IBT Staff Reporter

Japanese authorities have spent 800 billion to 900 billion yen ($11.7 billion) in the foreign exchange market to stem the yen's rise, news agency Jiji reported on Thursday, quoting a market source.

AXA , Europe's second-biggest insurer, said on Thursday that first-half net income quadrupled, beating forecasts, helped by 1.44 billion euros ($2.05 billion) in one-off gains related to asset sales.

The latest U.S. oil inventory data contradict a widely held notion among oil traders that a huge glut of Canadian and U.S. shale crude oil is accumulating in the middle of the United States and causing the record gap in global oil benchmark prices.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's sister Randi has announced her decision to leave the social networking site Facebook.

According to a recent report from the University of Utah study, the canopy density or the prehistoric tree cover in East African environment goes back to more than 6 million years, where the human ancestors and the ape relatives evolved.

The Bank of Japan eased monetary policy by boosting asset purchases on Thursday at a rate review that was cut short by a day, signaling its determination to support Tokyo's solo currency intervention to weaken the yen.

Japan sold the yen in the market and its central bank eased monetary policy on Thursday, following Switzerland in efforts to tame currencies buoyed by safe-haven demand from investors fretting about the health of the global economy.

The yen tumbled on Thursday as Japanese authorities intervened to curb its recent gains, though gold stayed near a record high on uncertainty over whether the European Central Bank would join the fray by resuming bond purchases to fight a crisis of confidence.

Deutsche Telekom said it was on track to meet its targets after the group's second quarter profit was hit by restructuring charges mainly for staff in Germany.

Deutsche Telekom confirmed its 2011 targets after second-quarter net profit missed expectations, hit by restructuring costs for staff.

The latest U.S. oil inventory data contradict a widely held notion among oil traders that a huge glut of Canadian and U.S. shale crude oil is accumulating in the middle of the United States and causing the record gap in global oil benchmark prices.

Talks to merge Japanese industrial giants Hitachi Ltd <6501.T> and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd <7011.T> have stalled after news leaked to the media, two sources said, a potential setback in efforts to reform corporate Japan.

International food producer Cargill Inc voluntarily recalled about 36 million pounds of ground turkey amidst the possibility of a salmonella contamination.

A team of Swedish deep sea explorers have discovered a large, round shaped object on the 300-foot-deep ocean floor between Finland and Sweden.

Hitachi Ltd <6501.T>, Japan's biggest industrial electronics firm and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd <7011.T>, the nation's leading heavy machinery maker, may merge to a $150 billion revenue infrastructure firm, three sources said on Thursday, but warned that the companies may struggle to forge a pact.

Web.com, an online provider of Internet services for small and medium-sized businesses, has agreed to pay about $560 million for privately held marketing and domain company Network Solutions.

Japan intervened in currency markets on Thursday to curb the yen's gains that officials fear threatened to derail the economy's recovery from a slump triggered by a massive earthquake in March.

Corporate America is not likely to punish Republicans who ignored their pleas and voted against a bill to raise the U.S. debt ceiling, looking to court them for bigger fights ahead, according to business lobbyists.

Different wars for different times. Cofer Black, a former top CIA counterterrorism official, said on Wednesday he sees parallels between the terrorism threat that emerged before the September 11 attacks a decade ago and the emerging cyber threat now.

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

U.S. airlines are not likely to bow to pressure from the White House and elsewhere to rollback a fare increase facilitated by a Washington political standoff that could net the industry more than $1 billion in unexpected third quarter revenue.

The Justice Department charged 72 members of an online child pornography ring. Members were encouraged to have sex with children ages 12 and under and turn in material.

Authorities said on Wednesday they have dismantled an online bulletin board allegedly used by 600 people around the world to trade graphic images and videos of child sex abuse.

A nocturnal rat that resembles a porcupine coats it quills with a plant toxin, a new study says. African hunters use the same substance in order to make elephant-grade poison arrows.

Security experts have discovered an unprecedented series of cyber attacks on the networks of 72 organizations globally, including the United Nations, governments and corporations, over a five-year period.

Teenage Britons are spending more and more time using smartphones to make calls, send texts and use social networking sites, and more than half of those that own the devices claim to be addicted to them, regulator Ofcom said on Thursday.

Security experts have discovered an unprecedented series of cyber attacks on the networks of 72 organizations globally, including the United Nations, governments and corporations, over a five-year period.

Activision Blizzard, the biggest U.S. video game publisher, raised its earnings outlook as a strategy of focusing on a few key titles seemed to be paying off, boosting its shares more than 2 percent.

U.S. authorities said on Wednesday they have dismantled an online bulletin board allegedly used by 600 people around the world to trade graphic images and videos of child sex abuse.