Here is a look at some of Friday's top business stories:
Justice touts Microsoft deal
Microsoft and the Justice Department have reached a settlement in the government's antitrust lawsuit against the software giant, the department confirmed Friday.
The Justice Department was in a full-court press Friday morning to show the deal's advantages in the face of what is expected to be withering criticism from Microsoft rivals.
The Washington Post was reporting Friday that 17 of the 19 states and the District of Columbia, whose lawsuit was combined with the federal government's, have refused to sign on to the deal because it does not deal harshly enough with Microsoft.
Critics point out that every time any court at any level has ruled in the case, Microsoft has been found guilty of illegal conduct, even if a federal appeals court rejected a break-up of the company, as ordered by the first federal judge in the trial. The Post said Microsoft rivals were calling the reported deal a "stunning triumph" for the company.
The Justice Department and Microsoft representatives were scheduled to appear before U.S. Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly Friday morning. Kollar-Kotelly, who took over the case after U.S. Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson was removed by the appeals court for out-of-court statements against Microsoft, had ordered both sides into mediation and gave them until Friday to come up with a deal.
In a statement, the department outlined what it felt were the key provisions of the proposed settlement, which the judge must still approve.
House passes airport security bill
In a narrow victory for the Bush administration and House conservatives, the U.S. House Thursday defeated a Democratic plan to federalize airport security workers in a 218 to 214 vote.
The House then passed the overall bill 286 to 139, which puts airport security companies under federal oversight, expands the air marshal program and orders reinforcement for cockpit doors.
The battle over federalizing airport security and baggage handlers has raged in the House for three weeks as conservative Republicans and the White House fought to prevent creating an additional 28,000 federal jobs that they wanted kept in the private sector.
Some moderate Republicans and most Democrats supported a federalization plan, while the White House and GOP leadership strongly opposed the amendment to the overall security bill. Instead, they pushed a plan that put security and baggage handlers under stringent federal oversight, while keeping the actual security managed by private security firms.
The Senate last month unanimously approved a bill identical to the Democrat plan, but conservative House members -- led by Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas -- quickly expressed concern about expanding the federal government into a role that the private market could play. Several conservatives also expressed concern about adding 28,000 new members to the federal employees unions, which traditionally support the Democrats.
Berkshire deals for Fruit of the Loom
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has reached a deal with creditors of Fruit of the Loom Inc. to buy the underwear and apparel maker out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy for $835 million, the companies announced late Thursday in a joint statement.
"We've agreed to buy Fruit of the Loom for two major reasons: the strength of the brand and the managerial talent of John Holland," said Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, in a statement.
The deal was expected to close in the first-quarter of next year.
Fruit of the Loom filed for bankruptcy in December 1999. The company owes almost $1.2 billion to secured lenders and bondholders, and more than $300 million to unsecured bondholders.
"Berkshire's acquisition will complete the company's tremendous operational turnaround and pave the way for emergence from Chapter 11," said John Holland, Fruit of the Loom's chief operating officer, in a statement.
Asian shares up slightly
Stock markets throughout Asia ended the day on a positive note, supported by the strong performance of the U.S. market. Singapore was the only market closing down, as investors focused on domestic news.
After falling for 5 consecutive days, shares in Tokyo finally ended the week in positive territory reacting to the overnight rise of Wall Street. The Nikkei rose 36.50 to close at 10383.78, but well off a day's high of 10798.0, indicating the rally was unlikely to be sustained for long.
Strong gains in the electronics parts market giant TDK also gave a shot in the arm to the Tokyo market. This followed a profit warning within market expectations Thursday. The counter closed up 12.0 percent at 6,050 yen in the day's highest turnover of 30.7 billion yen.
The strong rise of the Nasdaq overnight also helped Japanese tech stocks to rally, with Toshiba closing up 2.7 percent at 488, Hitachi up 3.0 percent to 885, and NEC up 4.4 percent to 1,226.
In Hong Kong, shares ended slightly higher dragged up by HSBC and China Unicom. The Hang Seng Index ended up 27.21 points at 10186.06. HSBC shares gained 1.5 percent to $86.75 (Hong Kong), lifted by expectations of an interest rate cut next week.
Buying on electronic stocks helped the Taiwan weighted index to gain 68.79 points to 3,998.48. UMC closed limit-up $2.00 (Taiwan), while TSMC rose $1.50 to 62.50, following the strong performance of their ADRs overnight.
The Korea Composite Stock Price Index improved 1.2 percent to close at 550.57 led by telecom and electronics. Samsung Electronics rose 2.2 percent to 183,000 won, while SK Telecom added 1.4 percent to 249,000.
In Malaysia, the KLSE composite index closed up 0.63 points at 596.65, with gains in the plantation sector underpinning the market. This followed news India is cutting import duty on crude palm oil by 10 percentage points. Bukit Katil rose 0.06 ringgit to 1.37, IOI Corp was up 0.04 at 3.56 and Multi Vest Resources gained 0.045 to 0.775.
In Bombay, shares closed little changed, with the BSE 30 index rising 2.80 points to 3,052.60, off a high of 3,100.29. Dr. Reddy's closed down 4.14 percent at 1,034.45 rupees on concerns over the future sales of fluoxetine drug.
In Thailand, the SET index closed up 0.58 points at 274.22. Advanced Info closed up 0.75 at 40.75, while PTTEP gained 2.50 to 101.00.
But in Singapore, the effect of the strong showing of Wall Street did not linger long, as investors continued to focus on Datacraft Asia, which issued an unexpected profit warning Thursday.
The Straits Times index close down 5.94 points at 1341.57. Topping the active list for the second consecutive day, Datacraft Asia lost another 13.1 percent or 26 cents to close at $1.72 (Singapore).
