IBT Staff Reporter

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will push South Africa to use its influence with neighbor Zimbabwe, while also seeking closer ties with Pretoria after strained relations with the Bush administration.

The Obama administration will soon have another $2 billion to spend on consumer rebates for car purchases, but automakers are saying little about production increases and experts see only a short-term boost to the economy overall.

The federal government's cash-for-clunkers program is expected to generate more sales in the U.S. asset-backed securities market as consumer trade-ins of old gas guzzlers for more fuel-efficient models generate new car loans.

A former soldier in the first Gulf War married the woman who two decades ago, when she was 13 years old, became his pen pal when he was in the war.

American Express Co raised hopes for a battered credit card industry after estimating that bad loans were easing, but analysts cautioned that the sector is not out of the woods yet.

China's main stock exchange plans to launch an international board next year that would allow foreign companies to sell shares denominated in Chinese currency for the first time, a strong move to promote yuan as a more global currency, local news said.

The first-time filings for state unemployment benefits declined by 38,000for the week ending August 1 to a seasonally adjusted 550,000, while the number of people who continued to collect regular benefits rose by 69,000 to a seasonally adjusted 6.31 million the prior week according to a Labor Department report released Thursday.

Stocks fell on Thursday as investors turned cautious a day ahead of a crucial government report on July employment, and took profits after recent strong gains.

Stocks fell on Thursday as investors turned cautious a day ahead of a crucial government report on July employment, and took profits after recent strong gains.

The U.S. Department of Energy announced Thursday, $377 million in funding for research centers across the country to advance solar energy, biofuels, transportation, energy efficiency, electricity storage and transmission, clean coal and carbon capture and sequestration, and nuclear energy technologies.

President Barack Obama is unlikely to tip his hand as soon as financial markets would like on whether he plans to name Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to another term.

AIG's former CEO Maurice Hank Greenberg agreed to pay $15 million to settle government accusations that he altered AIG's financial records to inflate its earnings between 2000 and 2005, U.S. securities regulators said on Thursday.

Energy traders and companies will face fines of up to $1 million a day if they manipulate oil markets, the Federal Trade Commission ruled on Thursday in a crackdown on fraud that they said causes widespread damage to the U.S. economy.

A federal judge refused to approve a settlement between a top U.S. regulator and Bank of America Corp over executive bonuses, the latest twist in the bank's star-crossed takeover of Merrill Lynch & Co.

A former Credit Suisse broker testified on Thursday that he and his former business partner lied to corporate clients and sent them incorrect information in emails to cover up investments in risky debt.

Twitter, which shut millions of users from using the online messaging service on Thursday morning, has come back online. However, efforts to defend against and investigate the attack continue, according to the company's blog.

China will spend more than 15% ($88 billion) of the country's 4-trillion-yuan ($586 billion) stimulus package on cutting carbon emissions by the end of 2010, China's chief climate change negotiator said on Wednesday.

Jobs look up, Greenberg's fine, Blackstone's loss

U.S. oil prices fell back slightly from a six-week high on Thursday, pulled lower by weakness on Wall Street and gains in the U.S. dollar.

The United States confirmed the first Hispanic of the Supreme Court on Thursday voting 66-31 for Judge Sonia Sotomayor.

Stocks slid on Thursday as investors took profits after a recent rally and turned cautious a day before the government's crucial July jobs report.

Judge Sonia Sotomayor became the first Hispanic confirmed by the Senate for the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday.

Japan's Prime Minster and Hiroshima mayor together with at least 50 thousand people including representatives from different nations gathered together on Thursday to mark the 64th anniversary of the world's first atomic bomb attack.

Sony released what it calls the world's first back-illuminated “EXMOR R” CMOR sensor Cybershot, WX1 andTX1 cameras.

Twitter, the popular Internet micro-blogging service, said it is fending off a cyber attack that prevented people from accessing its website for several hours on Thursday.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton has briefed on official from the White House's National Security Council about his trip to North Korea where he met face to face meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, a White House spokesman said on Thursday.

Twitter and Facebook, two of the Web's hottest hangouts, suffered service problems on Thursday, raising speculation that they had come under a pre-planned coordinated attack by hackers.

A U.S. federal judge has refused to approve a settlement between regulators and Bank of America Corp related to the acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co, stating that it could be unfair to the public.

General Motors Co unveiled plans to launch a plug-in SUV for its Buick brand in 2011, its latest move away from gas-guzzling vehicles in response to higher fuel-economy standards.