IBT Staff Reporter

U.S. mortgage rates fell in the latest week, trekking closer to a record low set last month. Interest rates on U.S. 30-year fixed-rate mortgages fell to 4.82 percent for the week ending May 21, down from the previous week's 4.86 percent, according to a survey released on Thursday by home funding company Freddie Mac.

Stocks slid on Thursday as signs of further jobs weakness and an anemic Fed regional survey fueled doubts about prospects for a quick economic recovery.

The 11th EU-China Summit took place on Wednesday in Prague with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao joining the summit.

Iran said Wednesday it had successfully tested a missile with a range that defense analysts say could reach parts of Europe.

Boeing Co said on Thursday that its Dreamliner 787 was still on track for its first flight later this quarter, and the company stood by a previous full-year forecast.

Drug gangs have forced open a bloody new front in Mexico's drugs war, extending their battles over smuggling routes into a formerly quiet northwestern state and further stretching the army.

Off-price retailer Ross Stores Inc posted a 15 percent rise in quarterly profit that matched estimates and it raised its full-year earnings view as strong sales and merchandise margins boosted business.

A former senior Chinese censor has claimed a major role in recording purged leader Zhao Ziyang's memoirs that decry the quelling of pro-democracy protests in 1989, adding to calls for the government to repent the crackdown.

Dental equipment distributor Patterson Cos Inc. reported lower-than-expected quarterly results as sales fell at two of its key businesses, and the company forecast a weak fiscal 2010, sending its shares down 11 percent.

The head of the World Health Organization said on Thursday she would not hesitate to raise the global pandemic alert to the top of the six-point scale if the new H1N1 flu is spreading globally.

Chinese solar energy company Suntech Power Holdings Inc on Thursday reported a surprise quarterly profit and said it expects its revenues to grow in the second quarter.

Sri Lanka plans to resettle most of the 280,000 refugees who fled the war with the defeated Tamil Tigers within six months, the government said on Thursday after meeting visiting Indian officials.

Israeli police broke up an unauthorized settler outpost in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, bulldozing makeshift cabins, police said.

Suicide bombers killed at least 19 people in Iraq on Thursday in separate attacks in Baghdad and the northern city of Kirkuk, security officials said, underscoring the fragility of Iraq's security gains.

Oil fell more than a dollar to below $61 a barrel on Thursday, after hitting a six-month high in the previous session on expectations of a rebound in the world economy.

The American man at the center of the trial against Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi swam to her house after having a vision that her life was in danger, Suu Kyi's lawyers said on Thursday.

President Barack Obama on Thursday will discuss his plan for closing the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in an effort to stop a revolt by lawmakers concerned that some of the detainees could be set free in the United States.

Porsche denied on Thursday that it had filed an application for aid that a government source had said had been rejected.

Vice President Joe Biden received a tumultuous welcome in Kosovo on Thursday just hours after leaving Serbia where thousands of police kept streets empty to avoid anti-American protests.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Thursday said that a bailout for banks was steadying the financial system but care must be taken to ensure that normal market forces are allowed to operate.

Barnes & Noble Inc reported a narrower-than-expected quarterly loss and raised its full-year outlook on Thursday, helped by cost cuts and sales that topped expectations, and its shares rose nearly 5 percent.

The U.S. administration of President Barack Obama will not force Israel to state publicly whether it has nuclear weapons, an Israeli official said on Thursday.

News reports about Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, including questions about its safety, are part of a malicious campaign that is counter-productive to efforts to defeat terrorism, a Pakistani spokesman said on Thursday.

Internet search engine operator Google has decided against acquiring a newspaper, the Financial Times reported, citing the company's chief executive and chairman, Eric Schmidt.

Pakistan's allies promised $224 million in aid for about 1.5 million people displaced by an offensive against the Taliban after the government warned that the militants could exploit a failure to help.

President Barack Obama on Thursday will outline his strategy for closing the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, hoping to defuse a revolt by lawmakers over the fate of an internationally reviled symbol of Bush-era detainee policy.

The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless aid fell 12,000 last week, Labor Department data showed on Thursday, while so-called continued claims rose to a fresh record as the recession battered employment.

Barnes & Noble Inc reported a narrower-than-expected quarterly loss and raised its full-year outlook on Thursday, helped by cost cuts and sales that topped expectations, and its shares rose nearly 5 percent.

Video game retailer GameStop Corp said on Thursday its first-quarter profit rose 13 percent, driven by sales of popular titles like Resident Evil 5 and Street Fighter IV, but same-store sales fell more than expected.