the United States pours troops into Afghanistan and boosts its role in the NATO force's command structure, Washington is trying to reassure its allies that it still wants the war to be a joint effort.

The two primary watchdogs of the U.S. financial bailout program are studying whether taxpayers will get a fair return on banks' warrants as the largest firms repay government investments, according to a letter sent to lawmakers this week.

An effort by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service to revamp the way employers and workers account for personal cell phone use is intended to save companies money, an IRS official said on Friday.

The U.N. Security Council Friday unanimously approved expanded sanctions and a trade and arms embargo against North Korea over its May 25 nuclear test.

Germany will press G8 finance ministers to start working on how to return policy to normal after months of crisis at a meeting in Italy on Friday, although hopes the world economy has turned the corner are still fragile.

Chancellor Alistair Darling will press his G8 colleagues this weekend to speed up clearing up toxic assets from their banks' balance sheets.

Iranians streamed to polling stations on Friday in a hotly contested election and allies of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his main moderate challenger issued rival victory claims.

U.S. lawmakers took the final steps on Friday to pass sweeping legislation giving the U.S. Food and Drug Administration broad authority over cigarettes and other tobacco products, sending the bill to the president to be signed into law.

The two primary watchdogs of the U.S. financial bailout program are studying if taxpayers will get a fair return on banks' warrants as the largest firms repay government investments, according to a letter sent to lawmakers this week.

Oil fell below $72 a barrel on Friday, a day after reaching a near eight-month high, pressured by a firmer dollar and views that prices have risen too far despite improving economic sentiment.

General Motors may soon reach a deal to sell its European unit Saab Automobile AB to Swedish supercarmaker Koenigsegg Automotive AB, according to Bloomberg, citing a person close to the situation.

U.S. consumer confidence rose to a nine-month high in June but failed again to surpass its level of September 2008, when the spectacular failure of Lehman Brothers sent the world economy into a tailspin, a survey showed on Friday.

Technology shares fell on Friday after disappointing results from National Semiconductor, but a rise in defensive stocks, like healthcare, cushioned losses in the Dow and S&P 500.

OPEC cut its forecast for world oil demand in 2009 further on Friday but said the worst appeared to be over for the market, adding to signs of a turning point in the outlook for oil.

Siemens and StatoilHydro installed a wind turbine offshore in Norway using an innovative floating technology that is not limited, as existing technologies are, to being attached on the seabed, the companies said Friday.

Oil fell below $72 a barrel on Friday, a day after reaching a near eight-month high, pressured by a firmer dollar and views that prices have risen too far despite improving economic sentiment.

Oil pipeline and storage company Teppco Partners LP said its purchased marine assets, including 19 boats and 28 barges, from TransMontaigne Product Services Inc for $50 million in cash.

Digital TV will replace the six-decade long era of analog TV today which will leave more than 2.8 million unprepared homes across the country without TV service.

Norwegian browser maker Opera ASA said on Friday that Microsoft's plan to ship its Windows operating system in Europe without its Internet Explorer web browser was not enough to restore competition.

Hartford Financial Services Group Inc said it will take as much as $3.4 billion of federal bailout money and sell up to $750 million of common stock to bolster capital after large losses on investments.