IBT Staff Reporter

The great zombie swine flu hoax of 2009 had the Twitterati briefly in uproar.

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp posted a 47 percent drop in operating income on Wednesday because of falling advertising revenue at its television stations, newspapers and other businesses.

The number of U.S. home owners that have mortgage debts that are higher than the actual value of the property, has reached approximately 33 percent, according to online real estate service, Zillow.com

The White House has for the past eight years commemorated the National Day of Prayer with a service in the East Room, this year however will be different as President Obama decided against holding a public ceremony.

The pace of private-sector U.S. job losses slowed dramatically last month, while future planned layoffs also declined, and the hard-hit housing sector showed signs of improvement last week.

Picking over the carcasses of bankrupt companies is tempting for private equity firms, but the more traditional buyout shops are showing caution bidding on assets entangled in the courts, experts say.

Cisco Systems Inc., world's largest maker of computer networking gear, says earnings fell 21 percent in its latest quarter, but results managed to surpass analyst' estimates.

U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday after a private sector reading on the labor market signaled unemployment may be receding and leaked bank stress test results suggested most banks are healthier than thought.

Foreign journalists detained as China preparing 1st anniversary of Sichuan earthquake

Renault unveiled today in France its new prototype electric vehicle, the Kangoo be bop Z.E.

Oil major Shell said on Wednesday it has formally withdrawn a three-year plan for energy exploration in Alaska's Beaufort Sea after it was stymied by environmental litigation.

Ford Motor Co's restructuring is on track and the automaker has sufficient liquidity to fund the plan, which includes converting plants and investing in future products, company executives said on Wednesday.

Twelve million new zombie computers have been hijacked by cyber-criminals since January, according to a report by anti-virus software company McAfee.

A Senate committee on Wednesday adopted language that would create a special bank within the Energy Department to dole out government loans and loan guarantees for clean energy projects using advanced technology.

The Dow and S&P 500 rose on Wednesday, led by bank shares, after media reports suggesting some major banks, including JP Morgan Chase & Co , won't have to raise capital under government stress tests.

Web-based business software sales are growing briskly, even as most of the industry stalls, as the segment pioneered by Salesforce.com Inc benefits from the weak economy and fading concerns about security.

A price valuation of $2 billion would be low for Skype, the chief executive of parent eBay Inc said on Wednesday.

Oil production in the Gulf of Mexico, which produces about 25 percent of domestic oil production and 15 percent of natural gas output, could boom more than 1.8 million barrels per day by 2013, according to the government research, however its natural gas will likely to decrease.

Oil settled above $56 a barrel on Wednesday, as a surprise drop in U.S. gasoline and a slowdown in private sector job losses in April boosted hopes for a turnaround in the economy.

The upper house of the Czech parliament Wednesday approved the European Union's Lisbon treaty by a convincing majority. That will put the long-awaited institutional reforms in the 27-nation bloc into effect on January 1, 2010.

Ford Motor Company said today it will invest $550 million to transform a former light trucks plant in Michigan to a modern-green facility to produce fuel-efficient small cars such as the next generation Focus and its battery-electric version.

Wind and solar energy projects currently proposed for lands owned by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management will be ready for construction by the end of 2010, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said.

U.S. mortgage applications rose last week even as interest rates jumped to their highest levels since mid-March, data from an industry group showed on Wednesday.

Art buyers from across the Middle East crowded Christie's auction room in Dubai, bidding briskly to bag a bargain as prices fall in the global downturn.

The Dow and S&P 500 rose more than 1 percent to session highs on Wednesday, boosted by a surge in bank stocks following media reports on stress test results that suggested bank capital shortfalls might be less than previously expected.

Home values in the United States extended their fall in the first quarter, with more than one in five homeowners now owing more on their mortgages than their homes are worth, real estate website Zillow.com said on Wednesday.

Tiffany & Co (TIF.N) said on Friday it is buying bankrupt U.S. handbag maker Lambertson Truex as the high-end jeweler seeks to expand its array of leather goods.

A U.S. bankruptcy judge approved bidding procedures for the rapid sale of most of Chrysler's assets, over objections from a group of lenders who called the accelerated timetable an absurdity.

Luxury boat makers are trying to survive the global financial storm by slashing prices and creating bargains for millionaires looking to play off Asia's coastlines.