IBT Staff Reporter

Hollywood striking writers said Friday they will not picket the Golden Globe Awards after the organizers of the event announced it will take control from TV network NBC and will instead, have the live event broadcast to all media.

With TV woes, so the Super Bowl couldn't come at a better time.

The world's largest energy consumer laid down ambitious new mandates for alternative fuels

Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed bin Talal will inject new cash into Citi

Agricultural products were left affected on Friday after a U.S. government report showed a dip in production and failed to meet the global demand for food and biofuels.

Oil prices declined for the third consecutive day on Friday on fear and speculation that the U.S. – the top oil consumer- is heading towards an economic recession, thereby weakening demand for the commodity.

Macworld Expo in San Francisco will be a time for the whole world to see new releases from different companies supporting Apple's Mac, including announcements from Apple itself.

Advanced Micro Devices said on Friday that it has changed the release date of its upcoming desktop processor in an attempt to better serve the market.

UPS Inc. announced on Friday that it will increase the general rate of about 5.4 percent on non-contractual shipments in the U.S. and Canada.

NASA announced on Friday that space shuttle Atlantis will be launched February 7, after a delay due to technical problems.

Gold futures topped the $900 mark on Friday, closing higher for a fourth session as investors speculate the Fed will further cut interest rates in a bid to save the economy from a recession, while the dollar also weakened and boosted investment appeal of the precious metal.

Oil prices on Friday declined amid fears that the US economy is headed for a recession that may result into decreased demand for oil despite US being the largest energy consumer.

Stocks dropped on Friday as slowing consumer spending and write-downs in the financial sector sent the Dow Jones into triple digit losses. With earnings expected in coming weeks, investors are increasingly worried about how major banks and brokerages have fared in the most recent quarter after suffering losses related sub-prime mortgages.

Amid a great deal of hype and fanfare, Tata Motors, frontrunners in the acquisition race for Ford Motor's British luxury brands Jaguar and Land Rover, unveiled its People's Car rechristened Nano, that meets Euro 4 emission and safety norms in the India Auto Expo 2008, New Delhi, Thursday, Jan. 10.

In the early days of Countrywide Financial Corp, competitors underestimated Angelo Mozilo, the mortgage lender's founder.

MBIA Inc., the world's largest bond insurer, said it has $9 billion of exposure to the riskiest mortgage debt, $900 million more than the company disclosed about three weeks ago.

Merrill Lynch is expected to suffer $15 billion in losses stemming from soured mortgage investments, almost twice the company's original estimate, the New York Times reported on Friday.

The boom has been driven as much by new strategies as by those wanting a repeat of last year's success.

Bank of America confirmed on Friday it agreed to acquire Countrywide Financial Corp. in an all-stock transaction worth approximately $4 billion, five months after making a $2 billion investment in the troubled mortgage lender. In July last year, Bank of America purchased a 16 percent stake in the nation's largest mortgage lender during the height of the summer's global credit crunch.

As the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas winds down to lackluster reviews, Apple is expected to grab the spotlight with an ultra-slim laptop computer and online movie rentals at its biggest annual show next week.

Here is the cold, hard reality of the 65th annual Golden Globe Awards that will be handed out Sunday at the Beverly Hilton: A lot of people are going to lose a lot of money.

With tears, smiles and long hugs, two women hostages were freed by Colombia's Marxist rebels on Thursday after years in the jungle, raising hopes for dozens more languishing in secret camps. In a Venezuela-brokered deal, a helicopter flew deep into Colombia to pick up former vice-presidential candidate Clara Rojas and ex-congresswoman Consuelo Gonzalez, and ferried them back across the border where a plane took them to Caracas.

Sending a symbolic message to Israeli and Palestinian leaders, U.S. President George W. Bush visited on Friday the site where Jesus is believed to have intoned blessed are the peacemakers.

Amazon said on Thursday that it will begin offering music from Sony BMG without digital rights management, allowing purchases to freely distribute the downloads.

New York's attorney-general launched an antitrust investigation into the world's largest chipmaker on Thursday, following similar action in Japan, South Korea, and Europe.

Copper futures ended Thursday recovering losses early in the session to settle down slightly after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke signaled that interest rates may need to be lowered to boost the economy.

In its second executive shuffle of the year, Microsoft Corp. announced on Thursday that the head of the unit which produces its valued Office software suite, plans to retire in September to be replaced by Stephen Elop, the former chief operating officer at Juniper Networks.

Oil fell on Thursday amid fears that crude demand will be threatened by a possible economic recession in the U.S. and in other important global oil consumers.

Shares of Countrywide Financial shot up more than 50 percent on Thursday after a report that Bank of America may buy the troubled leading U.S. mortgage lender. The reported pending talks, come amid rumors earlier this week that Countrywide needed cash to avoid bankruptcy, speculation that the company denied.