BRUSSELS (AFP) ― Europe fought to retain leadership of the IMF on Thursday to help tackle its debt crisis as emerging nations launched a sharp counter-attack, saying it was time rising economies took the helm. With the ink barely dry on Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s letter of resignation from a New York jail cell, European nations staked their claim to the top job at the world’s lender of last resort...

Fed minutes reveal debate in April how to tighten credit if inflation persists WASHINGTON (AP) ― The Federal Reserve said last month that the economy is gradually improving and began discussing how it would reverse policies adopted during the recession that pumped billions of dollars into the economy. Some members said the Fed might need to start boosting interest rates this year to guard again...

DETROIT (AP) ― Toyota should have owned the road this summer. When gas prices go up, American drivers go for smaller, fuel-efficient cars. The last time prices at the pump spiked in 2008, Toyota captured the title of world’s No. 1 automaker ― and has held it ever since. Now gas costs almost $4 a gallon again, but Toyota is struggling. It’s been hammered by supply disruptions from the Japan earth...

Rapid spike in layoffs heightens concerns that pricier gas is slowing U.S. economy WASHINGTON (AP) ― A renewed rise in layoffs is the latest sign that higher fuel prices may be slowing the economy. A 23 percent spike in applications for unemployment benefits over the past month suggests that hiring may look weaker when the government issues the April jobs report Friday. Oil prices plummeted Th...

WASHINGTON (AP) ― The data breach that hit Sony’s PlayStation Network resulted from a “very carefully planned, very professional, highly sophisticated criminal cyber-attack designed to steal personal and credit card information for illegal purposes,” a Sony executive said. In a letter to members of the House Commerce Committee released Wednesday, Kazuo Hirai, chairman of Sony Computer Entertainm...

Intel claims computing breakthrough with three-dimensional chips SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ― In the race to build a faster computer chip, there is literally nowhere to go but up. Today’s chip surfaces are packed with the tiniest electronic switches the laws of physics allow, but Intel Corp. says it is blowing past those limits with a breakthrough, three-dimensional transistor design it revealed Wednesd...

Officials say bailout to be worth $115 billion over 3-year period LISBON, Portugal (AP) ― Hard-up Portugal has negotiated an international bailout worth 78 billion euro ($115 billion) over a three-year period, officials said Tuesday. A government official, speaking on departmental rules of anonymity, told the Associated Press the amount includes aid for Portugal’s cash-strapped banks. The offic...

OMAHA, Nebada (AP) ― Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting on Saturday was dominated by somber topics, as Warren Buffett explained to roughly 40,000 shareholders how the company had been battered by a trusted former employee’s misdeeds and a string of natural disasters. Buffett assured the crowd at an Omaha convention center that Berkshire is strong enough to withstand both the David Sokol scandal...