IBT Staff Reporter

President Barack Obama on Wednesday is expected present a vision of decline for the U.S. oil industry in next two decades, highlighting its lack of development at existing land leases as the country shifts to other 'Clean Energy' industries linked to nuclear power, 'clean coal,' natural gas, biofuels, wind and solar power.

Family Dollar Stores Inc's quarterly profit edged past analysts' revised estimates as shoppers flocked to its stores for low-priced holiday items and groceries, prompting the discount chain to forecast a strong year ahead.

Family Dollar Stores Inc posted a higher quarterly profit, as shoppers flocked to its stores for low-priced holiday items and basic goods such as food.

Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T> and Honda Motor Corp <7267.T> took fresh steps to scale back output or reduce orders of some parts in North America as supplies remain disrupted after the March 11 Japan earthquake.

It was announced Tuesday that actor George Clooney was named a witness in the high-profile prostitution trial of the Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi.

Barclays Plc is considering moving its global headquarters from London to New York due to the threat of higher capital requirements in the UK, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

The number of planned layoffs at U.S. firms fell in March, despite continued downsizing in the public sector, a report said on Wednesday.

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wednesday as data showed private employers added jobs in a sign of economic improvement and acquisition activity lifted sentiment.

Gold shot up by nearly one percent on Wednesday, after four sessions of losses amid broad support from unrest in the Middle East and North Africa, but gains may stay limited by expectations monetary policy in key regions may tighten. Spot gold was bid at $1,430.55 an ounce at 1344 GMT, against $1,415.95 late in New York on Tuesday.

Celebrities such as Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus and Natalie Portman have all been victims of online death rumors. The last victim was actor Jackie Chan

A 20-inch pencil-thin Egyptian cobra, which escaped from the Bronx Zoo in New York last week, is giving Charlie Sheen and Lady Gaga tough competition on Twitter. A twitter account created by an anonymous user under the name BronxZoosCobra had more than 120,000 followers by early Wednesday.

Early 3DS owners have reported software, hardware issues

Acer has thrown in the gauntlet in the tablet war as it has announced that its dual-screen tablet Iconia TouchBook will be available for pre-sale in U.S.

Crisis management expert Caroline Sapriel has plenty of experience of the colossal pressure on corporate chiefs such as Tokyo Electric's Masataka Shimizu, hospitalized as his firm battles nuclear catastrophe.

U.S. stock index futures rose on Wednesday as merger and acquisition activity lifted sentiment before data expected to show another month of private-sector job creation.

Tokyo Electric Power warned on Wednesday that a $24 billion bank loan was not enough to keep it afloat and pay for Japan's worst nuclear disaster, adding to expectations the government will step in to bail out the stricken company.

U.S. stock index futures rose on Wednesday as merger and acquisition activity lifted sentiment before data expected to show private-sector job creation.

U.S. chemicals group DuPont extended its $6 billion takeover bid for Danisco by four weeks after holders of only 6 percent of the Danish company's shares had accepted the offer.

U.S. chemicals company DuPont extended its $6 billion takeover bid for Denmark's Danisco by four weeks and said shareholders of 6 percent of Danisco's stock had accepted the offer.

Canadian drugmaker Valeant Pharmaceuticals International said it made an unsolicited $5.7 billion bid to buy Cephalon Inc and plans to make its case directly to Cephalon shareholders.

A lifesize train set - comprising a 120-year-old steam locomotive, antique carriages, almost nine miles of track and a railway station - is being offered for sale on a New Zealand auction website.

The mystery behind the recent UFO sighting over Colorado seems to have been unlocked with an explanation emerging of the strange encounter's very terrestrial origin.

The new program drastically reduces the cost of licensing any of the roughly 15,000 patents held by the federal government's National Laboratories.

The US Department of Education has imposed a fine of $55000 on Virginia Tech for its failure to issue timely warnings after the initial shootings at a residence hall in 2007, which escalated into one of the deadliest campus massacres ever.

Fisker, the hybrid-car start-up aiming to market a four-door, four-passenger luxury plug-in hybrid, Karma, has finally started production.

Dollar dominance is sowing the seeds of financial turmoil, and the solution is to promote new reserve currencies, a Chinese government economist said in a paper published on the eve of a G20 meeting about how to reform the global monetary system.

Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T> and Honda Motor Corp <7267.T> took fresh steps to scale back output or reduce orders of some parts in North America as supplies remain disrupted after the March 11 Japan earthquake.

World stocks bounced back on Wednesday, driven by optimism about potential gains in the coming quarter and setting aside lingering concerns about Japan's nuclear crisis and turmoil in the Arab world.

Brent was steady near $115 on Wednesday, after falling as much as 0.6 percent on indications that higher fuel prices were weighing on consumer confidence in top user the United States, where crude inventories rose more than expected last week.