IBT Staff Reporter

Osama bin Laden's handwritten journal - obtained during a raid by U.S. forces last week - shows he urged followers conduct attacks in the U.S. on the scale of 9/11 - involving body counts in the thousands - in order to drive Americans from the Arab world, according to a report.

President Barack Obama urged businesses to step up and hire workers, pressing banks and other corporations to do more to help an economy that he said would take several years to recover fully.

Even in the heart of Sri Lanka's financial capital, convicted hedge fund founder and one-time billionaire Raj Rajaratnam remains a mystery to many on the island of his birth.

China lifted bank reserve requirements by 50 basis points on Thursday, signaling that containing inflation and soaking up excess cash remained its top priority even after signs the economy was slowing down.

Wall Street was set to open lower on Thursday as falling commodities prices prompted an unwinding of bets on risky assets, including equities, while a sour outlook from Cisco hurt technology stocks.

U.S. claims for unemployment aid fell sharply last week after a surprisingly big rise the prior week, a government report showed on Thursday.

Google paired up with Samsung for 'the world's first Chromebooks,' which are based on cloud computing and lack programs and stored documents.

Reasons why Apple should or should not go for ARM chips in its lineup of laptops and desktops.

Having supportive colleagues not only makes the workday easier, it may also help people live longer, according to a new study.

Kohl's Corp reported a higher quarterly profit as the mid-price department store chain kept gross margins steady despite rising cotton prices, and the retailer raised its full-year profit forecast.

The International Monetary Fund urged broad-based action to combat the euro zone debt crisis, saying it was ready to give Greece more aid and asking the European Central Bank to tread carefully in hiking interest rates.

Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical Co is in talks to buy privately-held Swiss rival Nycomed for more than $12 billion, seeking to boost its presence in Europe and emerging markets, said two sources with direct knowledge of the matter.

U.S. stock index futures fell on Thursday as a continuing slide in commodities prompted an unwinding of bets on risky assets, including equities, while a sour outlook from Cisco hurt technology stocks.

A rescue deal for Saab involving China's Hawtai Motor Group collapsed on Thursday, leaving owner Spyker chasing new funding alternatives to restart production at the Swedish carmaker.

Goldman Sachs plans to raise up to 5 billion yuan ($770 million) for a private equity fund in China, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

Asia's reserve-rich nations see no viable option but to keep on purchasing U.S. government debt despite their uneasiness about Washington's fraught political battle over public spending.

German insurer Allianz's net profit fell 45 percent in the first quarter, hit by damage claims from the earthquake in Japan and other natural disasters.

Growth in eastern Europe should accelerate only slightly this year as domestic demand recovers, but trouble in the euro zone periphery, wide budget deficits and inflation pressures still pose risks, the IMF said on Thursday.

Google announced that it provides Chromebooks laptop for business users with $28 per month in Google I/O conference and the cost can be smaller than migrating cost from Microsoft Windows XP computers to new version of Windows.

Google accelerated its cloud computing service with the new version of Google App Engine 1.5.0 launched with the effort of the engineers to make it on time for Google IO took place this week in San Francisco.

Nissan Motor Co reported a 7.2 percent rise in quarterly operating profit on Thursday and said global production disrupted by Japan's March 11 earthquake will return to normal at least a month earlier than predicted by bigger home rival, Toyota Motor Corp.

China's economic growth could slow to 8 percent, Goldman Sach's Jim O'Neill said on Thursday, as economic data and a drop in commodity prices point to Beijing ending its monetary tightening policy sometime this year.

After showcasing its light-weight, browser-based Chrome OS on CR-48 last year, Google unveiled two Chromebooks from Samsung and Acer at its developers' conference Google I/O.

Valentine's Day is supposed to be a celebration of love between partners, but that was in short supply when ministers from Europe's single currency zone met on the fifth floor of the Justus Lipsius building in Brussels on February 14.

Nissan Motor Co <7201.T> posted a 7.2 percent rise in quarterly operating profit but offered no guidance for the new financial year on Thursday, citing uncertainties over the pace of recovery after the March 11 earthquake disrupted the industry's supply chain.

Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Thursday, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.29 percent, Dow Jones futures down 0.27 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.56 percent at 0735 GMT.

Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical Co is in talks to buy privately-held Swiss rival Nycomed, which has a significant presence in Europe and emerging markets, in a deal that could be worth more than 1 trillion yen ($12 billion), two sources told Reuters.

Nissan Motor Co posted a 7.2 percent rise in quarterly operating profit on Thursday and said global production disrupted by Japan's March 11 earthquake will return to normal a least a month earlier than predicted by bigger home rival, Toyota Motor Corp.

Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical Co <4502.T> is in talks to buy privately-held Swiss rival Nycomed in a deal that could be valued at more than $14.2 billion, Bloomberg News said, citing two people with knowledge of the matter.