IBT Staff Reporter

Nintendo launched its Wii Fit fitness video game on Monday as the firm looks to expand its audience.

Crude rose on Monday as supply worries continue despite a decision from South Arabia to raise oil production, while gasoline rose to $4 a gallon in some areas in the United States.

China Unicom Ltd. announced Monday that the company increased new users by 1.5 million in April, bringing the total users up to 168.5 million by the end of last month. In March the new users increased by 1.63 million.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said on Monday that it had sued eight former executives of AOL Time Warner, alleging they had fraudulently inflated the company's online advertising revenues by more than $1 billion between 2000 and 2002.

Japan stocks rebounded slightly Monday, led by oil companies' shares as New York oil futures reached $127.82 per barrel in off-hours trading on Friday. But the upward trend was thwarted because of concerns over the U.S. economy.

US media giant News Corporation said Monday it has raised its stake in German pay-television operator Premiere to 25 percent, the second increase since buying into the firm in January.

Gold futures rose to the highest level in almost three weeks on Monday as surging energy costs boosted demand for the precious metal as a hedge against inflation.

Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two Interactive Software rejected Electronic Arts offer to extend its hostile $2 billion takeover on Monday, saying that it was inadequate.

Dell Inc named Brian Gladden - the chief executive at what was until recently General Electric Plastics - as its new chief financial officer.

U.S. stocks rose on Monday, lifting the Standard & Poor's Index to a four-month high, after data suggesting the U.S. economy may not be in recession which helped to overcome concerns over record crude oil prices, while technology shares were boosted as deal talks between Microsoft and Yahoo have been resumed.

Lowe's Cos., the second-largest home- improvement retailer, reported an 18 percent drop in first-quarter profit on Monday and lowered its outlook for the year as the retailer faces a challenging sales environment amid a national housing slump.

Microsoft and Yahoo are in talks for a less ambitious partnership, but neither side is discounting the possibility of another Microsoft takeover attempt of the Internet portal.

Walt Disney sequel The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian reigned at the weekend box office in North America, grossing $19.3 million but is likely to fall short of industry expectations, according to preliminary data issued on Saturday.

The total jobs Morgan Stanley cut this week could get close to 2,000 jobs. A report said Morgan cut 1,500 jobs this week, but few affected employees have not been notified yet, media reports said on Friday.

Workers at General Motors Corp. ratified a new local contract with the company on Friday afternoon ending a strike in one important factory producer of popular crossover vehicles.

The Food and Drug Administration warned one more time about the risks of Novartis and Roche transplant drugs for pregnant woman.

At present, Sinopec supplies Chengdu with 1.3 million cubic meters of natural gas per day, which is basically the same quantity as that before the earthquake.

Financial stocks fell on Friday on slipping consumer sentiment, led by losses at large regional banks Keycorp and Regions which were hurt by downgrades.

3M Co. said late Friday it signed a license agreement with Sony Corp. granting Sony rights to use certain 3M optical film technology for its LCD televisions.

Pioneering winemaker Robert Mondavi, who helped put Californian Cabernets and Chardonnays on the world's wine-tasting map, died Friday at the age of 94.

Genentech Inc., the developer and maker of pharmaceutical products, said Thursday it expects final results from a clinical trial of a cancer drug Avastin in patients with colon cancer to be done by 2009, a year earlier than it previously forecasted.

Investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. will begin to cut jobs on May 19 and plans to shed 5 percent of its workforce, according to media reports.

It was just after 10 p.m. when William Cotter, wearing a belt full of ammunition, burst into the home of his estranged wife, Dorothy, shooting her in the back with a sawed-off shot gun before taking his own life.

The GT-R--one of the quickest, fastest, most capable, and, arguably, desirable cars in the world--shares a showroom and engineers with the $13,335 Versa

With U.S. crop prices soaring to historic levels, times are seemingly good for grain farmers and agribusiness firms. So why are lenders worried about the U.S. farm economy?

The dollar versus the euro and yen on Friday after a report showing that consumer confidence in the U.S. fell as oil reached a new record.

Shares of Advance Auto Parts Inc. rose on Friday as the company reported a better than forecasted profit for the first quarter.

Wal-Mart is planning to prepare and serve fresh food at delicatessen counters in its new Marketside convenience stores, in a bit to compete with Tesco's Fresh & Easy offering.

Starbucks Corp shares jumped on Friday a day after billionaire investor Nelsol Peltz's Trian Fund disclosed its stake in the coffee retailer.