IBT Staff Reporter

Ryan dissatisfied over the way he was treated in his marriage

France asked its citizens to leave Ivory Coast and the World Bank froze funding to the West African state on Wednesday, as a violent power struggle deepened between incumbent Laurent Gbagbo and his rival presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara.

Members of Bank of England's policy panel continue to be split three ways over new policies to contain inflation and spur economic growth, according to the minutes released by the Monetary Policy Committee on Wednesday.

China is ready to buy 4-5 billion euros ($5.3-$6.6 billion) of Portuguese sovereign debt to help the country ward off pressure in debt markets, the Jornal de Negocios business daily reported Wednesday.

Fund managers rebuilt their equity holdings in December to one of the highest points this year on signs of a swifter economic recovery, a Reuters poll showed on Wednesday.

Economic growth was a touch higher than previously estimated in the third quarter, but below expectations as a rise in the pace of inventory accumulation was offset by downward revisions to consumer spending, a government report showed on Wednesday.

Idea Cellular , India's No. 6 mobile phone operator, said on Wednesday it has commissioned Nokia Siemens Network to build and manage its 3G network in four telecom zones and supply equipment.

Stocks edged higher on Wednesday as financial stocks helped extend four days of gains that drove the S&P 500 to levels not seen since before Lehman Brothers went bankrupt two years ago.

Business software maker Red Hat Inc issued an outlook for profit and revenue above Wall Street projections on Tuesday, echoing optimism about the technology spending climate shown by bigger industry companies last week.

Medtronic Inc. (NYSE:MDT) announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the medical technology company's device to treat abdominal aneurysm, a blood-filled bulge or ballooning in a part of aorta that runs through abdomen.

HP may play spoil sport for Microsoft as it plans to launch three webOS-based tablets at the Consumer Electronics Show, the venue that Microsoft has chosen to showcase its Windows 7 and Windows 8- based tablets.

Deutsche Bank's U.S. tax fraud settlement has heightened expectations of more deals being struck as American authorities target overseas banks in a crackdown on tax dodgers.

S&P 500 stock index futures edged higher on Wednesday as traders looked to extend four days of gains that drove the S&P 500 to levels reached just before Lehman Brothers went bankrupt two years ago.

General Motors China introduced an electric concept vehicle Sail at the 2010 Guangzhou Auto Show on Tuesday.

Toyota Motor Corp on Tuesday said that it expects to sell 7.7 million vehicles worldwide next year, up 3 percent from 2010, by tapping emerging markets Asian markets, such as China and India.

Mortgage applications tumbled to their lowest level in nearly a year as a six-week-long rise in interest rates took a significant toll on demand, an industry group said on Wednesday.

Toronto-Dominion Bank has agreed to buy Chrysler Financial from private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. (Cerberus) for $6.3 billion in cash, part of a major expansion of Canadian banking behemoths into the United States.

The launch of Apple's iPad in April 2010 has been rated as one of the most notable business developments of the year by an eminent professor at the Harvard Business School.

Nissan Motors on Wednesday delivered the first 10 units of its 100 per cent electric and zero-emission Nissan LEAF in Japan.

Activision Blizzard Inc is seeking $400 million damages from Electronic Arts Inc in a lawsuit related to its Call of Duty video game franchise, court filings showed.

Some of the murky details surrounding Mark Hurd's abrupt exit from Hewlett-Packard Co last summer may be about to clear up, with federal regulators on the scent.

Sony Corp is on target to sell 15 million PlayStation 3 game consoles in the business year to March 31, 2011, a company executive said on Wednesday.

Japan's economic recovery seems to be pausing, though there are signs of a moderate recovery, the Bank of Japan said in a statement on Wednesday.

Stock index futures were flat on Wednesday after fours days of gains drove the S&P 500 to new highs, leaving the index near levels reached just before Lehman Brothers went bankrupt two years ago.

Deutsche Bank's settlement of a U.S. tax fraud case has raised expectations of similar deals being struck by other banks, although there was relief that the $553.6 million cost to the German bank would not hit its earnings.

Stock futures for the Dow Jones industrial average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 all fell 0.1 percent, pointing to a slightly weaker start for equities on Wall Street on Wednesday.

Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto is finalizing a $3.8 billion takeover bid for Africa-focused Riversdale , according to two sources, upping an earlier offer as it seeks to gain key coking coal supplies amid soaring demand from India and China.

German sporting goods company Adidas will grow faster than U.S. archrival Nike in 2015, Adidas Chief Executive Herbert Hainer told German daily Boersen-Zeitung.

Online retailer Dangdang Inc, considered as China's answer to Amazon.com, aims for sales of general merchandise to exceed that of books and other media as it diversifies in the highly competitive e-commerce sector.