IBT Staff Reporter

Saab Automobile, the Swedish unit of U.S. carmaker General Motors, announced 750 job cuts as it tries to stay afloat and said on Thursday investors in both Sweden and China were eyeing the company.

Fannie Mae, the largest provider of funding for U.S. residential mortgages, said on Thursday it sold $9 billion in new five-year benchmark notes, a record size for this maturity.

Yellow-pages publisher R.H. Donnelley Corp posted a wider quarterly net loss on the back of a $744 million write-down and hired Lazard to help the debt-laden company evaluate its capital structure.

Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty on Thursday to the largest financial services fraud in U.S. history, admitting to 11 criminal charges.

Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty on Thursday to charges he orchestrated the biggest financial swindle in Wall Street history, cheating investors out of billions of dollars in a fraud that has drawn public scorn and demands for stricter regulations.

North Korea has given global agencies notice of its plans to launch a satellite from April 4-8, an official said on Thursday in a move Washington has called provocative and views as a disguised long-range missile test.

Three international aid workers from Medecins Sans Frontieres have been kidnapped in Darfur, officials said on Thursday, further complicating humanitarian operations in Sudan's west.

German authorities are looking into whether to press charges against the gun-collecting father of the teenager who went on a shooting rampage at his former school on Wednesday, killing 15 people.

The United States sought on Wednesday to play down a confrontation between Chinese and U.S. naval vessels as the two sides held high-level talks on reviving growth and reining in North Korea's nuclear program.

U.S. retail sales dipped only slightly in February, a hint spending could be stabilizing, but a record high number of workers drawing state jobless benefits indicated pressure was still mounting on consumers.

Standard & Poor's stripped General Electric Co of its top-tier, triple-A credit rating, lowering its rating by one notch to AA-plus with a stable outlook, citing the credit profile of the GE Capital unit.

The concrete housing block where Josef Fritzl hid and abused his daughter for 24 years has nothing to distinguish it from others on the street apart from a faded police no entry sign on the back gate.

Sri Lankan troops killed the head of the Tamil Tigers' vast international financing network and 16 other fighters, and captured a hospital in the last town the separatist guerrillas hold, the military said on Thursday.

An Iraqi reporter who hurled his shoes at former President George W. Bush was convicted of attempting to assault a foreign leader on Thursday and jailed for three years, dismaying many Iraqis who regard him as a hero.

Hundreds of black-suited Pakistani lawyers and flag-waving opposition activists launched a cross-country protest on Thursday, as the year-old civilian coalition government scrambled for ways to avert a showdown.

Oil rose more than $1 above $43 a barrel on Thursday encouraged by strong loan data from China, which investors speculated could feed through into economic growth, and ahead of an OPEC meeting.

The number of U.S. workers drawing unemployment benefits hit a record in February as companies struggle with a 14-month recession, data showed on Thursday, but a slight easing in retail sales last month offered cautious optimism.

The number of U.S. workers drawing unemployment benefits hit a record in February as companies struggle with a 14-month recession, data showed on Thursday, but a slight easing in retail sales last month offered cautious optimism.

Bernard Madoff, accused of running the biggest fraud in Wall Street history, is expected to plead guilty on Thursday in what is shaping up to be a courtroom drama featuring denunciations by investors and a renewed push by prosecutors to jail him immediately.

The number of U.S. workers drawing unemployment benefits hit a record in February as companies struggle with a 14-month recession, data showed on Thursday, but a slight easing in retail sales last month offered cautious optimism.

Bernard Madoff, accused of running the biggest fraud in Wall Street history, is expected to plead guilty on Thursday in what is shaping up to be a courtroom drama featuring denunciations by investors and a renewed push by prosecutors to jail him immediately.

Stocks were set to open little changed on Thursday as a government report pointing to some stabilization in consumer spending overshadowed more bleak news on the labor market.

The economic crisis threatening to topple global automakers rocked two of Europe's biggest on Thursday as BMW posted a surprise fourth-quarter operating loss and Volkswagen warned of worse ahead.

Wind and solar power could produce 40 percent of the world's electricity by 2050, but only if government subsidies are secured for the next two decades, scientists said on Wednesday.

The U.S. Interior Department on Wednesday said it has created a special task force to speed the development of renewable energy projects on federal lands.

President Barack Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner received failing grades for their efforts to revive the world's largest economy, according to participants in the latest Wall Street Journal forecasting survey.

U.S. microblogging service Twitter is eager to partner with other companies, including search giant Google Inc, but it is not considering a merger or buyout, the company's co-founder said.

Sales at U.S. retailers fell by a smaller-than-expected margin in February after a surprise gain the prior month, as a rise in gasoline prices limited the impact of slumping vehicle sales, a government report showed on Thursday.

Stock index futures sharply cut losses on Thursday as news of a proposed takeover in the biotechnology sector tempered caution before data that investors fear may show more weakness in consumer spending and the labor market.