IBT Staff Reporter

A $6 cardboard box that uses solar power to cook food, sterilize water and could help 3 billion poor people cut greenhouse gases, has won a $75,000 prize for ideas to fight global warming.

In good times and bad, Japanese never miss the opportunity to party under cherry trees during the brief period they bloom each spring.

Bookings for Tata Motors' Nano got off to a brisk start in Mumbai on Thursday, with a steady stream of prospective customers queuing up to be one of the first to own what is billed as the world's cheapest car.

Dutch ING plans to sell operations worth up to 8 billion euros ($10.6 billion) to reduce risk, focus its bank on Europe, and manage its banking and insurance separately, boosting its shares on Thursday.

Nintendo Co Ltd said sales of its Wii game console have lost some steam in Japan, but it aims to boost demand again by launching a new version of its blockbuster Wii Sports software in June.

President Barack Obama's eight-day overseas trip yielded success on a top goal: signaling to the world a new U.S. approach that breaks with the go it alone style of President George W. Bush.

Wells Fargo said the asset management unit Evergreen Investments which it inherited when it bought Wachovia Corp was not for sale, even as it scales back Wachovia's investment banking operation, the NY Post reported citing sources.

The downturn in the civil aerospace sector is expected to be more severe than previously estimated mainly due to a decline in world air traffic and global gross domestic product, said Goldman Sachs, which downgraded Rolls Royce Group by a notch to sell.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc on Thursday reported March same-store sales.

The Bank of England left interest rates unchanged at a record low of 0.5 percent on Thursday, and said it would take another two months to complete its 75 billion pound quantitative easing program.

The German government offered 1.39 euros per share on Thursday for stricken lender Hypo Real Estate , a move which sets the stage for the first nationalization of a German bank in the postwar era.

Stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Thursday after Wells Fargo gave preliminary first-quarter results that were stronger than expected.

Wells Fargo said the asset management unit Evergreen Investments which it inherited when it bought Wachovia Corp was not for sale, even as it scales back Wachovia's investment banking operation, the NY Post reported citing sources.

Wells Fargo said the asset management unit Evergreen Investments which it inherited when it bought Wachovia Corp was not for sale, even as it scales back Wachovia's investment banking operation, the NY Post reported citing sources.

Shareholders and former creditors of Hynix Semiconductor have agreed to let the world's No.2 memory chip maker raise up to $519 million in a rights offer, knocking its shares down 8 percent before a late rally.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission renewed the operating license for Exelon Corp's (EXC.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station, the nation's oldest operating nuclear power reactor, the agency said in a statement.

Japan's ruling party unveiled on Thursday a $154 billion stimulus plan, around 3 percent of GDP, to battle a deepening recession but the prospect of record sales of government debt to pay for it spooked the bond market.

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Thursday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.5 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.5 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.4 percent at 4:37 a.m. EDT (0837 GMT).

Nintendo Co Ltd said sales of its Wii game console have lost some steam in Japan, but it aims to boost demand again by launching a new version of its blockbuster Wii Sports software in June.

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Thursday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.5 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.5 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.4 percent at 4:37 a.m. EDT (0837 GMT).

Wal-Mart Stores Inc reported a lower-than-expected 1.4 percent rise in March sales at U.S. stores open at least a year, but the discount retailer said it expected quarterly earnings to be at the high end of its forecast.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc reported a lower-than-expected 1.4 percent rise in March sales at U.S. stores open at least a year, but the discount retailer said it expected quarterly earnings to be at the high end of its forecast.

Stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Thursday after the New York Times reported the U.S. banking industry seems to be in better shape than many people think, citing officials involved in the federal stress tests.

Stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Thursday after Wells Fargo gave first quarter guidance and a New York Times report the U.S. banking industry seems to be in better shape than many people thought.

Fiat Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne is again in the United States for talks with potential partner Chrysler , a source close to the company said on Thursday.

Morgan Stanley's bottom line will be hurt by the recent rebound in its bond prices, the Wall Street Journal said.

President Barack Obama will be flexible about climate change legislation moving through Congress, the White House said on Wednesday, indicating some wiggle room on his demand for full auctioning of carbon emissions permits to industry.

The U.S. banking industry seems to be in better shape than many people think, the New York Times said, citing officials involved in federal stress tests.

Bank of America, the U.S Largest Bank, may need a big capital boost in equity to bolster its capital ratios, analysts at Oppenheimer & Co said Wednesday, according to Bloomberg.