IBT Staff Reporter

Blockbuster prescription drugs used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and other conditions can increase the risk of potentially deadly cancer in children and teenagers, U.S. health regulators said on Tuesday in ordering stronger warnings on such medications.

The number of mobile users continues to rise in France with 91.8 percent of residents subscribing to wireless services as of end-June, up from 88.1 percent a year ago, the telecoms regulator said on Wednesday.

High cholesterol levels in midlife -- even cholesterol levels considered only borderline elevated -- significantly increases the risk of Alzheimer's disease 30 years later, results of a large study indicate.

Women who quickly put on pounds after starting birth-control injections seem to be at risk of significant long-term weight gain, a new study suggests.

Veterans who come home from Iraq and Afghanistan with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental health diagnoses are hit with a double whammy:

General Motors and Magna have narrowed their differences in talks over the Canadian supplier's bid for Opel and only a small number of issues are still pending, German politicians said on Wednesday.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said on Wednesday the government has queried its compensation practices and the use of credit derivatives. Goldman in July reported robust net earnings of $3.4 billion for the second quarter, soon after repaying a $10 billion bailout received from the U.S. Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Demand for U.S. home loans rose last week as a decline in 30-year fixed mortgage rates to a three-week low boosted applications for refinancing, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Wednesday.

Jarvis Cocker has written three songs for the upcoming film

Mount Everest hides as many great stories as it does buried bodies. George Mallory was both.

Sony Corp will begin selling this month the cheapest digital book reader for the United States, heating up the competition with Amazon.com Inc in the small but fast-growing market for electronic readers

Google on Wednesday took another step in its Web video strategy by announcing it will acquire On2 Technologies, a creator of high-quality video compression technology in order to boost its YouTube site.

U.S. stocks fell on Wednesday after data showed the economy's service sector contracted in July at a faster pace than June, heightening concerns about the strength of the recovery.

R&B singer Chris Brown will today be sentenced after he pleaded guilty in June for assaulting his former girlfriend Rihanna.

Oil fell toward $70 a barrel on Wednesday after U.S. government inventory data showed a build in crude stocks and weak economic data raised doubts about oil demand recovery in the world's largest energy consumer.

The U.S. service sector contracted in July at a faster pace than in June, adding to worries that any economic recovery may still be a long way off, according to a report released on Wednesday.

Who ever said China's loss of face over Chinalco's collapsed $19.5 billion Rio Tinto tie-up bid would curb the country's hunger for Australian natural resources?

The U.S. Marine Corps banned use of social web sites such as Twitter, MySpace and Facebook on its networks, citing security risks, while the Pentagon also said it will consider implementing similar bans.

Merck & Co and Schering-Plough Corp will pay $41.5 million to settle class-action lawsuits over their shared cholesterol drugs Vytorin and Zetia, the companies said on Wednesday.

Petrobank Energy and Resources Ltd said it would buy TriStar Oil & Gas Ltd in a cash and stock deal worth about C$2.24 billion, to form PetroBakken Energy Ltd, a Bakken-focused light-oil producer.

U.S. private equity firm Platinum Equity won permission from European Union antitrust authorities on Wednesday to acquire control of bankrupt U.S. auto parts maker Delphi Corp.

Deutsche Bank is in talks to take a minority stake in Sal. Oppenheim that could eventually lead to a take over of the embattled private bank and herald further consolidation in Europe's wealth management industry.

The two American journalists that were held in North Korea since March and had been sentenced to 12 years of hard labor arrived to the United States today meeting their families in a tearful encounter.

Maxis Communications, Malaysia's top mobile operator, has chosen Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse and CIMB advise it on a planned $2 billion listing in Kuala Lumpur, two sources told Reuters on Wednesday.

American Idol judge and singer-dancer Paula Abdul will not remain in the show, Abdul and Fox confirmed in separate statements.

Google Inc said it would acquire On2 Technologies Inc, a maker of video compression technology, in a stock deal valued at about $106.5 million.

Kazakh and Chinese state oil firms' joint $3.3 billion acquisition of a Kazakh private upstream company has been delayed, Kazakhstan said on Wednesday without providing the timeframe or the reason for the delay.

Austrian energy group OMV is in talks to take control of Turkish fuel retailer Petrol Ofisi from embattled Dogan Holding as it tries to move into emerging markets, it said on Wednesday.

U.S. private employers shed 371,000 jobs in July, compared with a revised 463,000 drop in June, a report by a private employment service said on Wednesday.