EU finance ministers narrowed Friday some of their differences over "Banking Union", a new framework meant to prevent a repetition of the financial meltdown that plunged Europe into crisis.

But ministers scaled back initial plans to hammer away at a still long list of obstacles deep into the night, leaving the clock ticking on much-needed compromises if EU leaders' timetable is to be respected.

Forbes Media, a prominent chronicler of great wealth through its magazine and other media, has put itself up for sale, the company's chief executive said Friday.

The family-owned Forbes hired Deutsche Bank to represent it after receiving a number of informal inquiries from possible suitors in recent months, Forbes Media CEO Mike Perlis said in a memo to employees.

JPMorgan Chase said Friday it had reached a deal with 21 institutional investors to pay $4.5 billion for losses on mortgage securities it and Bear Stearns sold before the financial crisis.

JPMorgan said the deal would settle investors' claims that the bank and Bear Stearns, which it took over at the outset of the crisis, had misrepresented the asset quality of 330 residential mortgage-backed securities the investors were sold.

As the greatest urbanization drive in history swells China's cities with ranks of identikit apartment blocks, one culinary businessman is indulging his architectural appetite with a visual feast of extravagant, outlandish castles.

"I don't have any hobbies, except for planting trees and building castles," said Liu Chonghua, standing on a crenelated turret atop the largest of the six he has constructed.

European finance ministers are holding difficult talks on how to shore up their banking system and prevent further financial crises.

Officials from the 28 member countries are meeting Friday to narrow their differences on how to set up a new agency at the European Union level that could restructure failing banks and prevent their troubles from bankrupting individual countries through expensive bailouts.

Dubai, United Arab Emirates – 6 November 2013 – It is not the strongest businesses that survive and flourish, but the most adaptable: Mindshare, a leading media agency in the MENA region, is at the forefront of the marketing industry’s ongoing transformation. The Mindshare team is excited to share global insights, ideas and best practices at the “Art of Adaptation” summit, an event that addresses the importance of adaptability.

Taking place on November 26th at the Marriott Marquis Hotel Dubai, this must-attend one-day event brings together groundbreaking speakers from around the world to provide fresh perspectives on adaptation in life and business.

Barclays bank plans to cut 1,700 jobs as it reduces the number of local branches in Britain, a spokesman said Thursday.

The spokesman confirmed a claim from the union Unite, saying the way customers accessed their money "is changing rapidly" and fewer branches were required.

The CIA is secretly amassing records of international money transfers into and out of the United States, including operations handled by firms like Western Union, the New York Times reported Friday.

The Central Intelligence Agency is acting under the same law that the NSA uses to assemble a data base of Americans' phone records, the paper said, quoting current and former U.S. officials.

Bulgaria's economy returned to growth in the third quarter despite ongoing political tensions in the EU's poorest country, official preliminary data showed on Thursday.

Helped by a modest recovery in the eurozone that has boosted other central and eastern European emerging economies, gross domestic product (GDP) grew 0.6 percent after shrinking 0.1 percent in the last quarter.

Garbage is piling up on streets around the mosque housing the burial site of the Prophet Muhammad. Grocery stores have shut their doors and almost half of Saudi Arabia's small construction firms have stopped working on projects.

The mess is because foreign workers on which many businesses rely are fleeing, have gone into hiding or are under arrest amid a crackdown launched Nov. 4 targeting the kingdom's 9 million migrant laborers. Decades of lax immigration enforcement allowed migrants to take low-wage manual, clerical and service jobs that the kingdom's own citizens shunned for better paying, more comfortable work.