IBT Staff Reporter

Ford Motor Co. said Friday it is requesting $440 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to finance the restructuring of a former SUV plant in Michigan to manufacture small and electric cars, Bloomberg reported.

Global demand for materials needed to manufacture batteries will climb 3.9 percent per year to $22.8 billion by 2012, a study by the Freedonia Group released this week stated.

A United Nations peacekeeper has been shot dead by unknown gunman in Darfur and his car was stolen, according to a spokesman for the UN-African Union Mission (UNAMID) said on Friday.

AT&T Inc is close to a $2.5 billion deal to acquire the bulk of Alltel Wireless assets being divested by Verizon Communications Inc , sources familiar with the situation said Friday.

Battery maker EnerDel and automaker Fisher Karma are looking to strike a deal that will provide batteries for a new plug-in hybrid car set to launch in June 2010.

States Bank of India, the country's largest bank, plans to raise 200 billion rupees ($4.07 billion) in the current fiscal year, a top company official said Friday.

The Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea is currently closed after being blockaded by local landowners.The Koiari people are angry at what they claim is mis-management of the 96km (60 mile) trail.

The rebuilding of the World Trade Center site needs to get back on track, New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said on Friday, saying that at least two World Trade Center towers should be built without further delay.

U.S. President Barack Obama will deliver a speech to the Muslim world in Egypt next month, seeking to repair ties that were severely damaged under his predecessor George W. Bush.

With Windows 7 released, windows users may rush to install it, but before going ahead they should consult the advisor.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) said on Friday the country's economy will shrink by 1.25% for the year ending June 30.

President Obama’s military office aide resigned on Friday after an uproar over a low altitude flight by a jumbo jet used as Air Force One he approved over New York City which led bystanders to believe was part of another terrorist attack.

U.S. stocks rose on Friday, and the Nasdaq capped its longest stretch of weekly gains in a decade as stress test results and reassuring jobs data fueled hopes the worst is over for banks and the economy.

Strike up the band, boys, happy days are here again! Recently released short-term economic data, including unemployment claims, non-farm payrolls, home sales, and business spending, which had been so unambiguously horrific in February and March, are now just garden-variety awful.

A stubborn wildfire has forced at least 30,000 people to evacuate their homes and destroying 75 homes in the California coastal town of Santa Barbara as the flames continued for the fourth consecutive day.

A group of Chrysler LLC's dissident lenders disbanded, representatives said on Friday, removing the last legal hurdle to the automaker's quest to complete a merger with Italy's Fiat SpA with U.S. government backing.

U.S. employers cut 539,000 jobs last month, the fewest since October, according to government data on Friday that signaled the economy's steep decline might be easing and gave the stock market a boost.

U.S. stocks rose on Friday, and the Nasdaq capped its longest stretch of weekly gains in a decade as stress test results and reassuring jobs data fueled hopes the worst is over for banks and the economy.

The month of April was no different to the previous as U.S. employers were once again left with no option but to slash their workforce yet again as the recession took another bite of the economy, slashing jobs by 539,000.

Microsoft's roll out of Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) earlier this week boosted use of the new operating system by 22 percent since Monday, according to data from Web measurement company Net Applications.

Tourists heading south for the winter may be transported to their dream destination in windowless airliners flying in formation like geese if Airbus accepts the advice of tomorrow's potential aircraft engineers.

Shares of American International Group rose above $2 for a second day on Friday, on signs Chief Executive Ed Liddy is making progress on stemming the financial bleeding at the insurer rescued by a massive government bailout.

Oil rose more than 3 percent on Friday to touch a near six-month high as the results of the U.S. governments stress test for big banks and U.S. jobs data added to optimism about the economy.

U.S. stocks rose on Friday as results of bank stress tests fueled hopes that the worst is over for the financial sector, and news of fewer-than-expected April job cuts suggested the economic slump is moderating.

DENVER - Activision Blizzard is releasing three new music-based video games this year -- DJ Hero, Guitar Hero 5 and Band Hero -- and has confirmed that Guitar Hero: Van Halen is on tap.

U.S. stocks jumped to session highs on Friday following a CNBC report that AT&T was near a $2.5 billion deal to buy most of Verizon's AllTel divestitures.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein offered shareholders a guardedly optimistic forecast for economic recovery, saying investors are now talking about when, not if, markets will rebound.

Fannie Mae , the largest provider of U.S. home mortgage funding, said on Friday it needs more capital from the U.S. Treasury after a $23.2 billion loss in the first quarter and warned government housing programs would cut deeper into its profitability.

A stubborn brush fire that consumed 75 foothill homes above the coastal town of Santa Barbara raged with renewed ferocity for a fourth day on Friday, forcing at least 20,000 people to flee as it advanced on the city and two nearby communities.