IBT Staff Reporter

Mexican officials voiced hope on Friday they were getting a handle on an outbreak of a new flu strain as doctors sought to understand how dangerous it is, how far it might spread and where it came from.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will visit Bosnia, Serbia and Kosovo during the week of May 18, focusing on a region that so far has not been high on the Obama administration's foreign policy agenda.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Friday she expected intense sessions when the presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan come to Washington for three-nation talks next week.

With the grandiose and impressive Patagonia sitting in the south of the country and the vibrant and bustling city of Buenos Aires in the North, Argentina is a destination with the perfect blend of rugged and wild beauty and sophisticated urban centers.

Ford Motor Co on Friday posted a 31.6 percent decline in U.S. sales for April as the economic downturn continued to pressure the industry.

Early this week, Ronn Motor Company, Inc. announced that it has completed testing and final production design for its new H2GO(TM) real time hydrogen injection system. Frigette Energy Systems and Ronn Motors executives have been conducting evaluations this week to prepare for a preliminary focused manufacturing and distribution roll-out to the general public.

General Motors Corp reported a 34 percent decline in April U.S. auto sales on Friday, as low consumer confidence and tight credit continued to pressure the industry.

Oil prices rose more than $2 a barrel on Friday, drawing support from improved U.S. consumer confidence and further evidence of record levels of compliance by OPEC with its agreed output cuts.

The U.S. jobless rate will probably not rise to levels reached during the recession of the early 1980s and is likely to crest above 9 percent before declining, St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard said on Friday.

The U.S. jobless rate will probably not rise to levels reached during the recession of the early 1980s and is likely to crest above 9 percent before declining, St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard said on Friday.

Ronn Motor is an automotive design and manufacturing company focused on building premium, eco-friendly, handcrafted automobiles. The company is attempting to blend the world of exotic performance cars with eco-friendly fuel solutions.

Bankrupt automaker Chrysler LLC idled its manufacturing plants on Friday and said its survival depends on quick court approval of its restructuring plan and the subsequent restarting of its operations.

MasterCard Inc posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings on Friday but said revenue growth this year will fall short of its targets, sending its shares down 7 percent in afternoon trading.

The greenback was in the Thursday session, higher against the yen while slumping against the Australian dollar.

The eagerly-awaited results from stress tests of the 19 largest U.S. banks are expected to be released on May 7 and will include an estimate of the firms' losses, a government source said on Friday

Citigroup said it will sell its Japanese domestic securities business to Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation for $7.9 billion or ¥774.5 billion.

NRG completed on Friday a $287.5 million acquisition of Reliant Energy's retail business in Texas and said it’s committed to increasing the renewable portion of its supply portfolio and will change its corporate name to RRI Energy Inc.

U.S. consumers felt more confident about the economy last month than at any time since the September failure of Lehman Brothers that pushed global banking to the brink of collapse, a survey showed on Friday.

Asia's first case of swine flu has been detected in Hong Kong, the territory's Chief Executive, Donald Tsang told reporters after visiting the Infectious Disease Centre of the Princess Margaret Hospital Thursday afternoon.

U.S. consumers felt much more upbeat about the economy in April, a month when the nation's manufacturing sector also appeared to be crawling out of a deep recessionary hole, reports showed on Friday.

Stocks edged higher on Friday as rising energy shares overshadowed profit taking that followed the market's strong gains in March and April.

As of May 5th, PC users will be able to download and get free access for an entire year of Microsoft's new operating system, Windows 7.

Bankrupt automaker Chrysler LLC idled its manufacturing plants on Friday and said its survival depends on quick court approval of its restructuring plan and the subsequent restarting of its operations.

Once an icon of American automotive might, Chrysler has reached a new low in its rocky eight-decade history by filing for bankruptcy and cutting its business to a shadow of its former size.

Chrysler LLC heads to U.S. bankruptcy court Friday morning to obtain permission to continue paying employees and meeting customer and dealer obligations against a backdrop of mounting opposition from certain of its lenders.

The U.S. factory sector shrank further in April but at a slower pace, suggesting some stabilization in the battered sector and the broader economy, according to an industry report released on Friday.

As the world grapples with the worst economic downturn in decades and the possibility of a flu pandemic, a growing body of research suggests the complexity of the modern global economy may make us more vulnerable than ever to catastrophe.

Aon Corp , the world's largest insurance broker, said on Friday that first-quarter profit rose 28 percent, as cost savings from a restructuring helped overcome a slippage in revenue caused by currency fluctuations and lower investment income.

Oil prices rose to a three-week high on Friday, drawing support from improved U.S. consumer confidence and further evidence of record levels of compliance by OPEC with its agreed output cuts.