IBT Staff Reporter

Middle East analysts from London-based risk consultancy Exclusive Analysis answer emailed questions about Iran, Saudi Arabia and UAE.

Select seasonally adjusted historical data from Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) weekly mortgage application survey

The Nasdaq climbed on Wednesday following Apple's strong earnings, while gains in the Dow industrials and S&P 500 were curbed as top banks' disappointing results sparked renewed concerns about the financial sector's health.

The Watergate Hotel in the U.S. capital, part of a complex made famous by a political scandal which brought down former U.S. President Richard Nixon, has failed to attract bidders at auction.

U.S. mortgage applications rose despite a jump in borrowing costs last week, but still bounced around the year's lows with unemployment fears depressing demand.

The longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century on Wednesday swept across Asia, drawing hundreds of millions of people to the marvelous scene in the sky.

Susan Boyle, the singer who caught media attention worldwide during her performance on the contest Britain's Got Talent, said fame was like a demolition ball for her.

World stocks backed away from nine-month highs on Wednesday as worse-than-expected euro zone industrial figures and a warning about rising unemployment from U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke broke a seven-day winning streak.

Boeing Co posted a 17 percent increase in quarterly profit, topping expectations, on growth in defense programs, but the global recession pressured operations, and the company did not say when its long-delayed 787 Dreamliner would fly.

The Beijing municipal government will fully support a bid by Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Corp (BAIC) for Ford Motor's (F.N) Volvo car unit if the Chinese automaker fails in its current quest for General Motors' Opel, sources said on Wednesday.

General Motors [GM.UL] on Wednesday posted a 22 percent global sales drop from a year earlier for the first six months of 2009 amid the economic slowdown and the automaker's slide into bankruptcy.

Carmakers can continue to set up networks of selective and exclusive dealerships for another three years in line with antitrust exemptions for the sector, European Union antitrust regulators said on Wednesday.

Signs of life in the struggling auto sector helped boost Canadian retail sales by 1.2 percent in May from April, outstripping expectations and more than offsetting April's 0.6 percent decline.

Canada's Magna (MGa.TO) is still Germany's preferred bidder for carmaker Opel, a government spokesman said on Wednesday ahead of a meeting with General Motors representatives to discuss the takeover offers.

Plastic Logic plans to use AT&T Inc's 3G network as the wireless connection for the new electronic reader it plans to launch next year, the closely-held company said on Wednesday.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said he's “no saint” referring to a sex scandal he finds himself entangled.

Morgan Stanley on Wednesday reported a third straight quarterly loss, falling further behind chief rival Goldman Sachs as fixed income and asset management results disappointed.

Cambridge, Massachusetts police have dropped charges of disorderly conduct against Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates, calling the incident of his arrest on July 16 “regrettable and unfortunate.”

Wells Fargo said on Wednesday the loan losses increased in the second quarter as borrowers battled to keep their payments up to date. The bank dropped as much as 7.6 percent in New York trading.

Three of the world's biggest drugmakers posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings on Wednesday and gave bullish forecasts for the rest of the year, demonstrating the industry's resilience in the weak economy.

The longest eclipse of this century was passing through the world's two most populous nations, India and China, on Wednesday.

The U.S. Senate will vote today on an measure that would the nation's 5 million people with concealed weapons permits in one state use their weapon in another state, a move which critics say would water down gun laws in stricter states.

Stocks seesawed on Wednesday as disappointing quarterly results from top banks sparked caution over the health of financials, though sentiment rose after a robust earnings report from Apple Inc .

The Australian Dollar opens largely unchanged on Wednesday at 0.8160 and is pausing for breath after six days of steady gains versus its US counterpart. During the domestic session on Tuesday, the Aussie traded as high as 0.8178 after the minutes of the RBA's July 7 board meeting painted a picture of an economy in recovery mode.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sketched out on Wednesday how the United States might cope with a nuclear Iran -- by arming its allies in the Gulf and extending a defence umbrella over the region.

Surrounded by corn fields and cattle, the people of southeast Kansas seem far from the Washington debate on reforming U.S. healthcare but many care deeply about the issue and hope that change can come.

Some of the ideas proposed for U.S. healthcare reform could cost patients thousands of dollars a year out of their own pockets, and premiums could end up being too high, according to two reports.

U.S. President Barack Obama will plead his case for a broad healthcare overhaul in a prime-time news conference on Wednesday, with doubts growing about the plan even among his fellow Democrats and polls showing slipping public support.

Warnings that the world economy still faces a rocky road tempered market enthusiasms on Wednesday, with Japan indicating it might need to do more to ease credit pressures and Britain biding its time.