Reuters - Financier Carl Icahn launched a proxy battle on Thursday to force Yahoo Inc to reopen buyout talks with Microsoft Corp , saying the Yahoo board had acted "irrationally" in refusing its $47.5 billion offer.

Reuters - Stocks rose in light trading on Thursday, pushing the S&P 500 to its highest close since January, as a pullback in oil prices eased concerns about inflation and a battle to control Yahoo Inc helped the tech sector.

Reuters - Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N), billionaire Warren Buffett's investment company, no longer held any Ameriprise Financial Inc stock as of March 31, according to a U.S. regulatory filing on Thursday.

Reuters - Leaders of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee have reached a deal on a broad housing rescue plan in which Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would provide funds to support a federal mortgage insurance fund, two industry sources said on Thursday.

AP - Luxury retailer Nordstrom Inc. said Thursday its profit fell 24 percent in the first quarter, as recession rumblings in the U.S. crimped even wealthier consumers' shopping habits.

AP - Yahoo Inc. Chief Executive Jerry Yang spent months fending off Microsoft Corp.'s unsolicited takeover bid. Now he may only have a few weeks to persuade the software maker to revive its last offer of $47.5 billion, or risk being fired in a shareholder mutiny led by activist investor Carl Icahn.

AP - Rex Jameson bikes and swims regularly, and plays tennis and skis when time allows. But the 5-foot-11, 180-pound software engineer is lucky if he presses 200 pounds — that is, until he steps into an "exoskeleton" of aluminum and electronics that multiplies his strength and endurance as many as 20 times.

Reuters - Yahoo Inc has introduced a software development tool that lets outside parties create customized views of Yahoo Web search results, the company said on Thursday.