The president of Bankia tried Saturday to calm fears about the future of the bank, saying Spain's second largest mortgage lender will emerge as a solid financial entity after it receives €23.5 billion ($29.5 billion) in state aid in the country's biggest-ever bank bailout.

Austria's finance minister is rejecting the idea of introducing jointly issued eurobonds any time soon and says that running up new debts to finance growth is "nonsense." New French President Francois Hollande has revived talk of eurobonds, which could reduce troubled countries' borrowing costs.

To say that Facebook's debut as a public company was bungled is something like saying Facebook is a website you might have heard of. Either way, a colossal understatement. The response from small-time investors has been equal parts frustration, confusion and bitterness.

They twirled, they sniffed, they slurped, they chewed. The dozen housewives who gathered in a Rome hotel on a recent afternoon took their work terribly seriously, rating plates of pasta for chewiness, saltiness, gumminess or done-ness — that perfect balance known as "al dente," or firm to the bite.

International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde says she has more sympathy for poor African children than Greeks suffering under the country's economic problems and austerity measures. Making clear that the IMF has no plans to relent on its austerity requirements for the country, Lagarde said she was aware that many Greeks were struggling to access services like healthcare because of the country's economic crisis, but believed people in other countries deserved more sympathy.

Barbara Kydd Graves, the wife of the publisher of Black Enterprise Magazine who aided in the growth of the publication and media company, died Friday. Black Enterprise said in a statement that Graves had been fighting gall-bladder cancer for more than three years when she died at Howard University Hospital in Washington.

As Greece creaks under its untenable debt and a shrinking economy, the possibility that it could stop using the euro is becoming increasingly likely. The effects of such a move would be as quick as they would be brutal for ordinary Greeks, who would essentially take a 50-percent pay cut just as prices soar.

Spain's troubled bank, Bankia, has asked the Spanish government for €19 billion ($23.8 billion) in financial support just as a leading credit rating agency downgraded it to junk status. Jose Ignacio Goirigolzarri, the bank's president, said late Friday that the bailout would "reinforced the solvency, liquidity and solidity of the bank.

The botched offering of Facebook stock has raised several troubling questions, but at least we don't have to worry about the one that plagues many IPOs: How are a few select investors able to buy in early at lower prices and then pocket huge profits when the trading frenzy begins? Among the many apparent missteps in its public debut, Facebook is accused of setting an opening price that was too high.

More Americans will hit the road this holiday weekend than a year ago. And they'll have a bit more money to spend thanks to lower gas prices. Memorial Day kicks off the summer travel season, and since pump prices never reached $4 or $5 a gallon, as feared, economists says travelers are likely to dine out or shop more once they pull off the road.

Australia and South Africa will share hosting of a giant radio telescope made up of thousands of separate dishes and intended to help scientists figure out the make-up of the universe, the international consortium overseeing the project announced Friday.

Activist investor Carl Icahn has taken a sizable stake in Chesapeake Energy Corp. and is calling for at least four of company's directors to be replaced. Icahn spent about $785 million to buy 50.1 million shares, or 7.6 percent, of the second-largest U.

Profits at big U.S. companies broke records last year, and so did pay for CEOs. The head of a typical public company made $9.6 million in 2011, according to an analysis by The Associated Press using data from Equilar, an executive pay research firm.

Yahoo has killed Livestand, a tablet magazine, just six months after its debut on the iPad. The decision announced Friday is part of the struggling Internet company's latest turnaround effort. Last month, Yahoo Inc. told analysts it would close or combine about 50 services that haven't been performing up to expectations.

A look at economic developments and activity in major stock markets around the world Friday: ___ MADRID — The board of directors of Spain's troubled bank, Bankia, has asked the Spanish government for $23.8 billion in financial support. ___ ATHENS, Greece — A left-wing party that opposes Greece's international bailout agreements has extended its lead ahead of next month's election, according to a new poll.

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon is being asked to appear before Senate and House panels next month to answer questions about the bank's $2 billion-plus trading loss. The Senate Banking Committee on Friday scheduled a June 7 hearing for Dimon to testify.

The women's clothier Talbots Inc. said Friday that a deadline expired without a deal in its exclusive talks about being acquired by a private equity firm and that it will actively pursue other options. Its shares plunged by more than a third in morning trading.

Another flare-up in Europe's debt crisis knocked U.S. markets lower Friday. This time, it was more trouble at a major Spanish bank. Stock indexes were waffling between small gains and losses until news broke in the afternoon that Bankia, a hobbled Spanish lender, asked that country's government for $23.

A better hiring outlook and lower gas prices pushed a measure of U.S. consumer confidence to its highest level in four and a half years. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan index of consumer sentiment jumped to 79.3 in May, up from 76.

Key barometers in the Treasury market late Friday, compared with late Thursday. Price changes in the 10-year note and 30-year bond are per $100 invested: ___ 1. Bond Buyer index of 40 actively traded municipal bonds. ___ May 25, 2012 05:16 PM EDT Copyright 2012, The Associated Press.

MORE GAINS: Meat prices are expected to rise faster than overall food costs in 2012. Prices rose in the spring and may increase an additional 1 percent to 3 percent this summer. HERE'S THE BEEF: Supermarket meat prices have increased because producers cut back on the number of cattle, hogs and chickens they raised last year after weather issues drove up costs.

Facebook Inc. began trading publicly last Friday following one of the most anticipated stock offerings in history. The initial public offering of stock priced at $38 a day earlier. That was at the top of a projected range that Facebook had already boosted just days earlier.

Yields on U.S. government bonds slipped Friday as traders turned their attention to Spain's debt troubles. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note edged lower Friday as reports emerged that a Spanish bank, which has already received bailout money, needed even more help.

A LATE SWOON: News late Friday afternoon that Bankia, a crippled bank in Spain, is asking for $24 billion in support from the Spanish government stirred up new worries that Europe's debt contagion was spreading. The Dow Jones industrial average ended down 75 at 12,455.

The private company SpaceX made history Friday with the docking of its Dragon capsule to the International Space Station, the most impressive feat yet in turning routine spaceflight over to the commercial sector. It marked the first time a business enterprise delivered a supply ship to the space station.