Asian stocks rose on Friday as investors bought shares that stood to benefit the most from an expected global recovery, but were set for their biggest weekly decline since March as volume thinned and some recent gains were cashed in. U.S. stock futures rose 0.2 percent, while major European stock futures were up 0.6 percent,

The U.S. Treasury Department said on Thursday that four insurers had been approved for access to the government's bank bailout plan. A Treasury spokesman said Hartford Financial, Prudential Financial Group, Lincoln National Corp and Prudential Financial Inc met requirements for access to the government's Capital Purchase Program. The firms qualified because of their status as

U.S. Federal Officials have urged banking giant Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) to revamp its board and bring in directors with more banking experience, the Wall Street Journal said. A committee, led by the bank's new chairman Walter Massey, is expected to examine the strength of the board and the issue of CEO succession, the

Google Inc is lifting restrictions on the use of trademarked terms in its U.S. online advertising system, a move that could increase friction between the Internet giant and brand owners. The new policy will allow businesses to place trademarked terms directly in the copy of text advertisements that run in the U.S. starting next month,

Hackers launched an attack on Facebook's 200 million users on Thursday, successfully gathering passwords from some of them in the latest campaign to prey on members of the popular social networking site. Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt said on Thursday that the site was in the process of cleaning up damage from the attack. He said

British bank Barclays Plc is in talks to sell its asset management business, Barclays Global Investors, a source familiar with the matter said. By 0720 GMT Barclays shares jumped 8.3 percent at 274 pence. They have soared five-fold since slumping to 47.3p in January. The Financial Times reported on Friday that Barclays was discussing a

In 2008, EU27 FDI1 (foreign direct investment) in extra-EU27 countries (outflows) fell by 28%, from 496 billion euro in 2007 to 354 bn in 2008, while FDI into the EU27 from the rest of the world (inflows) decreased by 57%, from 400 bn to 173 bn. In 2008, intra-EU272 FDI flows dropped by 42% compared