IBT Staff Reporter

Shares of U.S. health insurers lost initial gains on Wednesday as new proposed regulations that are part of efforts to overhaul the health system overshadowed momentum from the decline of a government-run insurance plan.

NEW YORK, Dec 9 (Reuters) - U.S. gold futures hit their lowest level in more than three weeks on Wednesday, falling sharply for a fourth-straight session as expectations of a dollar bounce and easing inflation sent bullion investors racing to cut positions.

Once driven by their desire for an up-front profit, wealth advisers have been selling their firms out of fear they may not survive the economic downturn, an industry study released Wednesday said.

A California congressman, Rep. Joe Baca, will give up his efforts to give Tiger Woods Congressional Medal of Honor award.

Al Gore, the former U.S. Vice President and noted environmentalist, says that recently leaked emails from East Anglia University will do nothing to counter the scientific consensus about climate change.

Citigroup Inc plans to pay back TARP by raising money in an equity offering that could be announced as early as this Thursday, cable television network CNBC reported on Wednesday, citing sources.

Stocks ended higher on Wednesday as weakness in the U.S. dollar fueled appetite for riskier assets, propelling shares of financial, technology and natural resource companies into a late-hour advance.

The U.S. Justice Department sought to assure lawmakers on Wednesday that prosecutors are rooting out mortgage and corporate fraud after Wall Street's meltdown wiped out trillions of dollars in investments and laid bare the gaps in regulation.

Liz Sequeira, a 52-year-old primary care physician, is too young to remember when U.S. doctors made routine house calls. So to her, seeing patients in her three exam rooms on the first floor of Discovery Communications Inc's (DISCA.O) modern headquarters is like stepping back in time.

This is the first article in a series that we will run over the coming weeks and attempts to introduce a different perspective on the history and context of MT4 and what MT5 means for clients and brokers. As most of you will know, Metatrader 4 (MT4) is the most widely used off the shelf platform in the Forex and CFD markets. It is expected therefore that when MT5 takes over from MT4 it will be as widely used.

In a grainy black and white Web video, similar to footage from an in-store security camera, you can make out the muscular frame of rapper 50 Cent, smashing dozens of TV sets with a baseball bat.

Traders have been scooping up Research in Motion's call options this week, betting the shares will benefit from a BlackBerry distribution deal in China and stronger-than-expected earnings.

U.S. stocks rebounded late on Wednesday, led by shares of financial, technology and natural resource companies.

Citigroup upgraded No. 3 U.S. mobile service Sprint Nextel Corp to a buy rating citing a possible tie-up with Deutsche Telekom AG and expectations of improvement in subscriber numbers.

EU regulators are optimistic about achieving a satisfactory result from their review of U.S. software company Oracle Corp's (ORCL.O) plan to buy Sun Microsystems Inc (JAVA.O) despite competition concerns, Europe's antitrust chief said.

Once driven by their desire for an up-front profit, wealth advisers have been selling their firms out of fear they may not survive the economic downturn, an industry study released Wednesday said.

Citigroup Inc is in a position to repay TARP, the bank's chairman, Dick Parsons, told cable television network CNBC on Wednesday.

Bank of America Corp said on Wednesday it completed a previously announced plan to repay $45 billion in U.S. government aid, issued at the height of the financial crisis.

A major U.S. hacker agreed to plead guilty to federal charges linked to electronic break-ins at 7-Eleven Inc and a chain of New England grocery stores, a court filing shows.

China's top climate envoy called on President Barack Obama to increase a U.S. offer to cut greenhouse gases, and said it would discuss a 2050 emissions goal only if rich nations offered more cash and carbon cuts.

Britain's climate efforts were questioned on Wednesday after it said it would auction off rather than cancel millions of carbon permits to come from a closed steel plant, equal to one percent of UK greenhouse gas emissions.

British finance minister Alistair Darling announced plans on Wednesday to support new low carbon industries, cut gas emissions from homes and boost the embryonic electric car sector.

Shares in India's largest vehicle maker, Tata Motors Ltd, have more than quadrupled this year riding a pick-up in sales on the back of a recovering economy.

Shares in India's largest vehicle maker, Tata Motors Ltd, have more than quadrupled this year riding a pick-up in sales on the back of a recovering economy.

Green jobs in California are growing at a faster pace than jobs overall in the environmentally friendly state, but they still account for only a tiny fraction of the economy, a study said on Tuesday.

The $700 billion bailout of the U.S. financial system authorized by Congress in October of 2008 will be extended until October 2010, President Obama's top economic official wrote in a letter to the leaders of the U.S. Congress today.

China urged President Barack Obama to increase a U.S. offer to cut carbon emissions but its top climate envoy indicated willingness on Wednesday to compromise at a U.N. conference in Copenhagen.

The U.S. Treasury Department said on Wednesday it froze a $1 billion public-private investment fund set up by TCW Group Inc to buy toxic financial assets, saying the departure of star manager Jeffrey Gundlach triggered a key person event in the partnership.

A U.S. appeals court ruled on Wednesday that Bosnia's former ambassador to the United Nations cannot be extradited over allegations he misused government funds, reversing a lower court.