IBT Staff Reporter

With the worst Hollywood labor crisis in 20 years headed for its third week, striking screenwriters and major studios have agreed to renew contract talks, offering the first glimmer of hope their deadlock can be broken.

Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Development Co said on Friday it had bought 8.1 percent of U.S.-based Advanced Micro Devices Inc, the second-largest maker of computer processors.

German sports car maker Porsche and Volkswagen may cooperate further, German newspaper Automobilwoche reported on Saturday.

Slacker, a Web-based radio service, said on Friday it has started to take orders for its portable player which features free music channels personalized to the user's tastes.

Etihad Etisalat (Mobily), Saudi Arabia's second mobile phone firm, said on Saturday it would spend at least 4 billion riyals ($1.07 billion) in the next two years building broadband and wireless networks.

Saudi Arabia could order 24 Eurofighter Typhoon combat jets from BAE Systems for about 1.5 billion pounds ($3.06 billion), the Middle East Economic Digest (MEED) reported on Friday.

Mining giant BHP Billiton, whose multi-million-dollar takeover plan has been rejected by Rio Tinto's management, may consider taking an offer directly to Rio's shareholders in the future, BHP's chief said on Saturday.

The State Department's top investigator and his brother will both be asked to testify to a committee of Congress about the brother's link to the Blackwater security firm, the committee announced on Friday.

Governments must do more to fight global warming, spurred by a new U.N. scientific report and damage to nature that is already as frightening as science fiction, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Saturday.

With an intensifying White House race drawing attention to his legacy, President George W. Bush could leave office without the baggage of complete failure in Iraq thanks to new U.S. military gains, some analysts say.

Military ships and helicopters were trying on Saturday to reach thousands of survivors of a super cyclone that killed nearly 1,100 people and pummelled impoverished Bangladesh with mighty winds and waves.

President Pervez Musharraf, defending his decision to declare emergency rule, has said Pakistan's nuclear weapons could fall into the wrong hands if elections led to disturbances.

When Democrats and Republicans feud, the outcome is often ... nothing.

With multibillion dollar subprime market losses, investors are asking questions.

U.S. industrial production -- which includes output at factories, mines and utilities -- plunged in October by the largest amount in nine months, revealing another troubling sign for an economy already dipping under the continued troubles in housing and auto-related industries.

Following Starbucks’ disclosure that customer traffic at its stores had declined for the first time ever – which sent its shares lower – the coffee giant announced plans on Friday to launch its first national television advertising campaign.

Merrill Lynch has expanded its presence in Russia, one of its core markets, announcing Friday that it acquired a 10 percent stake in TRUST Banking Group, a potential top 20 private bank in Russia in terms of capital and assets.

Fannie Mae had its biggest two-day decline in 20 years after executives failed to alleviate investor concern following a report that speculated it may have understated its credit losses.

Turkey will not send troops into northern Iraq against Kurdish separatists should the militants disarm, ruling AK Party members were quoted as saying on Friday, in an apparent change of tack aimed at ending the border crisis.

U.S. envoy John Negroponte spoke to Pakistan's opposition leader Benazir Bhutto on Friday and said moderate forces should work together to put the country back on a democratic path.

Package delivery company FedEx Corp cut its earnings forecast for the current quarter on Friday, citing higher fuel prices and weaker demand for ground shipments too small to fill a truck.

Starbucks Corp shares fell nearly 7 percent on Friday to their lowest in more than 4 years, sparked by the coffee shop chain's admission that customer traffic slowed for the first quarter in its history.The seller of premium coffee, which coaxed U.S. consumers into drinking stronger, more expensive coffee, said U.S. traffic at its established locations fell 1 percent in the quarter as economic worries and 2 percent price rises spooked consumers.

Hedge fund Pardus Capital Management LP, lobbying for a merger between Delta Air Lines Inc and UAL Corp, plans to pitch its proposal to other investors on Friday, sources close to the situation told Reuters.

Oracle unveiled fusion applications for businesses on Wednesday during the last session of the company's Openworld event.

Let the holiday shopping madness begin ... please? That is the silent plea coming from U.S. retailers, which are gearing up for Black Friday, the chaotic and competitive day after Thanksgiving (November 22) when stores offer eye-popping, limited-time deals to kick off the holiday shopping season.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Friday said a strong dollar is in the nation’s industry, but noted that parts of the subprime housing market will likely worsen over the next few months.

Hedge fund Pardus Capital Management LP, lobbying for a merger between Delta Air Lines Inc and UAL Corp, plans to pitch its proposal to other investors on Friday, sources close to the situation told Reuters.

U.S. stocks on Friday fell for a third day following lowered earnings forecasts by Starbucks Corp and FedEx Corp.,making investors uneasy about the outlook for consumer spending.

When movie director Roger Spottiswoode ventured to China two years ago to scout locations for The Bitter Sea, a drama set in the 1930s, he was surprised at the lack of suitable buildings from the period.