IBT Staff Reporter

Noble Corp reported 11 percent quarterly profit growth as its deepwater rig fleet remained in demand despite a broader slowdown in drilling, which the company expected to turn around next year.

Somer Thompson, 7 was still missing on Wednesday, two days after she vanished when she was on her way home from school in Orange Park, Florida.

Wireless communications products supplier TriQuint Semiconductor Inc's third-quarter profit met market expectations, helped partly by a growth in its networks market, but weak revenue and a fourth-quarter forecast below expectations sent shares down 21 percent.

Chip gear maker Lam Research Corp posted a surprise profit as it cut costs and benefited from strong shipments, and forecast second-quarter revenue above analysts' expectations, sending its shares up 4 percent.

A look at some of Angelina Jolie's tattoos.

Infrastructure software maker Citrix Systems Inc posted quarterly profit that marginally beat estimates, but revenue from its key segment fell 8 percent, dragging its shares down 5 percent.

Ameriprise Financial Inc posted a better-than-expected third-quarter profit helped by an eight-fold increase in its net investment income.

U.S. business software maker VMware Inc posted higher-than-expected quarterly results on Wednesday due to strong sales to the federal government and gave a revenue forecast that beat Wall Street estimates.

Telmex, Mexico's leading fixed-line phone operator, posted an 11.9 percent drop in third-quarter net profit on Wednesday as growing competition and an economic slump led to canceled phone lines.

Honda Motor Co will likely post an operating profit of 60 billion yen ($660 million) for the April-September first half, beating its forecast for a loss on cost-cutting and sales of fuel-efficient cars, the Nikkei business daily reported on Thursday.

Microsoft Corp and Google Inc have sealed separate agreements to access real-time content from Web phenomenon Twitter, intensifying their battle for a search market that Google now dominates.

The Obama administration plans to order that top earners at firms that received billions of dollars in government bailouts will see cash payouts cut by an average of about 90 percent from last year, a source familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

Microsoft's long-awaited Windows 7 arrives tomorrow, Thursday October 22, and makers of personal computers are gearing for the new operating system launch by announcing their own new products and services.

U.S. President Barack Obama threw himself into the role of campaigner in chief on Wednesday, making appeals for Democratic candidates in two state governor races that some see as a referendum on his performance in the White House.

Barnes & Noble's new Nook e-reader made its debut on Tuesday and became the latest in a series of new eReaders popping up recently to compete with Amazon's Kindle.

The Obama administration plans to order that the top earners at firms which received billions of dollars in government bailouts will see their cash payouts cut by an average of about 90 percent from last year, a source familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

Everyone's been saying Now's the time to buy, for quite a while, but for many who've been waiting on the sidelines, the autumn off-season of real estate may indeed be the right time to act.

U.S. stocks fell on Wednesday, hurt by a late sell-off in financial shares after an influential bank analyst recommended selling Wells Fargo shares and a wider-than-expected loss from Boeing disappointed investors.

Angelina Jolie is in talks to play a femme fatale in Gucci, a film about the Gucci fashion dynasty directed by Ridley Scott.

Electronic payment processor Fidelity National Information Services Inc's (FIS.N) third-quarter adjusted profit narrowly missed market estimates, hurt mainly by a decline in revenue from its financial solutions and payment solutions segments. Net profit from continuing operations for the quarter was $67.6 million, or 35 cents a share, compared with $43.6 million, or 23 cents a share, last year. Excluding items, it earned 46 cents a share.

The Berlin Wall will be back to briefly divide the German capital again next month -- but with giant brightly colored dominos rather than cement slabs.

A key U.S. lawmaker said on Wednesday that he backs a Federal Communications Commission proposal to establish an open Internet rule and would consider legislative action if the industry challenged it in court.

Christie's will offer for sale a drawing by Renaissance master Raphael which he used as a study for a figure in a Vatican fresco, and expects it to break the record for an old master drawing sold at auction.

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc said Wednesday it has decided to move forward on three deferred copper mining projects, citing a positive outlook for its metal markets and its ability to manage costs during the global economic downturn.

The first image visitors confront at the National Gallery's new Sacred Made Real show is an impressively realistic severed head, complete with detailed rendition of the anatomy of a neck.

ABC is developing I'm With Stupid, a multicamera comedy series starring Judy Greer.

Microsoft Corp has sealed agreements to access real-time content on social networking sites Facebook and Twitter, a boost for its fledgling Bing search engine.

Microsoft's search engine Bing has sealed a deal with Facebook and the popular micro-blogging service Twitter, which will add real-time web updates to its search results, in a bid to raise the level against arch rival Google.

In summer 2008, four college friends pooled $6,000 to shoot a 15-minute presentation for a Web series.