IBT Staff Reporter

Stocks fell on Wednesday as investors worried that China's banks might be ready to hit the brakes on lending to stem market excesses, a move that could curb the global economic recovery.

The trustee winding down imprisoned swindler Bernard Madoff's former firm sued his wife on Wednesday, seeking at least $44.8 million for investors bilked in Wall Street's biggest investment fraud.

The U.S. economy has the potential to yield gross energy savings worth more than $1.2 trillion by 2020 if it implements energy efficiency at scale, according to a report from the consulting firm McKinsey & Company.

Stocks fell on Wednesday as investors worried that China's banks might be poised to hit the brakes on lending to stem market excesses, a move that could curb the global economic recovery.

The wife of imprisoned swindler Bernard Madoff was sued on Wednesday by the trustee recovering money for investors defrauded in Wall Street's biggest investment fraud, court documents showed.

The chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Gary Gensler said he supports exemptions from investor limits for bona fide hedgers but said he was concerned the exemptions could defeat the efectiveness of position limits.

The U.S. President Barack Obama visited North Carolina on Wednesday to tout his controversial health care reform plan.

Intel Corp said on Wednesday it no longer expects netbooks to appeal to first-time computer buyers, but sees continued sales of the ultra-portable laptops as a secondary machine or a durable option for kids.

There must be better ways to be awakened than by construction workers at the crack of dawn, your kids bouncing up and down on your chest -- or a very, very loud buzz.

There must be better ways to be awakened than by construction workers at the crack of dawn, your kids bouncing up and down on your chest -- or a very, very loud buzz.

(Corrects 10th paragraph to reflect that Kindle Store books can be read on Apple devices)

Films, paintings and drawings by film director and artist Tim Burton, which have never been seen before by the public, will be shown in a new exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art.

One of the 44 people arrested last week in a sweeping federal probe of political corruption and money laundering in New Jersey that netted several city mayors and rabbis has been found dead in suspicious circumstances, authorities said.

A Sudanese woman facing 40 lashes for wearing trousers in public made her first appearance in a court packed with supporters Wednesday, in what her lawyer described as a test case in Sudan's decency laws.

French police called off their search for a woman who threw herself in front of a speeding train when they found that she had dragged herself home and gone to bed, a court source told Reuters Wednesday.

Democratic leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives reached a deal on Wednesday with a group of fiscal conservatives in their own party on healthcare legislation in a significant step forward for the bill.

Oil dropped nearly 6 percent on Wednesday to near $63 a barrel in the biggest one-day slide since April after data showed a surge in U.S. crude inventories on higher imports and lower refinery activity.

Bill Gross, the influential manager who runs top bond fund PIMCO, on Wednesday lambasted his industry for charging investors hefty fees for subpar performance amidst the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

Hong Kong has found a new variant of the H3N2 seasonal influenza virus, the spokesman for the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) said on Wednesday, urging high-risk groups to get influenza vaccinations.

Sony Corporation on Wednesday said it has expanded its eBookstore with1 million plug-ins of free books in public domain through a partnership with Google, which already had 500,000 free books in public domain in March.

President Barack Obama launched a spirited defense of his economic policies on Wednesday, declaring that they had helped save the country from plunging into a depression.

The wife of imprisoned swindler Bernard Madoff was sued on Wednesday by the trustee recovering money for investors defrauded in Wall Street's biggest investment fraud, court documents showed.

A senior U.S. lawmaker said on Wednesday that it may be time for the government to regulate companies that provide online file-sharing services after a number of people managed to access FBI files, medical records and Social Security numbers.

Recent photos of the Material Girl's biceps that showed her veiny arms and hands in a British tabloid, have caused alarmed among fans and friends.

Defense contractor General Dynamics Corp reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Wednesday as revenue improved in all business segments.

Microsoft Corp and Yahoo Inc inked a 10-year Web search deal to challenge market leader Google Inc but stopped short of combining their display advertising businesses.

Sony Corp said on Wednesday it has made available over 1 million public domain books on its electronic readers via Google Inc's Books project, which digitizes classic titles not protected by copyright.

The deeper the recession, the more consumers stay home, hunkered down in domestic cocoons. And accordingly, their desire for convenient meals that simulate an away-from-home dining experience on the cheap is picking up.

Stocks fell on Wednesday as investors worried that China's banks might be poised to hit the brakes on lending to stem market excesses, a move that could curb the global economic recovery.