IBT Staff Reporter

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Thursday he is willing to hold talks with Taliban chief, hoping to bring peace to the country.

Bank of America Corp will sell nearly $19 billion in equity later on Thursday amid strong investor interest as it races to shed government regulatory curbs that have bedeviled its CEO search.

At least six passengers were injured after jumping off an Indonesia plane, falsely believing their aircraft was on fire.

The Aussie gained ground ahead of yesterdays Australian Retail Sales data release pressing against 0.9290 only moments before the announcement. With consumer spending during the month of October coming in right on markets expectations of a 0.3% increase the reaction was relatively subdued and the AUD continued to hover around this level. During Afternoon Asian trade however demand re-emerged to push it above the 93 cent mark with offshore markets continuing the theme. Resistance ahead of 0.9320 ...

The director of a U.K research unit has said he is standing down from his post after hundreds of private e-mails were published on the internet when a computer hacker breached the security of the CRU database in November and stole numerous materials that are skeptical about climate change.

MySpace expanded its presence in the entertainment market on Thursday with the British launch of its music service, as the social networking site seeks to reinvent itself after being eclipsed by rival Facebook.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, making his case for a second term, defended his record on Thursday before a skeptical Senate that criticized the central bank for failing to prevent the financial crisis.

An index of the U.S. services sector shrank in November to its lowest since July, according to a report released on Thursday that shocked economists who had forecast a recovery from recession was picking up steam.

Bank of America Corp will sell the securities it will use to help repay $45 billion in government bailout funds Thursday evening, its chief financial officer said.

Google Inc is banking on significant growth in online video ads as marketers become more sophisticated at targeting consumers interactively, a senior executive at the Web search giant said on Thursday.

U.S. stocks fell on Thursday after the vast U.S. services sector unexpectedly shrank in November and as nervousness rose a day before the monthly payrolls data.

Yahoo Inc expects exponential growth in mobile advertising even as the overall market is only starting to emerge from its deep downturn, a top executive of the Internet media company said on Thursday.

PG&E Corp will build and operate a wind power project of up to 246 megawatts with the U.S. unit of Spain's Iberdrola SA, marking the utility's first foray to own wind generation.

Comcast Corp's NBC Universal deal faces a long and intense regulatory review that could end in approval only after the cable giant agrees to give rivals access to NBCU's television shows and movies, experts said on Thursday.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Thursday rejected the idea that low U.S. interest rates were helping to fuel speculation overseas and potentially inflating dangerous new asset bubbles.

India set a goal on Thursday for slowing the growth of its greenhouse gas emissions, the last major economy to offer a climate target four days before the start of U.N. talks on combating global warming.

The Dow and the S&P 500 dropped to session lows on Thursday as financial shares fell sharply heading into the market's close.

Canadian Solar Inc said on Thursday it plans to build a C$24 million ($22.9 million) plant to manufacture solar panels in the province of Ontario, taking advantage of rich incentives for renewable power projects.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, making his case for a second term, defended his record on Thursday before a skeptical Senate that criticized the central bank for failing to prevent the financial crisis.

Tentative last safe date to get your Bernankes traded for something of intrinsic value is the end of the first quarter, 2010. Well...you you could just take my word for it and save both of us some valuable time, but you probably want enough details to know how I made this dizzying leap a couple of weeks ago. My landing spot has been confirmed to my satisfaction by what Chris Dodd is up to.

Google announced Thursday a new service called Google Public DNS (Domain Name System), that allows users to utilize the Google DNS servers to access the Internet. The service, which is still in an experimental phase, attempts to improve on existing DNS technology by making it faster.

Sales from services in the U.S. fell for the first time in two months, according results of a survey of business executives from the Institute for Supply Management.

Exactly eight years after Enron Corp filed for bankruptcy protection, a federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by investors against banks they accused of helping the energy company commit fraud.

The dollar is slightly lower against the majors in the Thursday session, drifting past the 1.51-handle versus the euro and around 0.93 against the Australian dollar. Weekly jobless claims, released earlier today was slightly better than expected, drifting lower to 457k from 466k a week earlier and besting estimates for an increase to 480k.

Kraft Foods will post its offer document to Cadbury Plc shareholders on Friday, triggering a two-month 9.8 billion pound ($16.4 billion) takeover fight, sources with knowledge of the situation said on Thursday.

Kraft Foods will post its offer document to Cadbury Plc shareholders on Friday, triggering a two-month 9.8 billion pound ($16.4 billion) takeover fight, sources with knowledge of the situation said on Thursday.

The world's top cell phone maker Nokia will drastically cut back on the number of different smartphone models it rolls out next year as the Finnish firm tries to shrug off new rivals Apple Inc and RIM.

The Dow and the S&P 500 inched lower on Thursday as optimism about Bank of America's plan to repay $45 billion of government bailout money was offset by data showing the vast U.S. services sector contracted in November, which increased concerns about the recovery's strength.

Standard & Poor's Maalot unit said on Thursday it lowered its rating on bonds issued by Israel's MA Industries to AA- from AA, citing an erosion of the financial profile of the world's biggest maker of generic agrochemicals.