IBT Staff Reporter

Stocks slid on Friday as data that showed the manufacturing sector contracted overshadowed a stronger-than-expected reading on consumer confidence.

Continental Airlines Inc said on Friday it had temporarily reduced service to Mexico, citing lower demand as a deadly strain of flu spreads.

Supreme Court Justice David Souter told the White House of his plans to retire in June, a source familiar with his plans said Thursday night, leaving the position open for President Obama to appoint his first Supreme Court justice.

Wall Street pared losses on Friday after a survey showed consumers felt more confident about the economy last month than at any time since the September failure of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc .

Republican lawmakers in the U.S. Senate are demanding the Obama administration provide scientific and legal evidence to support its decision not to store nuclear waste at the long-planned Yucca Mountain depository in Nevada.

A U.S. government staffer who visited Mexico City with President Barack Obama this month came down with flu-like symptoms that spread to family members, who have since recovered, the White House said Thursday.

Wall Street was poised for a flat open on Friday as a reassessment of the recent sharp market run-up could keep gains in check despite hopes the economic slowdown is moderating.

MasterCard Inc posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings on Friday but said revenue growth this year will fall short of its goals, sending its shares down 4.6 percent in premarket trade. The world's second-largest credit card network said lower expenses and increased fees helped first-quarter results.

Tokyo Electric Power Co spent $358 million in the past two years on carbon credits, Japan's biggest utility said on Thursday, as it tried to achieve a self-imposed target to help Japan to fight global warming.

The White House has finished a review of a rule that aims to cut emissions from alternative motor fuels like ethanol, federal environmental regulators said on Thursday.

Oil prices rose on Friday, bouncing from losses earlier in the day, on support from equity markets and as traders sifted through evidence for hints of economic recovery.

The main leader of Thailand's yellow shirt protest movement has blamed senior military officers and political enemies for the failed attempt on his life three weeks ago.

Continental Airlines Inc said on Friday that it had made temporary cuts to its seat capacity to Mexico, citing lower demand as a new strain of flu spreads.

May Day protesters clashed with riot police in Germany, Turkey and Greece on Friday while thousands angry at the government's responses to the global financial crisis took to the streets in France.

Israeli aircraft destroyed four smuggling tunnels under the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt on Friday in the first air strike in almost two months, local residents and the Israeli military said.

Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro on Thursday derided U.S. steps toward improving relations with the communist island, saying the United States wants Cuba to act like a slave willing to accept again the whip and the yoke.

Staying inside to avoid the flu? Or perhaps you are not convinced yet that a pandemic would be scary. Either way, the U.S. National Archives has a solution.

Indonesia's top graft-buster was named a suspect and a mastermind in a murder case on Friday by the attorney-general's office, dealing a blow to the agency and possibly to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's re-election chances.

Chevron Corp reported a 64 percent decline in quarterly profit on Friday as the second-largest U.S. oil company felt the impact of a sharp drop in oil and gas prices in the past year.

A Dutchman who tried to attack Queen Beatrix and her family by driving his car at their bus during a parade on Thursday died of his injuries overnight, the public prosecutor said.

U.N. Security Council members see no point withholding an IMF loan or taking other steps to punish Sri Lanka, the council's president said, as Colombo again rejected foreign calls for a ceasefire with rebels.

Turkish riot police fired water cannon and tear gas in clashes with May Day demonstrators in Istanbul on Friday.

Fortune Brands Inc expects the rest of the year to be easier than the first quarter as its cost cuts and marketing efforts start to bear fruit, the consumer products company said on Friday.

Taliban militants kidnapped 10 Pakistani paramilitaries in an attack on their headquarters on Friday as Islamic militants fought back against an army offensive in the troubled northwest.

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group will buy Citigroup's Japanese broker and key investment banking units for $5.9 billion and look to form a financial services powerhouse through an alliance with Daiwa Securities Group.

Thousands joined May Day demonstrations around France on Friday to protest President Nicolas Sarkozy's social policies and his handling of the financial crisis.

Fortune Brands Inc reported earnings in line with its recent forecast on Friday, saying the stability of its spirits business helped temper the impact of the challenging economy.

Mastercard Inc reported better-than-expected first-quarter earnings on Friday as the world's second-largest credit card network slashed expenses and increased fees.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter plans to retire, giving President Barack Obama his first chance to make an appointment to the nation's highest court, a government official said.