IBT Staff Reporter

Hungary and the United States are in talks about resettling in Hungary a small number of prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a senior U.S. diplomat said on Thursday.

Russia said on Thursday that talks with the United States on reducing vast arsenals of Cold War nuclear weapons were proceeding constructively ahead of a visit by U.S. President Barack Obama to Moscow in July.

The U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Thursday angrily rejected Israeli accusations of bias in a probe by his agency into allegations of a secret Syrian atomic site, calling Israel's position totally distorted.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, fresh from a controversy over his friendship with an 18 year-old woman, is now defending himself from allegations that female escorts were paid to attend parties at his homes.

Tens of thousands of Mirhossein Mousavi's backers, wearing black and carrying candles, rallied in Tehran on Thursday to mourn those killed in mass protests against an election the defeated candidate says was rigged.

Ford Motor Co, the only U.S. automaker not to file for bankruptcy this year, has a sound balance sheet and is seeking to further reduce debt, Chief Executive Alan Mulally said on Wednesday.

Pier 1 Imports Inc posted a narrower-than-expected quarterly loss, helped by improved merchandise margins due to reduced supply chain costs and decreased clearance activity, sending the home furnishings retailer's shares soaring 25 percent.

The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits rose last week but the number of people staying on the benefit rolls after collecting an initial week of aid fell for the first time since January, a government report showed on Thursday.

PlusPetrol Resources Corp NV said on Thursday it plans to bid about C$400 million ($354 million) for Petro Andina Resources Inc (PAR.TO) to expand its oil and gas operations in Argentina, Colombia and Trinidad.

Greece said on Thursday it would sell a further 5 percent stake in OTE, southeast Europe's biggest telephone company, to Deutsche Telekom, raising 674 million euros ($941 million) to help cut the country's debt.

Women's apparel manufacturer and retailer Liz Claiborne Inc on Thursday projected a wider second-quarter loss than analysts forecast, and its shares plummeted 13 percent.

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner urged Congress to act quickly on the Obama administration's regulatory reform proposals, saying past efforts had started too late after the will to act had faded.

Anheuser-Busch InBev's central European assets are not top of its for-sale list, not on the must-buy charts of rivals, and will need some sweetening to secure a deal with a private equity suitor.

Fiat called on Italy's government and unions to back its efforts to maintain jobs while cutting output in the country and secured a commitment from Rome on Thursday for investment near two plants that could face cuts.

Heavy machinery maker Caterpillar Inc said on Thursday that its retail sales of machines had declined at a faster pace in May, sending its shares lower.

Intel Corp said it bought an additional 25 million shares in Imagination Technologies Group Plc for strategic reasons, and now owns 13.99 percent of the British chip designer's total issued voting rights.

Chipmaker Broadcom Corp said on Thursday that it had extended the deadline of its tender offer for storage technology company Emulex Corp by about two weeks, amid little sign that shareholders are warming to the hostile bid.

China's Internet watchdog condemned the Chinese-language version of Google on Thursday for disseminating pornographic and vulgar information.

Ford Motor Co, the only U.S. automaker not to file for bankruptcy this year, has a sound balance sheet and is seeking to further reduce debt, Chief Executive Alan Mulally said on Wednesday.

HONG KONG/NEW YORK - U.S. private equity firm Blackstone Group LP is in talks with the Shanghai city government to set up a wholly-owned China subsidiary as it prepares to launch a local currency private equity fund, sources said on Thursday.

President Barack Obama's administration sought to regain momentum on healthcare reform on Wednesday as lawmakers, stunned by the trillion dollar price tag, delayed the legislative timetable for the program.

Medical device maker Medtronic Inc paid almost $800,000 in consulting fees to a former U.S. Army surgeon accused of fabricating a key study, according to published reports.

Abu Dhabi state investment agency Mubadala Development said on Wednesday it was interested in partnerships with leading aerospace groups but denied a report it planned to take stakes in major European aerospace companies.

Women's apparel retailer and manufacturer Liz Claiborne Inc indicated it expects a wider second-quarter loss than analysts forecast and its shares fell 10 percent.

For a growing number of oil traders, there's a new math at work in the traditional career calculus: why take the stress, long hours and uncertainty of a Wall Street job when the easy money is in physical trading?

Stock index futures turned higher following a government report showing that the number of people staying on jobless benefits after drawing an initial week of aid posted its largest one-week drop since November 2001.

With many beginning to question the sustainability of the recent increase in sentiment surrounding a global economic recovery and commodity prices the Aussie dollar appears to have found some relatively solid topside resistance.

Microsoft Corp's Bing search engine won more market share from rivals last week, according to new industry data released on Wednesday, but still trails Google Inc and Yahoo Inc.

The Internet is by far the most popular source of information and the preferred choice for news ahead of television, newspapers and radio, according to a new poll in the United States.