SETTLEMENT

Representatives of the rival factions Fatah and Hamas are pursuing contrasting approaches to building support for the Palestinian cause, with Fatah engaged in apparently fruitless peace talks with Israel while Hamas' leader pays visits to newly empowered Islamist governments across the region. While the two developments are not directly related, they nevertheless offer a glimpse of how the Palestinian peace process might play out in a region reshaped by popular uprisings.

Elin Nordegren has torn down the mansion she bought with her divorce settlement, demolishing the North Palm Beach mansion in order to make way for a dream home she'll design. The Swedish former model's budding romance with billionaire Jamie Dingman, and the old home's proximity to a world-famous golf course, may have influenced her decision to scrap the mansion rather than remodel it.

On signs that the U.S. economy is back on track and tensions with Iran may lead to further disturbance in exports in the Middle East countries, crude oil futures headed for a weekly gain in New York. Futures of West Texas Intermediate have surged 3.4 percent this week.

Bank of America Corp shares surged more than 7 percent on Thursday, outpacing other U.S. banks on a day of positive job news.

When some people are unhappy with their home, they remodel. Elin Nordegren, well, she demolishes. Nordegren, the 32-year-old ex-wife of Tiger Woods, demolished her $12 million Florida mansion, leveling it to build her dream home.

Elan Microelectronics Corp, a Taiwanese touch design company, said on Thursday that Apple Inc will pay $5 million as part of a settlement in a patent infringement case.

The settlement will require AT&T to pay at least $215 million to TiVo by June 2018, $51 million of which must be paid upfront.

The top after-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: TiVo, Arena Pharmaceuticals, A123 Systems, Unilife and Team. The top after-market NASDAQ Stock Market losers are: Life Partners Holdings, Acme Packet, BioMimetic Therapeutics, Progress Software and Amarin.

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators made no breakthrough during their first high-level discussions in more than a year Tuesday, but agreed to hold further talks in Amman on a confidential basis, Jordan's foreign minister said.

Gathering in the Jordanian capital on Tuesday, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have come together in an effort to jumpstart long-stalled negotiations, the first face-to-face meeting in more than a year.

ExxonMobil continues to aggressively contend a Venezuelan decision that undervalues the assets in oil fields and refineries seized by the government of President Hugo Chavez.

An arbitration panel has awarded U.S. oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp $908 million in compensation for Venezuela's 2007 nationalization of its assets, less than 10 percent of what the company sought in a long legal battle with the OPEC nation.

The 2012 presidential campaign has been one of the most volatile in recent memory, and it isn't even 2012 yet. Take a look back at the highlights and lowlights of the battle for the Republican nomination so far.

NBA legend Michael Jordan has proposed to Yvette Prieto, his girlfriend of three years. Prieto is a 33-year-old Cuban-American supermodel.

The story of 10 disabled children, who were abused for over 15 years, as reported today in the New York Times by Benjamin Weiser, can never be made better. Now a $68 million settlement has been proposed by their lawyers.

According the recently released letter, drafted by lawyer Gloria Allred, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO made a series of increasingly aggressive advances toward contractor Jodie Fisher from 2007 to 2009, kissing and fondling her and attempting to pressure her into an affair. Hurd's lawyer dismissed the letter (read here) as full of inaccuracies, but rumors of a settlement are fueling the fire.

The founder and president of New York City's Pace Public Relations is a successful and sober-minded individual, but when it comes to this one thing, she has a definite compulsion. It's the Like button on Facebook -- she just can't stop clicking it.

Basketball legend Michael Jordan is taking a chance on marriage again and has proposed to girlfriend of three years, Yvette Prieto. His publicist Estee Portnoy confirmed the news.

The actress who played tomboy Elly May Clampett on 1960s television show The Beverly Hillbillies has settled her lawsuit against Mattel over a Barbie doll based on her character.

Turkish warplanes killed 35 civilian smugglers in northern Iraq after mistaking them for Kurdish militants, Ankara's ruling party said on Thursday, promising not to allow a cover-up of an incident that threatens to wreck relations with minority Kurds.

German phone company Deutsche Telekom AG and a Hungarian unit will pay more than $95 million to settle U.S. criminal and civil probes into the bribery of government officials in Macedonia and Montenegro.