IBT Staff Reporter

A meeting of Pakistan's allies and donors this week could give Iran a chance to show willingness to play a more active role in stabilizing the region, Japan's special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan said on Wednesday.

International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors turned off surveillance cameras and left the site of North Korea's nuclear bomb program on Pyongyang's demand on Wednesday, a diplomat close to the IAEA told Reuters.

A suicide car-bomber blew himself up at a security post in northwest Pakistan on Wednesday, killing nine policemen and three civilians, police said.

A French frigate captured 11 pirates off the coast of Somalia after foiling an attack on a Liberian-flagged merchant ship, the French defense ministry said on Wednesday.

Rebuilding the central Italian region of Abruzzo after last week's devastating earthquake will cost 12 billion euros ($15.9 billion), Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said.

Oil fell below $50 on Wednesday, after U.S. crude oil stocks rose last week to their highest level in nearly two decades.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul called on Wednesday for a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction, hoping that a U.S.-Russian pledge to join forces to eradicate nuclear weapons will encourage the region.

The Dow industrials rose on Wednesday following better-than expected manufacturing data while the Nasdaq headed lower as Intel Corp said uncertainty ruled out a clear revenue forecast.

Black American community workers are wrestling with how to translate their pride over Barack Obama's presidency into tangible gains for a racial minority that often lags behind the rest of the country.

The Obama administration will name former Justice Department official Alan Bersin to oversee its policy on illegal immigration and drug-related violence along the U.S. border with Mexico, Politico reported on Tuesday.

Austrian steelmaker Voestalpine said on Wednesday it will cut working hours for thousands more of its staff as the global downturn cripples demand for steel.

A young Guantanamo prisoner from Chad was given permission to telephone a relative but instead called the al Jazeera television network and said he was being beaten and abused at the U.S. detention camp.

Royal Dutch Shell said on Wednesday its Nigerian joint venture has declared force majeure on the country's Bonny Light crude oil exports in April and May.

U.S. banks have been told to keep quiet for now about results of a sweeping regulatory checkup into their health, raising questions about whether investors are being wrongly kept in the dark.

Burger King Holdings Inc said on Wednesday it saw a surprise drop in customer visits to its restaurants in March and its shares plunged more than 16 percent.

Japan's Santen Pharmaceutical Co agreed to license to Merck & Co Inc its glaucoma and ocular hypertension drug tafluprost, in a move to help drive global sales of one of Santen's key products.

U.S. senator and former presidential candidate John Kerry arrived in Sudan Wednesday for a three-day visit as the diplomatic detente between Washington and Khartoum shows further signs of a thaw.

Lindsay Lohan is looking for a lover who does not mind her alleged alcoholism or electronic monitoring bracelet, or so the famously troubled Hollywood actress said in a mock Internet dating profile.

Rahul Gandhi's speech may have been wooden and the applause sparse, but that didn't matter for dozens of party cadres who trailed his every move on a campaign stop in northern India.

Royal Bank of Scotland is in talks with three banks interested in buying its Asian retail and commercial banking assets as it pulls back to core markets, a person familiar with the matter said.

Pirates attacked a U.S.-flagged cargo ship off the coast of Somalia with rockets and automatic weapons on Tuesday but failed to board the craft, the ship's owner and the U.S. military said.

South Korea said on Wednesday it will soon announce plans to curtail the North's suspected trade in illicit weapons after its neighbor raised tensions by vowing to quit talks and restart its nuclear arms plant.

Miner Peabody Energy Corp , whose coal fuels 10 percent of America's electricity generation, said first-quarter profit tripled as higher-price contract sales offset slumping spot coal prices.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday Iran had prepared proposals to end a stalemate over its nuclear ambitions with six world powers, state television reported.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he expects U.S. Senate movement soon on the nomination of Ashton Carter as the Pentagon's chief arms buyer.

The Dow and S&P 500 recovered earlier losses to turn positive on Wednesday, helped by data that showed manufacturing activity contracted less severely, while Procter & Gamble gained after the company raised its dividend.

Oil retreated from session highs to just above $50 a barrel on Wednesday, after OPEC's latest monthly oil market report predicted a faster-than-expected drop in world oil demand.

Charles Schwab Corp said first-quarter earnings fell 29 percent as the largest U.S. online broker was hampered by lower assets valuations and interest rates as well as restructuring charges.

UBS AG will cut 11 percent of staff as it tries to stem losses and client withdrawals, its new chief executive said on Wednesday, warning that Switzerland's largest bank still faces an uncertain future.