IBT Staff Reporter

Oil prices rose over $2 on Thursday, led by Brent which was heading for its second biggest quarterly rise, touching $117.70 a barrel as Middle East supply worries led concerns.

New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits fell last week, a government report showed on Thursday, further evidence a material improvement in the labor market was under way.

People.com is reporting that Prince William will not wear a wedding band.

Teams from the Senate and House negotiating a six-month federal budget deal for the remainder of the fiscal year are making 'good progress' even as the rhetorical battle among Republican and Democratic Party leaders rages in a bid to avoid an April 8 shutdown.

Justin Bieber's tour is in full force and next up for the Canadian sensation are stops in Spain, Switzerland and Italy. Check out photos of Bieber rocking the stage in Belgium in front of thousands of fans.

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a slightly lower open on Thursday, the final day of the quarter, as jobless claims fell less than expected, but investors were optimistic about Friday's monthly jobs data.

Brent crude rose over $1 on Thursday to $116.78 a barrel, heading for its biggest quarterly gain in almost two years as Middle East supply worries led concerns.

The Revs program is expected to be a hive of interdisciplinary activity for studying every aspect of the automobile, including the seemingly endless stream of literature, film and song.

U.S. stock index futures were little changed on Thursday, the final day of the quarter, before weekly jobless claims data that could give insight into the U.S. employment situation.

Former Goldman Sachs trader Morgan Sze is set to launch his highly anticipated $1 billion-plus hedge fund in Hong Kong on Friday, three sources familiar with the plan told Reuters.

Baidu Inc, China's largest search engine, will shut its online e-commerce store, Youa, and migrate its users to other platforms, it said on Thursday.

University of North Florida's student newspaper the Spinnaker has run into trouble after printing a picture of simulated oral sex on its front cover.

CVS Caremark Corp's former Chief Executive, Thomas Ryan, who recently retired after a 12-year tenure as CEO of the U.S. drugstore chain, took home more than $120 million in 2010.

The United States drove global equity issuance in the first three months of the year, stealing Asia's crown, after a spate of blockbuster U.S. IPOs backed by private equity firms.

Ireland is set to reveal up to a 25 billion euro ($35 billion) hole in its banks' capital and a radical restructuring of the sector as it releases stress test results on Thursday in a last ditch bid to calm nervous markets.

A recent novel experiment conducted by an assistant professor in communications at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania found that personal tweets on the social media platform raise the credibility of professors in the eyes of students.

Indicating the distressing trend of size zero has gone global, a new research has found how stigmatization of fat and obesity has spread from western countries across more accepting cultures.

Wall Street was set to edge up on Thursday, the last day of the first quarter, extending gains a day after labor data helped to boost confidence on the prospects for economic recovery.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether Wall Street firms sold a complex type of bond without clarifying the risks attached to it, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Ireland's stress tests on Thursday will reveal an additional 20-25 billion euro ($28-35 billion) hole in its banks capital and will be followed by a radical restructuring of the sector, the Irish Independent newspaper reported.

The 68-year-old Judge Judy told TMZ she felt that she just needed a day to chill, raising questions if she was overworked.

World stocks climbed to a new three-week high on Thursday and the euro inched higher ahead of the publication of Irish bank stress tests aimed at capping one of the major risks in Europe's debt crisis.

With the +1 button on its search engine, besides adding a social tinge, Google continues long-drawn war against Facebook.

Tokyo Electric Power Co could face compensation claims topping $130 billion if Japan's worst nuclear crisis drags on, Bank of America-Merrill Lynch estimated, fuelling expectations Japan's government will step in to save Asia's largest utility.

China pushed back on Thursday against pressure from Paris and Washington for swift reform of a global monetary system that French President Nicolas Sarkozy said is so unstable that it could tip the world economy back into crisis.

Brent crude rose 0.8 percent to $116 on Thursday, heading for its biggest quarterly gain in almost two years as war, revolutions, and unrest across the Middle East and North Africa thrust supply constraints to the forefront of investor concerns.

Tightly controlled exchange rate regimes are the main flaw in the international monetary system and the solution is simple, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told a G20 meeting on Thursday.

Most Asian shares edged up on Thursday, heading for a quarterly gain despite a sharp sell-off earlier this month after disaster struck Japan, while the yen was poised for a quarterly loss on expectations Tokyo will have to maintain super-loose monetary policy far longer than Europe and the United States.

A U.S. federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by a group of pension funds against Freddie Mac that claimed the mortgage finance giant had materially misrepresented its exposure to risky mortgage products, leading to investment losses.