UNITED STATES

U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday, lifted by positive data on the labor market and housing sector, considered two of the biggest headwinds facing the economy.

Sweden's Ericsson and Austria's Kapsch CarrierCom AG will acquire certain wireless technology assets from Nortel Networks Corp, the bankrupt Canadian telecom equipment maker said on Wednesday.

China's Sinopec has signed a tentative deal to provide financing of $6.5 billion for oil refinery projects in Iran, two Iranian news agencies reported on Wednesday.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is optimistic other allies will send more troops to Afghanistan, backing up an expected sharp increase in U.S. forces, according to a letter to NATO released on Wednesday.

It's a crime so profitable that even dead people are in on the act.

The World Health Organization is looking into reports in Britain and the United States that the H1N1 flu may have developed resistance to Tamiflu in people with severely suppressed immune systems, a spokesman said Tuesday.

President Barack Obama will unveil his new strategy for the war in Afghanistan in an address to Americans on December 1, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said on Wednesday.

President Barack Obama hold his first state dinner in honor of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Tuesday evening at the White House.

The head of Faurecia SA said on Wednesday that bumper maker Plastal could be a good match for the French parts maker, adding that his company was looking to be a consolidating force in the auto parts industry.

Adam Lambert's racy public outing as a solo artist at Sunday's American Music Awards has grabbed headlines and helped send downloads of his debut album soaring worldwide.

Chinese car maker Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Corp (BAIC) said on Wednesday it was reassessing the situation after a consortium it belonged to dropped a bid to buy General Motors' Saab unit.

New Zealand's Peter Jackson takes a break from blockbusters with The Lovely Bones, an adaptation of Alice Sebold's bestselling novel about girl who is brutally raped and murdered and who looks down on her family from heaven.

Jobless Benefits Figures Surprise; Personal Spending Up; GM's Europe Challenges

A deal for General Motors Co to sell Saab collapsed on Tuesday when the buyer pulled out, in a move that threatens a 60-year-old Swedish auto brand with closure after mounting losses.

The future of Sweden's Saab Automobile looks bleak after tiny luxury car maker Koenigsegg, backed by China's BAIC, pulled out of a deal to buy the loss-making firm from General Motors.

For the past two weeks, the top result for a search on Google images of the U.S. first lady Michelle Obama is an offensive caricature that replaces her face with that of a chimpanzee, which Google refuses to take down.

Stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wednesday after stronger-than-expected data on the labor market.

New Zealand's revised emissions trading plan passed into law on Wednesday, while neighboring Australia moved a step closer to ending a deadlock stalling its carbon-trade legislation ahead of a vote this week.

The number of U.S. workers filing new applications for jobless insurance tumbled last week by a surprisingly large amount to the lowest level in more than a year, according to government data on Wednesday that gave fresh evidence the battered labor market is improving.

Tiffany & Co reported a larger-than-expected quarterly profit and raised its forecast for full-year earnings on the strength of its overseas sales and a solid start to the holiday season, sending the upscale jeweler's shares up nearly 6 percent.

Calpers, the biggest U.S. public pension fund, is considering dumping asset manager BlackRock Inc as its real estate consultant, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.