IBT Staff Reporter

Walt Disney Co.'s animated movie 'Ratatouille' opens on Friday against strong competition from better-known franchise films, drawing early industry skepticism that it can match its predecessors' success and posing a challenge for Disney.

U.S. House of Representatives Democratic leaders quashed White House hopes on Friday for quick renewal of fast track trade negotiating authority and said they cannot support trade pacts negotiated with South Korea and Colombia.

Good early reviews and positive advance buzz could mean strong ticket sales for 'Transformers' and show the rest of Hollywood that crowd-pleasing action movies can be made at a lower cost which, in turn, might spur more of them.

Bain Capital will buy UK-based food service company Brakes from private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, the companies said on Friday.

A four-wheel-drive vehicle crashed into the main terminal at Glasgow airport on Saturday and exploded in flames, a day after police foiled a possible al Qaeda plot to detonate two car bombs in central London.

Shares of Research in Motion surged to a 3 ½ year high on Friday, a day after the Blackberry maker posted a quarterly profit that beat Wall Street expectations.

Micron Technology Inc. (NYSE: MU) swung to a quarterly loss of $225 million after the bell on Thursday after the memory maker saw price drops across its product line.

Western Digital Corp. announced late Thursday that it agreed to acquire rival Komag Inc. for about $1 billion in cash.

BCE Inc., Canada's largest telecommunications group, has agreed to a C$51.7 billion ($48.5 billion) offer from a group including the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, in what the purchasers said was the largest buyout in Canadian corporate history.

The U.N.'s nuclear watchdog has clarified how to monitor the shutdown of North Korea's nuclear facility and it is now up to Pyongyang and its five negotiating partners to decide on a date, an official said on Saturday.

The earnings prospects of Chinese commercial banks are clouded by their excessive reliance on interest income and sub-standard internal controls, top domestic and overseas bankers said on Saturday.

Kuwaiti logistics provider Agility said on Saturday it was part of a group with U.S. firm Dyncorp International which won a $50 billion deal from the U.S. military.

A protracted bidding war for Australian retailer Coles Group Ltd. closed on Saturday, with conglomerate Wesfarmers Ltd. presenting a bid that could be worth up to A$19.7 billion ($16.7 billion) for the whole company.

Boeing Co. has been awarded an 11-year, $2.02 billion contract for 242 wing sets for the Air Force's A-10 fleet designed to support ground troops, the Pentagon said on Friday.

Thousands of U.S. gadget fans flocked to stores on Friday to be the first buyers of Apple's iPhone, a music-playing and Web-browsing device expected to shake up the mobile industry.

More Americans will stream into subway trains and buses when vacationing in U.S. cities this summer, according to an American Public Transportation Association survey released Friday.

Americans are dissatisfied, resentful and apathetic -- about their credit cards! Those are the findings of a recent survey which found more than half of Americans are unhappy with the plastic in their wallet, but not really doing anything about it.

The fast-food chain is experimenting - profitably - to create a more restaurant-like, eating experience.

The next big thing in computing could be systems to save the world from drowning in a rapidly rising sea of data, the head of deep computing at IBM told Reuters in an interview.

Advances in media and technology give teenagers and kids an advantage in making better ads.

U.S. securities regulators on Friday sued a partnership and one of its founders, alleging they made bogus offers to buy such well-known entities as Sony Corp. and Playboy Enterprises Inc. in an effort to manipulate their stock prices.

U.S. telecommunications company AT&T Inc. said on Friday it will buy rural wireless carrier Dobson Communications Corp. for $2.8 billion in cash to expand its reach in rural and suburban markets.

KBR Inc. and its former corporate parent Halliburton Co. have been sued by four women claiming they suffered sexual harassment and, in two cases rape, by co-workers while working for KBR in Iraq, the Houston Chronicle reported on its website Friday.

Investors are hoping the coming week brings some answers to the question of whether an improving U.S. economy unleashes inflationary forces, and one place to look will be in the June payrolls data.

U.S. stocks fell on Friday as banks and brokers retreated on concerns about the impact of tightening credit on takeovers and the subprime mortgage industry.

United Auto Workers union members have approved a deal that gives Delphi Corp. concessions on wages, benefits and plant closings that the auto parts maker has said it must have to exit bankruptcy.

Central bank holdings of U.S. dollars continue to mount, despite talk of diversification into other currencies, but questions remain about the sustainability of the rise in dollar reserves.

Shares of NewWest Gold Corp. soared more than 30 percent on Friday, after NewWest and Fronteer Development Group said late on Thursday that Fronteer may buy the Nevada-focused gold explorer in a share swap.

Scared by losses at two hedge funds that invested in securities backed by home loans, investors in securities backed by mortgages, junk bonds, and other assets are demanding more protection for the first time in years.