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MOSCOW — A 37-year-old Russian lawyer for an international investment fund, Hermitage Capital Management, died in a pretrial detention center on Monday, nearly a year after he was arrested in an escalating feud between the Russian authorities and the company, Russia’s Interior Ministry announced on Tuesday.
The lawyer, Sergei L. Magnitsky, who was in charge […]

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LONDON – World stock markets pushed higher Monday after figures showed U.S. retail sales — which are crucial for the global economic recovery — rose more strongly than anticipated in October.
In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was up 90.71 points, or 1.7 percent, at 5,387.09. Germany’s DAX rose 116.96 points, or […]

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Two computer programmers who worked for Bernard L. Madoff’s investment firm were accused Friday of helping to cover-up the giant Ponzi scheme for more than for more than 15 years.
In a statement, the United States attorney’s office in Manhattan said the two programmers — Jerome O’Hara, 46, of Malverne, N.Y., and George Perez, 43, of […]

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LONDON — Kraft took its $16.3 billion bid for Cadbury, the British chocolate and chewing gum maker, directly to shareholders on Monday after the Cadbury board rejected the offer as too low.
But Kraft did not raise its offer, sticking with its original proposal from September. Kraft, which makes of Ritz crackers and Oreo cookies, […]

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NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks rose on Friday as investors took heart after the government said monthly payroll losses slowed, even as unemployment rose above 10 percent.
General Electric Co (GE.N) shares jumped more than 5 percent after a brokerage upgrade, and helped lead the industrial sector higher. The S&P industrials (.GSPI) gained 1.1 […]

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WASHINGTON — Legislation that its supporters say would provide greater protection to investors sailed through a House committee on Wednesday, but not before the lawmakers added a provision to ease new auditing standards for small and medium-size companies.
The full House, meanwhile, overwhelmingly approved a bill to accelerate restrictions on credit card companies that had been […]

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NEW YORK (Reuters) – Wall Street was set for a lower open on Friday after General Electric Co (GE.N) a 42 percent drop in quarterly earnings and Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) posted a quarterly loss before the open.
S&P 500 futures fell 2.90 points and were below fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing […]

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BRUSSELS — The European Union and South Korea took a major step Thursday toward a free trade deal aimed at generating billions of euros in new trade flows.
With the global trade talks deadlocked and amid concerns over a rise in protectionism, analysts said that the deal could send a powerful signal to other nations, […]

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PARIS — Société Générale, the French bank, said Tuesday it planned to raise €4.8 billion, or $7.02 billion, in a rights offering to repay government bailout funds and pursue acquisitions.
The moves comes just a week after BNP Paribas, the largest bank in France, said that it would raise €4.3 billion from investors to help repay […]

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Stocks posted modest losses Friday after a disappointing monthly jobs report renewed concerns that a recovery in the troubled labor market might be a long way off.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell for a fourth day, losing 22 points a day after tumbling 203 points on Thursday.
The latest weak economic report came from the Labor […]

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NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks fell on Wednesday after a surprising contraction in an index of Midwest business activity, but buying of technology bellwethers like Cisco Systems Inc at the end of a strong quarter limited losses.
The top drags in Wednesday's session were some of the quarter's best performers, including industrials, materials and banks.
[…]

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Filed at 12:47 a.m. ET
HONG KONG (AP) — Asian stocks rose Wednesday, lifted by better news about the U.S. economy and comments from the Federal Reserve’s chairman that the recession was likely over.
Major benchmarks in Japan, Korea and Hong Kong were up about 2 percent each, following on the heels of more gains on Wall […]

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LOS ANGELES, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) — The number of people hitting the road for Labor Day weekend is expected to be sharply down from last year, the Automobile Club of Southern California said on Tuesday.
On most roadways, traffic is expected to be lighter this holiday weekend, due to a combination of the sluggish economy […]

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Almost 48 years after it was first published, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” by Julia Child is finally topping the best-seller list, bringing with it all the butter, salt and goose fat that home chefs had largely abandoned in the age of Lipitor.
The book, given a huge lift from the recently released movie “Julie […]

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Berhanuddin Rabbani (File photo)Former Afghan President Berhanuddin Rabbani survived an assassination attempt Thursday in the country’s northern Kunduz province.Local officials said Taliban fighters attacked Mr. Rabbani’s convoy with rocket-propelled grenades and gunfire.  They said no one in the convoy was hurt, but that three attackers were killed in a battle with bodyguards and police.Mr. Rabbani […]

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CHICAGO, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) — Gold futures on the COMEX Division of the New York Mercantile Exchange declined slightly for the second session on Thursday as dollar regained strength. Silver and platinum both ended lower.
Gold price for December delivery fell 3.40 U.S. dollars, or 0.4percent, to finish at 962.90 dollars an ounce. Earlier in […]

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WASHINGTON — The secretary of transportation and the Senate majority leader both expressed confidence Tuesday that the Senate would revive the “cash for clunkers” program by voting to infuse it with another $2 billion, as the House did last week.
The Senate minority leader said the Senate would hold a vote, although he did not predict […]

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DETROIT — General Motors expects to lay off thousands of factory workers after the number who voluntarily quit through a recent buyout and early retirement program fell short of the carmaker’s target.
G.M. said Monday that about 6,000 hourly workers had left as of Saturday. That means the company still has about 48,000 hourly workers, which […]

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AFTER all the turmoil in the markets, after Bernard L. Madoff and a bunch of other financial scandals, investors may well be questioning whether they’ve chosen the right financial adviser.
It may be someone you like and trust, but is it someone competent to manage your money?
A recent PricewaterhouseCoopers survey of 238 private banks […]

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WASHINGTON — With some of his political capital on the line, President Obama won a crucial victory on Tuesday when the Senate voted to strip out $1.75 billion in financing for seven more F-22 jet fighters from a military authorization bill.
The president had repeatedly threatened to veto the $679.8 billion bill if it included any […]

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