IBT Staff Reporter

Royal Dutch Shell Plc reported a doubling in profits on Thursday thanks to higher oil prices, robust demand for gas and stronger refining margins, and said it would continue to sell off non-core assets.

Sharp Corp cut its full-year operating profit forecast by 12 percent, hit by sliding domestic television sales but the cut was not as bad as the market had feared.

South Korea's Hyundai Motor <005380.KS> warned of rising competition and economic uncertainty after it posted on Thursday a 21 percent rise in quarterly net profit, fueled by solid sales gains in the United States, Europe and other markets.

Samsung Electronics won Australian court approval for fast-tracking its appeal against a ban on the sale of its new Galaxy tablet computer in the country, part of an ongoing global legal battle with iPad maker Apple Inc.

European stock index futures rose on Thursday as riskier assets across the board and the euro rallied in Asia, after European leaders agreed to boost their region's rescue fund and have private bondholders accept a huge loss on their Greek debt.

Dumb and Dumber is getting dumber yet.The Farrelly Brothers will direct a sequel to their 1994 hit -- and they plan to reunite Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels to resurrect their beloved (and dumb) roles, TheWrap has confirmed.

Warner Bros. has stopped selling its new releases to Blockbuster in an attempt to force the chain to accept a 28-day rental window. Warners wants Blockbuster to wait that long before renting out DVDs or Blu-rays, the way Netflix and Redbox do.

NBC has beat out the rest of the Big Four networks to acquire Big Men, a new single-camera comedy project from Bridesmaids star Chris O'Dowd.

In a first-ever move for television, Fox's new singing competition The X Factor is opening up its voting process to Twitter, the network announced Tuesday.

Sharp Corp reported a 44 percent rise in quarterly earnings, beating analysts' expectations, but cut its full year forecast as shriveling domestic television sales offset growing demand for smartphones and tablets.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc reported a doubling of net profits in the third quarter compared to the same period last year, thanks to higher oil prices.

Dropbox, the company behind the popular virtual file cabinet, is branching out to small and medium-sized businesses with the new service Dropbox for Teams.

Euro zone leaders said on Thursday they had reached agreement on a comprehensive package of measures to tackle the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis.

Consumers in the United States and Canada have sued Research in Motion for a days-long service outage on BlackBerry devices that rippled across the world earlier this month.

South Korea's Hyundai Motor <005380.KS> posted a 21 percent rise in quarterly net profit, meeting consensus, fueled by solid sales gains in the United States, Europe and other markets despite global economic uncertainty.

Despite losing 6-2, 4-6, 3-6, to Russian Vera Zvonareva on Wednesday, Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki confirms her position at the top of the WTA women's singles tennis rankings.

Euro zone leaders struck a deal with private banks and insurers on Thursday for them to accept a 50 percent loss on holdings of Greek government bonds as part of a plan to lower Greece's debt burden and try to contain the two-year-old euro zone crisis.

The regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was reviewing a proposal to help troubled homeowners by forgiving a portion of their outstanding mortgage debt, Democrats in the House of Representatives said on Wednesday.

Japan's Olympus Corp on Thursday stuck to its defense of deals that have come under fire since the 92-year-old firm axed its British CEO in a bitter boardroom battle, repeating that the acquisitions were strategic and involved no wrongdoing.

Asian shares edged up and the euro steadied on Thursday after European leaders agreed to boost the region's rescue fund, but their failure to offer a detailed plan to recapitalize banks and reduce Greek debt to a sustainable level may keep gains limited.

Unionized workers at Chrysler Group LLC ratified a four-year labor pact on Wednesday, closing out the first round of talks since two of the three Detroit automakers nearly collapsed and took federal bailouts in 2009.

As police closed the park that once held the Occupy Oakland tent city, protesters gathered around the square for demonstration. About 1,000 people showed up to protest and watch the unfolding drama.

Euro zone leaders and banks are close to reaching a deal on a 50 percent writedown for private bondholders on their Greek debt, an EU source said on Thursday.

Daily deals site Groupon is replacing the worst 10 percent of its sales staff as it pushes to win stronger deals from merchants and ensure it can keep growing, the company's chief executive told potential IPO investors on Wednesday.

The National Security Agency, a secretive arm of the U.S. military, has begun providing Wall Street banks with intelligence on foreign hackers, a sign of growing fears of financial sabotage.

Singer Chris Brown is starring with Lost actor Josh Holloway in Planet B Boy, Screen Gems announced Wednesday.

PBS will take a warts-and-all look at the life of recently deceased computer pioneer Steve Jobs with the premiere of Steve Jobs -- One Last Thing on November 2, the network announced Wednesday.

Reboots have had a pretty spotty track record on TV of late, but NBC is apparently hoping that a chestnut from the Stephen J. Cannell catalog can reverse that trend.

British singer Adele regained the top spot on the Billboard Top 200 album chart on Wednesday, marking her 13th week at No. 1 with 21 and making it the first album since the Titanic film soundtrack to claim as many weeks atop the chart.