IBT Staff Reporter

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday Afghan President Hamid Karzai must follow through on promises to fight corruption and urged the re-integration of Taliban members who renounced violence.

A home movie showing a relaxed Marilyn Monroe apparently smoking marijuana has surfaced, retrieved from an attic some 50 years after it was filmed.

The Indonesian unit of Total has proposed spending $2 billion in 2010 to upgrade its Mahakam block in East Kalimantan, an official at the country's energy watchdog, BPMIGAS, said on Wednesday.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner urged lawmakers on Wednesday to let regulators block companies from customizing derivatives contracts to avoid trading on central clearing houses.

The race for Hollywood film honors picked up pace on Tuesday when a key independent movie group unveiled Spirit Award nominees, giving dramas Precious and The Last Station five nods each, including best movie.

Veteran showman Barry Manilow, who unveiled a new Las Vegas act on Tuesday, said that when it comes to today's hit singers, he most admires original acts such as controversial dance queen Lady Gaga.

Doctors may be able use an advanced X-ray called a CT scan to see whether patients with advanced colorectal cancer are responding to treatment with Avastin and chemotherapy, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.

Bernanke's 4 More Years; Google Offers Pubishers Proposal; GM Shakeup

CBS claimed victory on Tuesday in the key November television sweeps period, but Fox said it was the only broadcast network to show year-on-year gains in both total viewers and the 18-49 year-old age group coveted by advertisers.

The Directors Guild of America on Tuesday named Fiddler on the Roof director Norman Jewison the recipient of its Lifetime Achievement Award to be given at a gala dinner and ceremony in January.

Denmark's A.P. Moller-Maersk agreed to sell its Rosti Technical Plastics Holding (RTP) unit to privately owned Swedish firm Nordstjernan AB for an undisclosed sum.

Regis Philbin's hip replacement surgery was successful, a representative of the morning talk show Live With Regis and Kelly said Tuesday.

Taking folic acid supplements doesn't appear to prevent colon polyps from coming back, new research shows, although it may be helpful for people who have low levels of the B vitamin in their blood.

Medical students are commonly stuck by needles but often fail to report their injuries to employee health services, placing them at risk for hepatitis, HIV and other blood borne diseases, results of a survey show.

Low-dose radiation from mammograms and chest X-rays may increase the risk of breast cancer in young women who are already at high risk because of family history or genetic susceptibility, Dutch researchers said on Tuesday.

British house builder Telford Homes Plc (TELF.L) swung to a first-half pretax profit as it sold more new homes, reinstated its dividend and said it expected full-year results to be in line with the market view.

Stung by the continuing struggle to make a vaccine against the swine flu pandemic, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said on Tuesday her department would review its approach to disaster preparedness.

The U.S. Senate made little progress on a broad healthcare overhaul on Tuesday, as members battled over cuts in coverage for the elderly and failed to vote on two pending amendments.

U.S. mortgage applications nudged higher last week, data from an industry group reported on Wednesday, as consumers showed a subdued reaction to the lowest interest rates in six months.

Half of all patients in intensive care units around the world have infections, and more than 70 percent are being given antibiotics -- a trend that could help more drug-resistant superbugs emerge, researchers reported on Tuesday.

The number of planned layoffs at U.S. firms shrank in November to the lowest level in nearly two years, suggesting corporate labor force cuts are tapering off even if actual hiring appears a distant prospect.

U.S. stocks were poised for a flat open on Wednesday after a private-sector employment report showed an improvement from October but fell shy of forecasts.

The top U.S. battlefield commander said on Wednesday that President Barack Obama's 30,000-strong troop increase for the Afghan war would make a huge difference, as the White House prepared to sell the new strategy to Congress.

News, details on corporate bond issues in the European markets on Wednesday:

U.S. President Barack Obama's escalation of the war in Afghanistan challenges his generals to do more with slightly less than they wanted -- and much, much faster. The odds are against them.

A British Climate Scientist, one of the central figures in the climategate controversy over emails and other sensitive data published by hackers, has announced that he will step down as Director of the Climate Research Unit. The university said in a statement that Phil Jones would relinquish his position as director of Climatic Research Unit (CRU) until the completion of an independent review.

U.S. stock index futures were flat on Wednesday as investors awaited a private-sector employment report and the Federal Reserve's Beige Book of regional economic conditions.

A Bank of Japan policymaker signaled on Wednesday the central bank was open to adopting more measures to support the economy following its emergency meeting the previous day that offered extra short-term funding.

Daimler (DAIGn.DE) will switch production of roughly a fifth of its Mercedes C-Class models to the United States from Germany in 2014 in a move to avoid damaging currency fluctuations and protect its margins.