IBT Staff Reporter

China's inland provinces are starting to feel the pinch of the global economic downturn companies and officials said at the 20th China Harbin International Economy and Trade Fair

IBM on Thursday said it has unleashed its free of charge Lotus Symphony, an open source alternative of Microsoft Office for viewing documents, spreadsheets, and presentation, which could give companies millions of dollars in savings.

A California company accusing a Chinese rival of stealing its code for anti-pornography software has demanded that U.S. PC makers Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Gateway stop shipping computers loaded with the program Green Dam.

Despite of the criticism received of the Chinese government over its mandate to have computer-makers install the “Green Dam” Internet filtering software, the government has moved to recruit 10,000 volunteers to filter Internet Contents.

Senior U.S. lawmakers launched an assault on Thursday on the centerpiece of the Obama administration's financial reform plan -- giving the Federal Reserve new powers to police broad risks in the economy.

General Electric announced more than $8 billion in orders at this week’s Paris Air Show with a large engine and maintenance contract with Etihad and another engine deal with Mubadala Development Co.

Twilight star Robert Pattinson was reportedly hit by a taxi in New York City on Thursday but did not appear to be injured as he tried to escape a horde of fans.

The U.S. released more funds from the stimulus package today destined for weatherization programs across 15 states, the head of the Energy Department, Steven Chu said today in Ohio.

American International Group Inc had questioned for years a retirement bonus plan for top managers because it was funded by a private company at no cost to AIG and that may have violated good governance standards, AIG's former CEO Maurice Hank Greenberg testified on Thursday.

Fixing the U.S. healthcare system will require extensive reforms, much like treating a patient with multiple organ failure, the president of the leading U.S. doctor's group said on Wednesday.

Red Hat on Thursday said it has begun its beta testing on its new Qumranet's KVM (Kernel Virtual Machine) based hypervisor enterprise virtualization products, set to launch later this year.

South Korea's antitrust authorities have charged telephone maker Qualcomm Inc with unfair licensing terms, in addition to charges the company has acknowledged, a source briefed on the matter said on Thursday.

With more than 400 pieces of debris and 50 bodies discovered from the Atlantic Ocean, more information along with autopsies suggests that the plane may have broken up in sky, experts said on Wednesday.

British researchers suggested that targeting kids for vaccination may help control the swine flu pandemic, the Global times reported on Thursday.

European Regulators have revealed plans to tighten the rules governing the sharing of personal data online with third-party sites, a steps that could potentially affect social-networking sites.

NASA launched its first moon shot in ten years Thursday, sending up a pair of unmanned science probes from Cape Carneveral that will help determine where astronauts could land and set up camp in years to come.

The multifamily sector is leading all other types of U.S. commercial real estate in having the highest loan default rate but the others are likely to follow, experts say.

More than 800,000 New York state residents were unemployed in May, the highest level in 33 years, and another sign the state is still mired in recession, the state labor department said on Thursday.

A push by the United Steelworkers union to slash China tire imports into the U.S. got a boost today after federal investigators determined the imports cause or threaten to cause market disruption to domestic tire makers.

Research In Motion Ltd., the maker of BlackBerry smart phones, forecast second-quarter profit and sales that may fall short of analysts’ estimates, causing the shares to slip 6 percent in extended trading.

U.S. mortgage rates dropped in the latest week, retreating sharply from a seven-month high as fears over inflation abated and Treasury yields dropped.

North Korea may be preparing to fire a long-range missile towards Japan's Okinawa Island, Guam or US's Hawaii, according to Japanese daily.

Interest rates on U.S. 30-year fixed-rate mortgages rose to 5.57 percent late Thursday after hovering around 5.47 percent on Wednesday, according to real estate Website Zillow.com.

Software giant Microsoft Corp is launching a free PC security service next week in what could be the biggest challenge to date for anti-virus companies with billions of dollars in annual revenue.

The European Union did not say today how much it would contribute to fight global warming in developing countries but identified its guiding principles for doing so during a summit in Brussels.

This year's peak home-buying season was lackluster, as buyers seeking to trade up to larger houses were absent, said the head of one of the country's largest real estate firms.

Research In Motion on Thursday offered investors an outlook that fell short of some expectations, sending the BlackBerry maker's stock sliding even as the company reported a higher quarterly profit that topped forecasts.

Jon & Kate from hit reality show Jon & Kate Plus 8 are making a major announcement on June 22.

Missouri electric utility AmerenUE on Thursday signed its first wind power deal, an agreement to purchase 102 megawatts from Horizon Wind Energy's Pioneer Prairie Wind Farm in Iowa.