IBT Staff Reporter

Stocks rose on Wednesday as the slow progress from European leaders in resolving their debt crisis was enough to satisfy investors, even if early reports from an EU summit were short on detail.

Visa said on Wednesday quarterly net income rose by 14 percent, as the company processed more card payments and payment volumes increased.

Europe's leaders intend to multiply their rescue fund fourfold to one trillion euros and press Greece's creditors to accept losses of over 50 percent on their bondholdings, but the details of their plan to end the debt crisis are still not fully formed.

Rajat Gupta, who sat on the boards of some of America's most prestigious companies, was arrested and charged on Wednesday with being the illegal eyes and ears for his friend Raj Rajaratnam, the central figure in a broad U.S. crackdown on insider trading at hedge funds.

Risks are rising that a moribund job market and potentially steep drop in inflation could push the United States into a downward spiral of falling wages and prices.

Little spheres deliver medicine slowly and keep it inside the knee.

The Bank of England got it about right when it opted to inject another 75 billion pounds into the financial system, a move that will help fend off the risk of deflation, a top policy maker said on Wednesday.

A Somali aid worker seized by gunmen along with two Westerners in northern Somalia was being questioned by police about the kidnappings, the Danish Refugee Council said on Wednesday.

Libya's interim leader urged NATO Wednesday to maintain its involvement in the country until the end of the year, though the Western military alliance that helped topple Muammar Gaddafi is keen to wind up its formal mission within days.

Euro zone leaders intend to scale up their emergency fund, the European Financial Stability Facility, to around 1.0 trillion euros (871 billion pounds), EU sources said on Wednesday.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, in serious political trouble at home, is expected to give a European summit on Wednesday only vague promises of economic reform instead of the concrete undertakings demanded by European leaders.

Euro zone leaders intend to multiply the capacity of their rescue fund around fourfold to one trillion euros but details of how they plan to draw a line under Europe's worsening debt crisis will not be nailed until next month, sources said.

A key committee of the Bank of England is feeling its way in terms of striking a balance between making sure banks are strongly capitalised while also encouraging them to lend to businesses, a key policymaker said on Wednesday.

Tunisia's moderate Islamist party said on Wednesday it would put forward one of its officials for the prime minister's job, after it scored a resounding victory in the first election after the Arab Spring uprisings.

The European Central Bank's incoming president signalled on Wednesday the bank stood ready to carry on buying the bonds of troubled euro zone governments, suggesting he is ready to intervene to steady markets in the face of German misgivings.

Germany said on Wednesday it will close 31 of its 328 military bases and shrink installations in another 90 locations over the next five years as part of the most sweeping cuts in the history its Bundeswehr army, navy and air force.

The euro zone aims to leverage its 440 billion euro (383 billion pound) bailout fund, the EFSF, several fold but finance ministers will only agree the details of how that will be done in November, according to a draft statement to be issued after a summit on Wednesday.

The Catholic Church's ban on the use of contraception is not to blame for the population boom that is about to tip the world over the seven billion mark because most Catholics ignore it, a UN Population Fund official said on Wednesday.

The FTSE 100 hit a 2-1/2-month closing high on Wednesday, with defensive stocks doing well as investors awaited the outcome of a European Union summit to resolve the two-year-old sovereign debt crisis.

The Bank of England got it about right when it opted to inject another 75 billion pounds into the financial system, a top policymaker said on Wednesday, adding the move will help fend off the risk of deflation.

A Kenyan man pleaded guilty on Wednesday to a grenade attack on a Nairobi bus station and being a member of the Somali rebel group al Shabaab, which Kenyan forces are pursuing in a cross-border operation.

Following these simple travel etiquette tips will not only make you less likely to stand out as a tourist, it will bring better service and more respect from locals.

At least 20 people died in clashes and strikes paralysed parts of Syria, as President Bashar al-Assad met Arab ministers seeking to end months of violence and authorities held a mass rally to show support for him.

European Union leaders met on Wednesday to discuss a comprehensive plan for tackling the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis.

A lawyer for Rupert Murdoch's News Group Newspapers earlier this year accused the British Broadcasting Corporation of pursuing an investigation of alleged computer and phone hacking to undermine Murdoch's bid to acquire full ownership of satellite broadcaster BSkyB.

European Union leaders were holding talks on Wednesday to try to agree on a convincing, comprehensive plan for tackling the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis.

Chancellor Angela Merkel warned Europe not to be complacent about its peace and prosperity on Wednesday, as German lawmakers approved plans to boost the firepower of the euro zone rescue fund ahead of an emergency EU summit.

Ford Motor Co posted a lower third-quarter profit after taking a hit from plunging metals prices and sustaining losses in its European and Asian operations.

European Union leaders hold talks on Wednesday to try to agree on a convincing, comprehensive plan for tackling the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis.