IBT Staff Reporter

AIG, days before a high-profile legal fight with a company controlled by former CEO Maurice Greenberg heads to court, promised to use any funds won at trial to repay U.S. taxpayers.

The U.S. Senate passed legislation that would allow the the Food and Drug Administration to regulate the sale and distribution of tobacco products and prohibit misleading tobacco ads.

IBM may be approaching a breakthrough in battery technologies the auto industry is looking forward to.

The U.S. government spent $287 million to purchase a total 17,205 fuel efficient vehicles from Ford, Chrysler and General Motors as of June 1 and aims to order $15 million more worth of advanced technology buses and electric vehicles, the General Services Administration said this week.

U.S. intelligence Chief Leon Panetta said on Thursday he believes that al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden is still hiding in Pakistan and the CIA hopes to find him through joint operations with Pakistani forces.

Yahoo Inc on Thursday named Altera Corp's chief financial officer as its finance chief, the latest move by the Internet company to rebuild itself in the image of its new chief executive.

U.S. lawmakers accused the Treasury and Federal Reserve on Thursday of using threats to force Bank of America to take over Merrill Lynch while criticizing Bank of America boss Ken Lewis for keeping shareholders in the dark about rising losses at Merrill.

Microsoft is planning to reveal its new antivirus with a code ‘Morro’ serving Windows end-user for free.

Ford Motor Co Chief Executive Alan Mulally said on Thursday that the U.S. economy was on the right track to begin improving in the second half of the year.

Two Japanese citizens carrying $134 billion worth of U.S. bonds were detained last week by Italy's financial police at Chiasso (40km from Milan) on the border between Italy and Switzerland, an Italian daily said Wednesday.

Dear Sam: I am getting very discouraged as my résumé is not generating responses. I have sent out close to 800 applications in the past 2 months and not one has resulted in an interview, only countless letters that my information was received, would be reviewed, and I would be contacted if I was a good fit.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared influenza pandemic on Thursday and called on flu vaccine manufacturers to make enough shots to protect people against flu pandemic.

Microsoft has responded to the EU's antitrust investigation into its bundling of its browser with Windows by saying it will ship Windows 7 in Europe without Internet Explorer 8 installed.

NRG Energy and eSolar will build a 92-megawatt solar thermal power plant in New Mexico, part of an effort to place 500 MW of solar power in California and the U.S. Southwest, the companies announced on Thursday.

The U.S. Federal Reserve’s borrowings balance has decreased as banks borrow less from the central bank, signs suggesting the economy is easing.

Two major U.S. airlines, Delta Air Lines Inc and American Airlines , will slash capacity this year as the recession erodes travel demand, the carriers said on Thursday.

Countering pressure from European regulators, Microsoft Corp plans to ship the newest version of its Windows operating system in Europe without its Internet Explorer web browser.

(Corrects figure in third to last paragraph to 29,000 from 20,000)

A political coup in New York's statehouse can be traced back to an incident in which a top lawmaker so enraged a wealthy backer by peering at e-mails on his BlackBerry that his patron engineered his ouster.

General Electric, 3M and DuPont and twenty one firms more were given the green light by the U.S. government for up to $22 million worth in investments for projects with the potential to impact the photovoltaic (PV) solar industry within 2 to 6 years, the Department of Energy announced Thursday.

The U.S. government's new technology czar said on Thursday that new mobile phone applications could spur private investment in high-speed Internet connections, but Washington would also play a leadership role.

WD Unveils World's First 4 TB External HardDrive Western Digital unveils the World first 4 TB external storage, with new My Book Studio II dual-drive storage, a Perfect Blend of High Performance and Power Conservation, which cost $649.99.

The Venezuelan government of U.S.-critic President Hugo Chavez on Wednesday ordered Coca-Cola Co to withdraw its Coke Zero beverage from the South American nation, citing unspecified dangers to health.

The U.S. Department of Energy said on Thursday it will invest $11.3 million from the FY2009 Budget directly in pre-combustion carbon capture and sequestration technologies in a move to boost clean tech as the country seeks to reduce emissions and ease the impact on climate change.

Men with locally advanced prostate cancer are more likely to die if their doctors shorten the time they are treated with hormone-suppressing drugs, researchers reported on Wednesday.

Hormone experts said on Wednesday they are becoming worried by a chemical called bisphenol A, which some politicians say they want taken out of products and which consumers are increasingly shunning.

New York City could become the grounds for a new kind of urban wind farm if a Cleveland-based mechanical engineer has his way.

Sony Corporation on Thursday said it introduced its mercury-free alkaline button battery, which is commonly used in cameras, remote controls and calculators, the alkaline manganese.

Small businesses would benefit significantly from an overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system even if they were required to help pay for the medical coverage of their employees, a study release on Thursday said.