IBT Staff Reporter

The Kremlin on Thursday said President Dmitry Medvedev backed the ruling party's landslide victory in disputed regional elections, snubbing opposition parties who walked out of parliament alleging vote-rigging.

A Chinese court on Thursday handed out a further three death sentences to people convicted of violent crimes during ethnic rioting in far western Xinjiang region in July in which almost 200 people died.

A woman pleaded to people around the world to stop violence after her 15-year old son was set on fire by teenagers his age in Florida.

The war crimes trial of Radovan Karadzic, who led Bosnian Serbs into a 1992-1995 war that killed 100,000 people, will start on October 26 in The Hague, judges ordered on Thursday.

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion is launching a new version of its touchscreen Storm smartphone, marking its latest move in the fight with Apple's iPhone.

Lockheed Martin Corp on Thursday said its board had elected Christopher Kubasik as the company's president and chief operating officer, a reorganization aimed at strengthening program oversight in an increasingly difficult environment for U.S. defense spending.

Thailand's stock market tumbled more than 8 percent and its currency hit a two-week low on Thursday as investors dumped Thai assets in a panic over the health of the country's revered and long-ruling king.

NATO's top defense officials will examine proposals Saturday for a big troop surge to contain Afghanistan's escalating insurgency but any such move hinges on a decision by the U.S. president, NATO military officials said.

Southwest Airlines reported a third-quarter net loss on Thursday on charges for its employee buyout program and the shrinking value of its fuel hedge portfolio.

U.S. mortgage foreclosure filings fell for a second straight month in September, but remained near a record high, amid ongoing and sweeping efforts to keep borrowers in their homes, a report released on Thursday showed.

The world's top cellphone maker Nokia shocked investors by taking a major writedown at its struggling networks unit and revealing a fall in its smartphone sales from the previous quarter.

Citigroup Inc posted a quarterly per-share loss as it suffered $8 billion of credit losses, raising questions about when the bank can return to sustained profitability.

U.S. mortgage foreclosure filings fell for a second straight month in September, but remained near a record high, amid ongoing and sweeping efforts to keep borrowers in their homes, a report released on Thursday showed.

Goldman's Gold; Opel Deal Nearly Done; Housing Boost

Google plans to launch an online store for electronic books in the first half of next year, offering about half a million books initially in partnership with publishers with whom it already cooperates.

Wall Street was set for a lower open on Thursday after quarterly results from Goldman Sachs Group and Citigroup Inc failed to live up to expectations some investors had for financial sector shares.

Oil fell back from a year high on Thursday but stayed above $75 a barrel, reversing its sixth straight positive session after European shares pared gains and the euro fell on disappointing Q3 earnings reports, traders said.

One American industry is booming amid the slump and job losses: mortgage rescue scams that prey on homeowners in financial straits.

American International Group Inc's jet-leasing unit International Lease Finance Corp (ILFC) is going to pay back $2 billion in short-term debt which is due Thursday, the Wall Street Journal said, citing company officials.

Oops, Britney Spears has done it again, with the U.S. pop singer cementing her comeback with a new single, 3, rocketing to No. 1 in its debut week.

Russian oil output will stagnate in 2010 and begin to decline as mature fields lose production capacity and only one new project comes on line, oil analysts at Bernstein Research said on Wednesday.

U.S. consumer prices rose marginally in September and the number of workers filing new claims for jobless insurance hit a nine-month low last week, more proof the economy was healing after a protracted recession.

U.S. consumer prices rose marginally in September and the number of workers filing new claims for jobless insurance hit a nine-month low last week, more proof the economy was healing after a protracted recession.

Advance sales for This Is It look set to make the concert movie starring the late Michael Jackson into one of the hottest tickets of the year.

The seven-bedroom, three-bath house in this city's West Garfield Park neighborhood had once been someone's American Dream.

The latest character to go 3D? Jesus Christ.

Director Roman Polanski is finishing work on his latest film from a Swiss jail where he is fighting extradition to the United States on a 1977 sex charge, writer Robert Harris was quoted as saying on Wednesday.

The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless insurance unexpectedly fell last week to the lowest level since January, according to a government report on Thursday that hinted at stabilization in the labor market.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc quarterly earnings nearly quadrupled, topping expectations, but its shares fell on disappointment that so much of the profit came from trading gains that might not be sustainable.