IBT Staff Reporter

In May, Alvin Clavon received a foreclosure notice on the simple, Spanish-style house in South Los Angeles that he shares with his wife and three boys.

Back in Pakistan from exile, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was due to file nomination papers on Monday for polls in January, but he may not take part unless President Pervez Musharraf ends emergency rule.

President Vladimir Putin accused Washington on Monday of plotting to undermine December parliamentary elections seen widely as a demonstration of his power in Russia.

An Indian film will be released officially Friday in Pakistan, a first for two countries that have banned each other's films for more than three decades.

President George W. Bush meets Palestinian and Israeli leaders on Monday in a drive for Palestinian statehood before he leaves office in 14 months.

T-Mobile's parent company in Germany has appealed a court ruling that would forbid tying customers into a two-year contract when they by one of Apple's iPhones, according to a report.

A non-profit's dream of giving away laptops to millions of kids in developing countries, bridging the technology divide, is being derailed in part by competition from well-known companies such as Intel and Microsoft, the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.

Nintendo is calling on its greatest superhero to help make the its Wii game system even hotter than last year.

Private and company use of the Internet could lead to erratic operation of the information network within 3 years unless $137 billion in new infrastructure is put in place to prevent shortages, according to a new study.

With gift buyers pouring into retail stores across the country on Friday to kick off the Holiday shopping season, initial reports appear to be strong.

The makers of the muscle car and gas guzzler, may finally be seeing green.

You may not realize it, but a wealth of healthy -- and free -- food may be growing just outside your front door.

The British Government has come under yet more criticism today after the National Audit Office (NAO) said that it could have got the taxpayer “more money” from the partial sale of defence firm Qinetiq. Qinetiq was sold by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to US based private equity group Carlyle in 2003 for £42 million.

Stocks rebounded on Friday in an abbreviated session as the start of holiday shopping lifted retail stocks, while progress in a plan to relieve the credit market's strain aided bank shares. Shares of JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup all rose more than 2 percent. The three banks, spearheading an effort to establish a superfund to ease problems in the credit market, are expected to seek support from others in the industry.

Online brokerage E*Trade Financial Corp is believed to be in merger talks with Charles Schwab Corp. and TD Ameritrade Holding Corp, according to a report on Friday on business news channel CNBC. An E*Trade spokesperson declined to comment, and a spokesperson for TD Ameritrade said the company has been pursuing growth through mergers and acquisitions but would not comment on E*Trade specifically. Charles Schwab also declined to comment.

Nearly simultaneous explosions from homemade bombs planted outside courts in three northern Indian cities killed at least 13 people in what a senior government official said were terrorist strikes. Officials said 59 people were wounded in the blasts at Varanasi, Faizabad and Lucknow, all in the populous state of Uttar Pradesh. Many of the dead were lawyers.

Eager shoppers stormed malls and stores across the country on Friday to snap up the early-bird specials that mark Black Friday, the first official day of the U.S. holiday shopping season. While shoppers were looking for giveaways and discounts, analysts and investors were watching for signs of consumer strength or weakness.

Freddie Mac's credit losses may surpass its historic high, if the U.S. mortgage market deteriorates more than what is forecast by the No. 2 mortgage finance company, Moody's Investors Service said.

Will consumers’ expectations about a slightly downcast holiday shopping season turn into reality? With the Thanksgiving holiday over, shoppers are descending into stores today to find the best deals as the busiest time of the year kicks off for retailers.

The 2007 holiday shopping season kicked off on Friday with crowds of shoppers, many braving the bitter cold, snagging early bargains on one of the busiest shopping days of the year. Analysts expected moderate sales this year as consumers struggle with the slumping housing market, a credit crunch, rising food and fuel costs and uncertainty about their jobs.

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said on Friday that chances of a U.S. recession would be more than 50 percent if it were not for the remarkable flexibility of the economy.

A cache of Asian art, Chinese jade and porcelain goes under the hammer in Hong Kong next week at what global auction house Christie's expects will be another record-breaking sale in an apparently insatiable market.

The earliest known full-length portrait of Queen Elizabeth I, thought to have been commissioned to help the English monarch advertise herself to potential suitors, sold on Thursday for 2.6 million pounds ($5.3 million).

Five Hollywood studios have sued a Chinese online service and internet cafe they accuse of offering pirated downloads of Pirates of the Caribbean and other hit films, state media reported on Thursday.

A New York judge on Wednesday ordered a theater owner to reopen Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical despite a strike by stagehands that has shut down most of Broadway.

Naguib Sawiris, the billionaire head of Egyptian cell phone group Orascom Telecom, has approached Vivendi about a possible telecoms tie-up but the pair failed to agree on price, Les Echos said on Friday.

Chinese Intenet users see the Web as a key to socializing and sharing opinions

Singapore's Media Development Authority, which regulates and censors media and the arts, has scored an unexpected hit on YouTube with a rap video about the city-state's media ambitions.

South Korea's parliament voted on Friday to allow an independent counsel investigate the Samsung Group after a former top legal executive accused the country's largest conglomerate of bribing public officials.