IBT Staff Reporter

Texas inmate Mark Stroman was executed on Wednesday night for hate crimes, making him the seventh person to be executed in the state this year.

Apple Inc is within sight of catching up with Exxon Mobil as the most valuable company in the world.

Investors braced for more bleak news from smartphone laggard Nokia Oyj on Thursday with the world's largest handset maker likely to post a second-quarter loss and a weak outlook.

China's big trading partners worry that its rapid economic growth cannot be sustained and it could suffer a hard landing that spreads damage around the world, according to an IMF report released on Thursday.

China's factory sector contracted for the first time in a year in July and at its fastest pace since March 2009, a purchasing managers' survey showed on Thursday, as monetary policy tightening and slack global demand weighed on the economy.

Airbus is savoring a victory that tastes even sweeter to the European company than a $23 billion deal to sell 260 aircraft to American Airlines : it has just forced Boeing to climb down over product strategy.

Japan's exports rose in June and the pace of annual declines slowed, bringing the trade balance back into surplus as factory output and sales steadily recover from the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown.

Germany and France have reached a common position on a second bailout of Greece in their effort to prevent the country's debt crisis from spreading through Europe, officials said Thursday.

Web slinging Spiderman is back in the new reboot by director Marc Webb. The Amazing Spider-Man will give fans a new look at the world of Peter Parker as actor Andrew Garfield suits up to fight crime as the latest comic book webslinger. The official trailer hit the web as it presents a darker more serious film compared with former director's Sam Raimi's rendition of the Spider-Man trilogy.

Microsoft Corp is expected to post a 9 percent increase in fiscal fourth-quarter profit on Thursday, helped by solid sales of its Windows and Office mainstays, but investors may be distracted by evidence of flickering computer sales, which are key to its success.

The euro climbed a third day on Thursday as a deal between France and Germany over a bailout of Greece raised hopes ahead of a major European summit, though investors barely moved from government bonds and precious metals.

Google Inc will shut down a website that offered public access to experimental products, the latest step by the company to refocus resources under Chief Executive Larry Page.

The Amazing Spider-Man trailer released by Sony Pictures has given audiences a taste of what's to come for the web slinging comic book hero reboot. Director Marc Webb has appeared to have given the new Spider-Man film a more serious mood seen in the teaser as compared to previous director Sam Raimi's rendition. The campy styled version has transformed into a darker drama, perhaps following the footsteps of the Batman trilogy leading to Christopher Nolan's reboot of the Dark Knight.

Qualcomm Inc's improving financial outlook was not enough to impress investors disappointed with its wireless chip shipment target during a quarter when new advanced devices like the next generation Apple Inc iPhone are expected to go on sales.

American Express Co posted a 31 percent increase in second quarter profits, beating analysts' expectations, as customers spent more on their cards and the company's processing revenue jumped.

The leaders of Germany and France have reached a joint position on how to address Greece's debt woes ahead of a euro zone summit in Brussels Thursday, Berlin's government spokesman said.

Levi Aron confession today in court: He gave murdered 8-year-old Brooklyn Boy Leiby Kletzky a cocktail of prescription drugs before he smothered and dismembered him, a medical examiner said in court today.

Shares of real estate site Zillow Inc skyrocketed in their market debut on Wednesday, the latest to ride a wave of dotcom exuberance while stoking fears of lofty Internet valuations.

Qualcomm Inc said it will ship fewer cellphone chips than expected this quarter because its customers are shaving product inventories, sending its shares down almost 3 percent as investors worried the move could signal weakening demand due to an economic slowdown.

The International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday it remains concerned with the potential for a property price bubble in China even though the country's elevated inflation rate may peak within the next month or two.

Microblogging service Twitter is working on an $800 million funding deal that values the company at $8 billion, the website All Things D reported.

Tuesday at Yosemite National Park, warning signs, a barricade, and people's urging voices were all ignored before all three hikers playing in Vernal Fall were swept over the 317-foot falls.

Wells Fargo & Co agreed to pay a $85 million civil penalty to the Federal Reserve Board for allegedly steering borrowers into costly subprime mortgages, the largest fine the Fed has ever imposed in a consumer-enforcement case.

Don Nelson, former head coach of the Golden State Warriors, may interview for the head coaching vacancy of the Minnesota Timberwolves as early as Thursday or Friday of this week, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

Who is Wendi Deng? Wendi Deng Murdoch is Rupert Murdoch's wife.

Investors braced for more bleak news from smartphone laggard Nokia Oyj on Thursday with the world's largest handset maker likely to post a second-quarter loss and a weak outlook.

Danielle Doty, an eighteen year old beauty from Harlingen, Texas, became the second Texan to win Miss Teen USA beauty contestby winning the 2011 edition held at the Atlantis Paradise Island and Resort in the Bahamas on Sunday.

A La Mesa, Calif.-based man's conviction of making threats against then-presidential candidate Barack Obama was reversed by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday.

Carlos Beltran, the New York Mets outfielder, could be traded soon to the Philadelphia Phillies.