IBT Staff Reporter

Southwest Airlines and Airbus have begun a warm top-level exchange, prompting the jetmaker to hope Boeing's biggest customer may eventually take an interest in its planes, sources close to the matter said.

Italian prosecutors have seized documents at the offices of rating agencies Moody's and Standard & Poor's in a probe over suspected anomalous fluctuations in Italian share prices, a prosecutor said on Thursday.

Weakening demand in the United States and Europe has spooked some in corporate America, prompting big companies to throttle back their spending just as U.S. government looks for ways to cut its own outlays.

The Justice Department on Thursday cleared VeriFone Systems Inc's purchase of Hypercom Corp , after the companies found another buyer for its the point-of-sale terminals business, a private equity-backed group.

Healthcare IT provider Emdeon Inc said it agreed to be taken private for $3 billion by private equity firm Blackstone.

A major new hacking attack underscores that governments and companies are losing the war against cyber thieves, but it's unclear if the disclosure will prompt quicker global action against online break-ins.

French online daily deals company Deal du Jour has complained about Google's business practices to EU antitrust regulators, the latest company to take its grievances about the web search giant to the European Commission.

Deep discounts brought shoppers to malls and helped many retail chains report sales gains in July, in an early sign that consumers will keep demanding bargains in the back-to-school season.

China's bigger telecom provider could be offering the iPhone 5 and represent $30 billion of revenue opportunity for Apple.

Toronto's main stock index slumped more than 3 percent on Thursday, as rising concerns about global growth more than wiped out the previous session's late-day rally and knocked world markets lower.

Virginia Tech is on lockdown as police search for a possible gunman.

Hitachi Ltd and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd have begun talks on what would be Japan's biggest domestic merger, three sources said, heralding a long awaited shake-up of the nation's industrial behemoths.

Nashville Predators captain Shea Weber, one of the top defenseman in the National Hockey League (NHL), was awarded a record $7.5 million one-year contract by an arbitrator, the team said on Wednesday.

New laims for unemployment benefits were little changed last week, a government report showed on Thursday, pointing to a marginal improvement in the labor market.

Exchange operator NYSE Euronext on Thursday was hit by another glitch as it said the publication of all indexes based on European share markets was momentarily suspended.

Top Canadian telecom company BCE Inc's quarterly adjusted earnings beat expectations on Thursday, helped by strength in its new media unit, but its wireless division paid heavily to grab customers in a cutthroat market.

Stars are under a lot of pressure to be thin these days, and like most women, they too struggle with their weight. Kelly Osbourne recently took some enjoyment in Christina Aguilera's recent weight gain calling Aguilera "fat."

Inexpensive ways to add nutrients such as, potatoes and beans for potassium and dietary fiber to a person's diet are hard to come by, and a recent study published in Health Affairs, only confirms the obvious toll on one's pockets for healthier food items.

Virginia Tech officials told students to stay inside on their website after a person with a gun was spotted near Dietrick Hall. The alert was issued at 9:37 this morning.

Stocks dropped on Thursday, taking the S&P 500 down 10 percent from its May high, on escalating worries about the economy.

Air Canada Inc reported a 55 percent rise in operating earnings on Thursday, but said it expects higher fuel prices will add about C$800 million to operating costs in 2011.

Demi Lovato has recently dived back into the limelight after her stint in rehab and personal meltdown. Now, after the release of her new single "Skyscraper," the 18 year old singer had a conversation with "Elle" magazine. "I was completely out of line all summer. Just the worst attitude-totally ungrateful." Demi said."When you punch someone [backup dancer from tour] on a plane, enough is enough. Right after, I texted my mom and just said, 'I'm sorry.'"

GM Chevrolet Volt's key competitor in the electric-vehicle market Nissan has launched an app for Android and BlackBerry phones for its all-electric car Leaf.

Deep discounts and the warmest July weather in decades brought U.S. shoppers to malls, helping many retail chains report healthy monthly sales increases.

Google Inc, fresh from losing a bid to buy thousands of patents from bankrupt Nortel, lashed out at its biggest rivals on Wednesday and accused them of banding together to block the Internet giant in the red- hot smartphone arena.

A Facebook page has been shut down after claims it was an attempt to set up police officers in Northern Ireland for assassination.

Canada's main opposition New Democratic Party, already hobbled by the sickness of leader Jack Layton, hit more problems on Tuesday when it emerged his interim successor had belonged to a Quebec separatist party.

The European Central Bank resumed buying government bonds from the market and offered a new round of funding to commercial banks on Thursday in response to a worsening euro zone debt crisis.

Infrared sensors on a Vampire bat's lips allow it to locate blood vessels in their prey, scientists said. Vampire bats feed only on blood and need blood daily in order to live.