IBT Staff Reporter

Lobbyists for drugmakers, insurance companies, hospital chains and others are trying to protect lucrative businesses threatened by U.S. healthcare reforms.

Real estate agent Lisa DeWaal serves coffee at a Starbucks outlet for four hours every morning before she goes to the office to start her

Citadel Investment Group, one of the world's most successful hedge fund firms, sued a former top executive in its highly successful quantitative trading unit and two others for setting up their own firm.

Private equity firm Cerberus is to place investors seeking withdrawals from one of its hedge funds into a special purpose vehicle which would make cash distributions over time, a source familiar with the contents of a recent investor letter said on Thursday.

At least six potential suitors including TRW Automotive Holdings have considered bidding for Delphi Corp, as the deadline for offers on the assets of the bankrupt auto parts maker approached, sources briefed on the matter said on Thursday.

Another sign of easing recession, Fed defends independence, Citi's management shakeup

More than 15,400 former clients have filed claims against Bernard L. Madoff's estate seeking compensation for their losses according to an update released Thursday from the Federal Bankruptcy court in New York, the New York Times reported.

GM sale on track, Bearish Media execs, Chevron's currency problems

Chevron Corp warned that second-quarter earnings would be hit by a sharp decline in U.S. refining margins and that any benefits from higher oil prices were largely offset by a weaker dollar, sending its shares down 1.8 percent.

Sprint Nextel Corp said it would pay Ericsson $4.5 billion to $5 billion to manage its network under a 7-year deal in which 6,000 Sprint workers will move to Ericsson. Sprint shares rose 4 percent.

General Motors Corp prepared to announce its exit from bankruptcy on Friday after a 40-day reorganization under U.S. government backing that wiped away most of the debt and recurring costs that drove the 100-year-old automaker to crisis.

Sony Corp has no plans to buy out Ericsson's stake in their loss-making mobile joint venture Sony Ericsson, said Sony Chief Executive Howard Stringer on Thursday.

A Chinese firm started work on a copper deposit in Afghanistan on Thursday, part of a multi-billion dollar project and the first major foreign investment of its kind in Afghan history, an official said.

The U.S. Senate has delayed finishing writing its version of the climate bill until September. The Energy Information Administration said on its weekly report that U.S. inventories of natural gas rose 75 billion cubic feet. China will spend $5.6 billion (38 billion yuan) from the central state budget for energy efficiency projects for 2009.

Federal Reserve deputy chairman Donald Kohn on Thursday defended the independence of the US central bank and urged Congress to respect the central bank's independence to conduct monetary policy. According to Kohn congressional oversight could hurt the economy and not be in the best interests of financial markets and the public.

Sprint Nextel Corp. has reached a long-rumored deal worth as much as $5 billion to turn over day-to-day management of its network to Ericsson. Ericsson will take over daily operations and maintenance of Sprint's voice, data, and wireline networks. It will also take on 6,000 Sprint employees.

Chevron Corp said on Thursday it expected second-quarter earnings to be hit by a sharp decline in U.S. refining margins, while better prices on the production side would be largely offset by foreign currency effects.

Federal investigators have linked at least three different kinds of E. coli to Nestle's cookie dough but were not able to determine how the products got affected, according to ABC News.

The U.S. Congress released a report on Wednesday saying bottled water is less regulated than plain old tap water and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has little power to regulate the safety of bottled water.

Consumer Watchdog on Thursday releases a confidential and proprietary annotated version and questions on Google presentation for policymakers that so called online behavioral advertising is transparent to its browser users.

The 911 call made after former American Football player Steve McNair and his 20-year old lover Sahel Kazemi were found dead was released by the Metro Nashville Police Department today.

Stocks edged higher on Thursday as investors bought beaten-down technology and commodity shares, while a positive broker comment on Goldman Sachs boosted the financial sector.

Fourteen Britons who had contracted H1N1 flu have died and the rapid spread of infection in two areas of the country is close to epidemic level, health officials said on Thursday.

The United States is planning for a vaccination campaign against the new H1N1 flu that could move into schools and community centers, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said on Thursday.

Netflix Inc and Sony Electronics are now co-working to delivers Movies right at BRAVIA TVs.

Sharp Corp decided to increase LCD panel production after facing continuous high demands of it LCD panels for TVs.

Google Inc is already working with technology companies to support the newly announced Google Chrome Operating System from the firm.

Sprint Nextel Corp. has reached a long-rumored deal worth as much as $5 billion to turn over day-to-day management of its network to Ericsson.

Oil prices rose slightly on Thursday as talk of refinery shutdowns spurred stirred gasoline supply concerns, ending a six-day slide.