IBT Staff Reporter

Wuhan Iron & Steel Co.(WISCO) plans to raise as much as 12 billion yuan ($1.8 billion) in a rights offer to buy factories and a stake in a construction-steel maker from its parent, after a plunge in net income of first-half 2009.

Dell Inc reported a stronger-than-expected quarterly profit on Thursday, showing it was better able to cut costs and protect prices on its products than analysts, or its own executives, had predicted.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission will not release its first expanded trader report by the end of August, as the regulator initially had planned, a CFTC source said on Thursday.

Jaycee Lee Dugard was kidnapped for 18 years and was held isolated from the world by a stranger, Phillip Garrido, who also fathered two of her children, authorities revealed on Thursday during a press conference, according to the Associated Press.

U.S. stocks closed higher on Thursday as investors turned back an early sell-off, thanks to a rebound in oil prices.

NASA said Thursday it will attempt to launch space shuttle Discovery to the international space station late Friday night, after undergoing elays caused by bad weather and fuel valve trouble.

Kazakhmys PLC, the largest copper producer in Kazakhstan names Clinton Dines, former CEO of BHP Billiton China, as an additional independent non-executive director.

After months of speculation and rumors, reports surfaced on Thursday indicating that Apple will officially launch the iPhone 3G in China come October.

Two more U.S. pay-TV providers, Time Warner Cable Inc and Verizon Communications Inc, plan to test systems to offer shows on the Web to paying customers in a bid to protect their subscription revenue.

Accused swindler Allen Stanford was hospitalized with a high pulse rate on Thursday, hours before he was to appear at a court hearing where his former top aide entered the first guilty plea in a $7 billion fraud case.

Oscar nominee Laura Linney will star as a cancer-stricken woman in a new television series on cable network Showtime, playing a suburban mom whose life changes when she learns she has

Madonna on stage in Bucharest, Romania condemned the widespread discrimination that exists in Eastern Europe against the Gypsy people – prompting mixed reactions from 60,000 crowed with many responding with jeers.

Dell Inc.'s second-quarter profit was plunged 23 percent as the personal-computer industry's slump dragged on this summer. Dell said it earned $472 million, or 24 cents a share, on revenue of $12.76 billion.

Just two months out of bankruptcy, Chrysler Group has renewed the hunt for a manufacturing partner in China as it prepares to revamp its product lineup under the control of Italy's Fiat SpA (FIA.MI), three people with knowledge of the discussions said.

French car maker PSA Peugeot Citroen (PEUP.PA) sees total car demand in Europe in the second half of the year falling less than expected, its head said on Wednesday.

Nissan Motor Co Ltd (7201.T) and Chrysler Group LLC said on Wednesday they have abandoned vehicle-supply projects announced last year that would have provided Nissan with a Chrysler-produced pickup truck.

NEW YORK - Cash crude differentials mostly firmed for a second day on Thursday on renewed refinery buying, but pared gains late in trade as the discount narrowed for prompt crude on futures markets.

U.S. mortgage rates rose slightly in the latest week but still remained at historically low levels that should spur home loan demand and help the hard-hit U.S. housing market recover.

Anne Heche called his ex-husband Coley Laffoon a

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates will visit a Lockheed Martin Corp production plant for the F-35 fighter aircraft, the Pentagon's costliest arms purchase program, and an L-3 aircraft facility, highlighting their importance to the U.S. Defense Department, a Pentagon spokesman said on Thursday.

Brazilian miner Vale is not not talking with Chinese steelmakers about the iron ore benchmark price for 2009, now and it will go on supplying iron ore to China at a temporary price, which is 60% to 80 % of the 2008 price, company CEO Roger Agnelli said on Wednesday.

Volkswagen's (VOWG.DE) Portuguese unit said on Thursday it was cautiously optimistic about a recovery trend in car sales in Europe and cancelled planned temporary layoffs of several days over the next two months.

The U.S. economy has been improving, and dollar investors are starting to take notice. But punters who bet on more greenback gains from stronger U.S. economic data and interest rate hikes could be disappointed.

World number two truck maker Volvo AB (VOLVb.ST) said its truck shipments fell 54 percent year-on-year in July as the economic downturn weighed on demand for commercial vehicles across the globe.

NEW YORK - U.S. stocks closed higher on Thursday as investors turned back an early sell-off, thanks to a rebound in oil prices.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is investigating whether any state residents were among the thousands of U.S. customers of Swiss bank UBS AG who may have evaded income taxes.

Opel has the liquidity to operate until next year, a senior German government official said on Thursday as a rift appeared to develop in the ruling party over whether the General Motors Co unit should be sold to Canada's Magna International (MGa.TO).

Dell Inc.'s second-quarter profit was plunged 23 percent as the personal-computer industry's slump dragged on this summer.

U.S. stocks closed higher on Thursday as investors turned back an early sell-off, thanks to a rebound in oil prices.