IBT Staff Reporter

General Motors Co GM.UL plans to increase its advertising budget for the rest of 2009 and 2010 to challenge consumer perceptions on quality and fuel economy that the automaker believes are out of line with improvements in its vehicle line-up.

The Department of Energy said U.S. crude oil inventories increased by 2.5 million barrels on the week ending August 7, to 352 million barrels more than the 700,000 barrels forecasted by analysts, according to Reuters. The International Energy Agency increased its forecast of oil demand.

An inadequate amount of nightly sleep on a recurring basis, coupled with a sedentary lifestyle and overeating, may fuel the development of diabetes, results of a new study hint.

Red hot auto sales under the U.S. government's

China Unicom, the potential exclusive distributor of iPhones in China, has poured 10 billion yuan ($1.46 billion) to buy 5 million units from Apple, ready to sell the first batch in September, local media reported on Wednesday.

The U.S. government and Swiss bank UBS have reached an agreement in a case seeking names of approximately 52,000 names of suspected American tax evaders. The governments have initialed agreements and will later sign a final accord, Justice Department lawyer Stuart Gibson told U.S. District Judge Alan Gold in Miami today, Bloomberg reported.

President Barack Obama assailed insurance companies on Tuesday as he sought to counter an onslaught of conservative opposition to a U.S. healthcare overhaul at a town hall meeting that drew protests outside.

Department store operator Macy's Inc posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit and raised its full-year outlook as cost cuts overshadowed lower sales, but mixed results from two of its suppliers showed that the retail industry remains challenging.

A U.S. federal court ruled that Microsoft Corp would have to pay more than $290 million in damages to Canadian software firm i4i Ltd for infringing a patent.

Adults and children who are severely ill with H1N1 flu or at high risk of complications should be treated with antivirals like Tamiflu, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday.

Facebook has begun tests on a new service tailored for mobiles and narrowband internet connections.

Below is the record of Perseid Meteor Shower 2009 on Wednesday, 12 August.

Microsoft Corp and Nokia announced an alliance on Wednesday to bring advanced business software to smartphones in a bid to counter the dominance of Research in Motion Ltd's Blackberry device.

The dollar is little changed against its major rivals Wednesday morning as the market largely shrugs off U.S. trade data for June and focuses on the Federal Reserve's policy meeting.

Oil rose back above $70 a barrel on Wednesday as equity markets climbed, but concerns about the strength of demand and a jump in U.S. crude inventories kept gains in check.

Reunited jam band Phish will release

Stocks rose on Wednesday after a selloff in the previous session, with technology shares gaining, as homebuilder stocks rallied after a positive earnings report from Toll Brothers Inc.

The Georgian blogger targeted by a cyber attack last week that affected millions of Internet users across the world said Wednesday that Russian hackers were to blame, but that he would not be silenced.

U.S. mortgage applications fell last week, reflecting a drop in demand for home refinancing loans as interest rates soared to their highest levels since June, data from an industry group showed on Wednesday.

Microsoft Corp said it will announce an alliance with Nokia on Wednesday, likely unveiling plans to make the software company's Office suite of applications available on devices made by the world's top cellphone manufacturer.

A suspect shot dead in Indonesia last weekend was not Islamic militant Noordin Mohammad Top and he is still at large, police said on Wednesday, dashing hopes for a breakthrough in a hunt for the mastermind of a string of attacks.

Two foreign journalists embedded with the U.S. military in Afghanistan were wounded by a roadside bomb, the Associated Press said on Wednesday.

Liz Claiborne Inc reported a deeper-than-expected quarterly loss on Wednesday, sending its shares down 9 percent, as the lingering recession kept many shoppers from buying the company's clothing and accessories.

The prepaid market has gone from a telecom darling to a precarious prospect in mere months as intensifying competition and signs of slowing growth at Leap Wireless suggest that the euphoria may have been premature.

Swiss dental implant maker Nobel Biocare beat forecasts with a 16 percent rise in second-quarter profit thanks to cost-cutting, raising hopes that the worst of the economic downturn was behind the group.

Russian leaders are stuck in their imperial past and seem to relish bullying and threatening their neighbors, a senior Ukrainian official said on Wednesday, responding to a tirade from Moscow the previous day.

Hundreds of people were still missing on Wednesday in remote villages in southern Taiwan and disaster officials said they were uncertain how many might have been killed by mudslides triggered by Typhoon Morakot.

Fannie Mae, the largest U.S. home funding source, said on Wednesday it sold $3.0 billion in bills at lower interest rates, compared with sale of the same maturities than a week ago.

Oil reversed early losses on Wednesday rising toward $71 a barrel on equity markets, after falling to the lowest in August so far due to concerns about the strength of demand ahead of weekly U.S. inventory data.