IBT Staff Reporter

Wall Street rallied on Friday following news that employers added 128,000 jobs in August.

Global manufacturing growth cooled in August, new orders expanded at their weakest pace in a year and inflationary pressures eased, a report said on Friday.

Hollywood is hoping high-definition DVDs will reignite a slowing market for movies at home, but they have drawn mixed reviews from retailers and analysts due to technical issues and a bitter format war.

Britain's largest shares drifted down on low volumes led by Diageo and with sentiment hit by a survey showing a sharp decline in British consumer confidence and by buoyant sterling following strong house price data.

The world's top handset maker Nokia said on Thursday it had agreed to buy mapping software firm gate5 AG for an undisclosed sum to tap into the fast-growing mobile navigation market.

Vietnam, which released a prominent jailed cyber-dissident this week, imposes tight legal and technical measures to control access to writings and people who challenge one-party rule, researchers and observers say.

Correspondent Greg Brosnan took up an assignment in Mexico City last year to cover the Mexican economy. In the following story he recounts how he was held up and robbed in an express kidnapping.

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. said on Thursday it sees global mobile phone sales growing faster than expected this year while its own handset sales would meet its target.

Electronic Arts Inc., the world's biggest video game publisher, said on Thursday it had struck deals with two in-game advertising providers, taking its first steps into the online advertising business.

In a first for the U.S. market, the struggling Mobile ESPN network is offering live and complete football games for viewing on cell phones.

A century after they were wiped out by hunters and a burgeoning population, wolves have returned to parts of eastern Germany as factories close down, businesses fail and people move out.

Intel formally announced its latest mobile processor on Monday, rounding out its entire processor family with the company's most advanced architecture to date.

Men's cable channel Spike TV is joining other Viacom properties that have taken their content digital in a significant way with Wednesday's official launch of a broadband player on SpikeTV.com.

The U.S. economy grew at a 2.9 percent annual pace in the second quarter, faster than originally reported but less of an upward revision than expected, as higher business investment offset a drop in residential construction, a Commerce Department report showed on Wednesday.

Signs that the world economy is at a turning point are being reflected by tentative evidence that bonds are moving back into favor after years as an unloved alternative to booming equities.

From Australia to Argentina, erratic weather is slashing wheat crops of the major producers, which is threatening to push up prices to multi-year highs and making it difficult for countries to replenish stocks.

Russia's leading aluminum firm, RUSAL, will take over its main competitor SUAL and the aluminum industry assets of Glencore to create the world market leader, a source close to the deal told Reuters on Wednesday.

Foster's Group Ltd., Australia's biggest beer and wine maker, said on Wednesday it was not aware of any takeover proposals, sending its shares down as much as 3 percent.

U.S. consumer confidence slipped to a nine-month low in August on inflation and job worries, while minutes of the Federal Reserve's policy meeting showed most officials thought inflation would ease in the months ahead.

The U.S. housing slowdown may threaten the biggest providers of loans, not just those catering to subprime borrowers.

Software giant Microsoft Corp. said on Tuesday it was investigating how two in-house training videos made by British comedian Ricky Gervais, creator of The Office television series, appeared on two Web sites.

Some 75 movie titles, including The Da Vinci Code and Chicken Little, will go on sale in Japan later this year using the next-generation Blu-ray DVD format.

Inco Ltd. on Tuesday urged shareholders to reject a C$19.35-billion ($17.4 billion) all-cash offer from Brazilian firm Companhia Vale do Rio Doce., and said it still backed a friendly offer from U.S.-based Phelps Dodge Corp.

German sports goods firm Adidas expects a turnaround in sales at U.S. subsidiary Reebok by the end of the year, a German magazine quoted the group's chief executive as saying.

A patriotic Internet game featuring heroic Chinese and designed to wean the young off their addiction to violent foreign games is still not ready for release a year after development begun, state media said on Tuesday. Unlike the more popular games, where players have to slay dragons, fight aliens or beat up bad guys, in Chinese Heroes players click on statues to learn about their experiences and carry out tasks like moving bricks, Xinhua news agency said.

German drugs and chemicals group Bayer unveiled a revamp at its agrochemicals unit after strong healthcare earnings helped the company post a 14 percent rise in second-quarter operating profit on Tuesday.

Federal investigators are examining whether BP Plc manipulated crude oil and unleaded gasoline markets, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday that cited lawyers and traders close to the case.

Libya's leader has reprimanded the country over its over-dependence on foreign imports and oil. He has urged the economy to improve its manufacturing sector and increase productivity.

Japan has drawn up an action plan to spearhead efforts to develop the next generation of more environmentally friendly vehicles and batteries to help reduce its reliance on oil.