IBT Staff Reporter

At 6pm this evening President Barack Obama will have a somewhat different meeting on his agenda as he meets with the two men he joined last week at the center of an uproar over race in America for a few cold ones outside the president's oval office.

With polls showing public support for President Barack Obama's healthcare reform waning, Senate negotiators hit another snag on Thursday when a key Finance Committee Republican said the panel would not be ready to vote until September.

U.S. lawmakers debating a huge overhaul of the nation's healthcare system are increasingly focusing on proposals that healthcare cooperatives could be formed to help provide medical coverage.

Southwest Airlines Co. has submitted a bid worth at least $113.6 million to acquire Frontier Airlines Holdings Inc under a bankruptcy auction, the companies said today.

Karl-Georg Altenburg, head of JP Morgan's German business, said he expects companies to learn from the financial crisis and aim for a stronger capital base in the longer term, according to a German paper.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is expected to make a visit to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in California on August 8.

U.S. financial regulators would gain the power to restrict holdings of over-the-counter derivatives under legislation to be crafted in the coming months, the chairmen of two House of Representatives committees said on Thursday.

A U.S. judge ruled on Thursday that auto parts maker Delphi Corp (DPHIQ.PK) can sell itself to a group of lenders, paving the way for the company to end its near four-year trip through bankruptcy court.

Bank holding company Pacific Capital Bancorp, posted a $362.6 million quarterly loss as provision for loan losses quadrupled, and said it was evaluating strategic alternatives, sending its shares down as much as 23 percent.

Mining group Xstrata Plc, due to post sharply lower first-half profits next week, is expected to hold back from using the occasion to launch a new initiative in its wooing of Anglo American.

Nissan Motor Co. and battery maker EnerDel will co-fund research for a breakthrough technology consisting of a new electrical conductive material for electric and hybrid vehicle batteries, EnerDel said in a statement Thursday.

Bank of America Corp plans to set up a wholly owned subsidiary in China to expand in the world's fastest-growing major economy, people briefed on the plan said.

China's central bank reiterated on Wednesday it would continue its moderately loose monetary policy, which is the third confirmation that its monetary policy will remain unchanged in six days.

The president Obama will invite Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Cambridge Sgt. James Crowley to join him for a beer in hopes of defusing the racial dispute.

Natalie Smith, who attended a Jessica Simpson concert with Tony Romo in February, is reportedly the other woman that caused the couple to break up.

China seized its first-ever men's gold for swimming in World Championships on Wednesday, with Zhang Lin improving Grant Hackett's four-year-old 800 meters freestyle world record by more than six seconds.

Dutch court has issued an ultimatum for The Piratebay to stop all its activities in Netherland within 10 days.

Boeing Co said on Thursday that it completed the acquisition of a facility that makes part of the fuselage of its delayed 787 Dreamliner aircraft.

David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez were among the approximately 100 Major League Baseball players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003 according to lawyers who were aware of the results, the New York Times reported on Thursday.

A member of the German government's Opel Task Force told Reuters on Thursday that negotiations between General Motors GM.UL and the two competing bidders for Opel could drag on longer than expected.

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. completed the purchase of a 9.89 percent stake in Chinese electric car maker BYD (Build Your Dreams), after the China Securities Regulatory Commission approved the purchase, BYD told the stock exchange today, Bloomberg reported.

U.S. stocks jumped on Thursday as solid corporate profit reports and a drop in the number of Americans on jobless benefits gave investors reasons to buy equities following the S&P 500's two days of losses.

A rare albino wallaby has been born in captivity in Cyprus, becoming the star attraction at a private zoo.

A 7-year-old boy who stole his parents car in order to skip church, might need to head back to Sunday School to learn the Ten Commandments, especially “Thou Shalt Not Steal.”

Communist East Germany's secret police saw Michael Jackson as a security threat, fearing his 1988 concert next to the Berlin Wall would spark protests, new archive findings showed Thursday.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc is discussing with U.S. health officials the possibility of putting vaccination sites at some of its stores for an H1N1 swine flu inoculation campaign this fall, a company official said on Thursday.

Baseball sluggers Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz, who helped the Boston Red Sox end an 86-year World Series title drought in 2004, tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003, the New York Times reported on Thursday.

One hundred ninety-seven years, one month and 14 days after its founding, Citigroup Inc has given a roughly 34 percent stake to U.S. taxpayers.

Bank of America Corp Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis downplayed growing concern that banks are indifferent to providing needed credit to get the economy moving again, while maintaining that vitriol over the industry's responsibility for the recession is overdone.