IBT Staff Reporter

Microblogging service Twitter has tapped a former Google Inc executive to be its chief operating officer, the latest move by the fledgling but fast-growing company to build out its management team as it seeks to start making money.

A U.S. federal judge ruled that Morgan Stanley and two credit rating agencies must defend fraud charges in a class-action lawsuit accusing them of masking the risks of an investment linked to subprime mortgages, and which eventually collapsed.

Cerberus Capital Management LP will prohibit investors in two new hedge funds from withdrawing money for three years, the Financial Times said on Wednesday quoting executives from the firm.

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc and Leucadia National Corp agreed to buy Capmark Financial Group Inc's mortgage loan and servicing business for as much as $490 million, increasing exposure to a possible U.S. housing recovery.

Google Inc's efforts to persuade businesses to buy its email services suffered a setback this week after a highly publicized outage shut down accounts of millions of corporate customers for almost two hours.

U.S. securities regulators missed numerous red flags that may have led to Bernard Madoff's $65 billion Ponzi scheme and never did a thorough and competent probe despite complaints dating to 1992, a federal watchdog has concluded.

US TREASURIES moved higher again for the third session this week in the wake of a greater than expected loss of jobs in the private sector.

What the Fed was Thinking; WatchDog Incompetency; Pfizer's Crime

A powerful earthquake hit Southern Indonesia on Wednesday, killing at least 32 people and damaging more than 1,300 homes, government agencies said.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission said on Wednesday it will issue its first expanded trader reports on Friday as the regulator moves to provide more insight into who is doing business on futures exchanges.

U.S. television viewers are increasingly turning on the Web, tuning into television and not missing a beat on either, as simultaneous TV and Internet use continues to rise, research firm Nielsen said on Wednesday.

Online video site YouTube is in talks with several major movie studios about renting movies to users by streaming the movies over the Internet according to a person familiar with the talks on Wednesday.

Hugh Hefner is bringing his Playboy party to the Toronto International Film Festival.

A billionaire Canadian circus entrepreneur who will visit space this month said on Wednesday he will host a live event from orbit on October 9 to promote the importance of access to clean water globally.

Charles Gibson will step down as news anchor on ABC television's

Australian Dollar: The Australian Dollar has firmed once again and opens on Thursday at 0.8340 against its US counterpart. During the local session yesterday the Aussie reacted positively to the release of better than expected economic growth numbers moving to an intraday high of 0.8317.

Tony Blair, the former prime minister of Britain, will take a break from seeking peace in the Middle East to trade jokes with comedian David Letterman on his first ever

The Venice film festival opened on Wednesday with big-budget Italian movie

Peace, love, and music. Throw in some mud and an enormous little Japanese town in late July, and there's a spectacle to be held.

The French take their food seriously. In a land of three hour dinners, afternoons spent at outdoor cafes, hundreds of different kinds of cheese and mandated 35-hour work weeks, the French seem to spend about as much time and energy eating and drinking as they do working.

When is the internet's birthday? There are a series of possible answers as key events happened on different days, with September 2 being considered as one of them.

Over the weekend Paris Jackson got her first haircut in Los Angeles after which every strand of hair was carefully swept up by her security and placed into a container according to reports from Britain's Daily Mail.

Perhaps the most colorful and loveable of the traveler trifecta of food, shelter and water is food. Where to get it,

Online video site YouTube is in talks with several major movie studios about renting movies to users by streaming the movies over the Internet according to a person familiar with the talks on Wednesday.

Greif Inc, a maker of industrial packaging products, posted a 39 percent fall in quarterly profit, hurt mainly by lower sales at its industrial packaging segment.

U.S. airlines must replace speed sensors on some of their Airbus planes, parts that have come under scrutiny since the crash of an Air France jetliner three months ago.

Venus Williams defeated Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-4, 6-2 in a match Wednesday in the U.S. Open despite an injury to her left knee.

Google Inc.'s YouTube is reportedly in talks with major movie studios about allowing users to stream movies on a rental basis, making it the sites first move towards charging for content instead of making it available for free with advertising, according to a media report.