Wire Business News

Syria's vital oil industry is breaking down as rebels capture many of the country's oil fields, with wells aflame and looters scooping up crude, depriving the government of much needed cash and fuel for its war machine against the uprising.

After a full year of fruitless job hunting, Natasha Baebler just gave up.

Ikea says it has withdrawn 17,000 portions of moose lasagna from its home furnishings stores in Europe after traces of pork were found in a batch tested in Belgium.

There is a North Korean factory with no portraits of the country's late leaders on the walls, no North Korean flags, no hand-painted posters screaming party slogans. Everything from the tissues to the toilets comes from South Korea.

Regulators have closed a small bank in Arizona, bringing the total number of U.S. bank closures to five for this year.

Anheuser-Busch InBev has reached a tentative agreement with the Department of Justice over its disputed $20.1 billion acquisition of Mexican brewer Grupo Modelo.

A New York judge has approved Bank of America's $2.43 billion settlement of a class action lawsuit brought by shareholders over the company's acquisition of former competitor Merrill Lynch.

DISAPPOINTING JOBS: Stocks fell after the government reported a sharp slowdown in hiring last month. The report was worse than economists were expecting.

The U.S. economy added just 88,000 jobs in March, a sharp drop from the average 221,000 created in the previous four months. At the same time, the unemployment rate fell to 7.6 percent from 7.7 percent in February.

It's a data leak involving tens of thousands of offshore bank accounts, naming dozens of prominent figures around the world. And new details are being released by the day - raising the prospect that accounts based on promises of secrecy and tax shelter could someday offer neither.

Stocks fell on Wall Street Friday after the government reported that U.S. employers added the fewest jobs in nine months in March. More people also gave up looking for work. The number of jobs grew at about half the pace of the previous six months. The report was worse than economists were expecting. The Standard & Poor's 500 logged its biggest weekly decline of the year.

MF Global's parent company has won court approval for its liquidation plan.

Portugal's Constitutional Court has ruled that some of the unpopular pay cuts in this year's state budget are unlawful, denying the government about 1.4 billion euros ($1.8 billion) of predicted revenue.

Americans borrowed more in February to buy cars and attend school, but were more careful with their credit cards.

Cyprus' finance ministry further loosened restrictions on access to accounts in the debt-ridden country's two biggest lenders on Friday by allowing limited, bank-to-bank money transfers.

Americans borrowed more in February to buy cars and attend school, but were more careful with their credit cards.

Toy remote-controlled helicopters with a battery that can overheat and ignite are among this week's recalled products. Others include chest freezers that can overheat and ride-on toys that can unexpectedly accelerate.

Stocks fell on Wall Street Friday after the government reported a sharp slowdown in hiring last month that was far worse than economists had expected.

Oilfield services company Baker Hughes Inc. says the number of rigs actively exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. dropped by 10 this week to 1,738.

Standard & Poor's rating agency says Britain's cherished AAA long-term credit rating will stay for now - but warned there was still a chance of a downgrade if the economy weakens.

Boeing put its 787 battery fix through a "final" flight test on Friday and will soon submit the data to regulators, who the aircraft maker hopes will sign off on the new battery system and allow the 787 back in the air.

The CEO of Southwest Airlines received $4 million in compensation for 2012, up 15 percent from the prior year, largely because of bigger stock awards.

Troubled electric car maker Fisker Automotive Inc. has laid off about three-fourths of the workers at its California headquarters as it struggles with financial and production problems.

March Madness: It's not just for basketball.

An unexpectedly weak report on the job market is sending stocks sharply lower on Wall Street.

A disappointing March jobs report Friday, marked by a sharp slowdown in hiring and shrinking labor force participation, triggered new debate over the strength of the U.S. economic recovery.

Tyson Foods Inc. will pay roughly $4 million in civil penalties to settle allegations related to eight accidental anhydrous ammonia releases that caused multiple injuries and one death over four years, the U.S. government and the company said Friday.

Will tourists soon see flocks of baaing sheep at the Eiffel Tower and bleating ewes by Notre Dame cathedral?

The European Union's antitrust watchdog on Friday gave its green light to the proposed merger of Penguin and Random House that will create the world's largest book publisher.

A financially struggling operator of more than 2,000 U.S. portrait studios in locations such as Wal-Mart and Sears stores has abruptly shuttered those outlets, leaving some laid-off workers scrambling - without pay - to make good on customers' orders.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell sharply in early trading after the U.S. government reported a sharp slowdown in hiring last month.

The unemployment rate dipped slightly to 7.6 percent in March but employers added disappointing 88,000 during the month, the government reported Friday.

The U.S. trade deficit unexpectedly narrowed in February as exports climbed close to an all-time high and the volume of imported crude oil fell to the lowest level in 17 years.

Outsiders might hear the opening notes of a war in the deluge of threats and provocations from North Korea, but to South Koreans it is a familiar drumbeat.

In case Americans want to scarf down their fast-food even faster, KFC is stripping the bones out of its chicken.