French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde on Friday announced measures designed to promote Paris as an alternative to London's financial center.

  Key moments in the US$100 billion takeover battle surrounding Dutch bank ABN Amro Holding NV, the largest in the history of the financial industry.

  The European Union's trade chief joined the United States on Friday in calling on India, Brazil and South Africa to back a draft trade deal that would see them reduce tariffs on industrial goods while the U.S. and Europe slash farm subsidies.

  Canada has become the first nation to invoke a provision allowing it to export a cheap, generic version of patented AIDS drugs, the World Trade Organization said Friday.

  European stocks ended higher Friday after an upbeat U.S. jobs report allayed fears that the world's biggest economy is on the wane and that corporate profits will slow.

  China Digital TV Holding Co.'s shares spiked 75 percent in their first day of trading on Friday, as investors embraced the company's initial public offering on the promise of China's growing digital television market.

  Americans have boosted their borrowing at the fastest pace in three months, turning increasingly to their credit cards to replace home equity loans as a source of ready cash.

  Chrysler LLC said Friday it was recalling about 125,000 2007-2008 Dodge Avenger and Chrysler Sebring passenger cars to address a problem with the cooling fan motor connector that could lead to engine fires.

  Gold for current delivery closed at $741.30 per troy ounce Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up from $737.80 late Thursday.

  The state fire marshal's office has advised oil company BP PLC to update its fire suppression and detection equipment following a series of blazes in North Slope oil fields this summer, officials said Friday.

  A cross-border natural gas project seen by some as an environmental threat and others as an energy necessity is moving forward.

  Wall Street capped a huge week with a sharp advance Friday after the government's employment report for September and its revision of August's data cooled the market's fears of a recession. The Standard &Poor's 500 index, the measure most closely followed by market watchers, reached a new closing high.

  Commodities prices closed mixed Friday as investors weighed what a robust jobs report may mean for the economy and interest rates. Gold rose, while energy, grains and industrial metals such as copper declined.

  Telecommunications equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent, already plagued by lower-than-expected sales, sought Friday to reassure investors that its supply agreement with AT&T Inc., the world's largest telecommunications company, remains solid.