IBT Staff Reporter

Jason Giambi returns to Oakland Athletics his professional baseball root, signing a one-year deal with the club where he won the Most Valuable Player award (1995-2001). Terms of the agreement include a one-year contract for the 2009 season, plus a club option for 2010. To clear a spot on the 40-man roster, the A's designated infielder Joe Dillon for assignment.

After a brief pause allowing food and fuel into Gaza, Israeli airstrikes and Hamas rockets resumed.

Australian Dollar: The Australian Dollar opens sharply lower this morning at US71 cents. The Aussie moved to an overnight high of 0.7268 during European trade, however

Roland Burris has gone from being a 'tainted appointment' on Sunday in the eyes of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to holding a positive meeting with Reid and Majority Whip Dick Durbin on Wednesday.

Many boxing analysts believe that the one who can realistically sell a million PPVs in the U.S., maybe even 1.25-million like Pacquiao-De La Hoya did in their Dream Match fight, is Mayweather vs. Pacquiao for the undisputed pound-for-pound crown.

On Wednesday a rare event happened with a president-elect meeting for lunch with 4 of his predecessors.

Crude oil futures plunged on Wednesday 12 percent - its most in seven years - after a report revealed U.S. supplies of crude, gasoline and distillate fuels rocketed as demand declined.

Share of Monsanto Co. the top seed maker in the world, rose on Wednesday after the company reported that its first-quarter profit more than doubled and also said it raised its full-year forecast.

Nissan Motor Co. will recall 242,720 trucks to be repaired after weather conditions in cold states triggered a problem that could prevent front air bags from deploying in a crash.

Lakers Kobe Bryant poured in 39 points and doled out seven assists for the Lakers but lost for the first time in seven games.

The U.S. federal government will have deficit in fiscal 2009 of more than $1 trillion in the coming fiscal year.

President-elect Barack Obama has chosen Nancy Killefer, a director at McKinsey & Company and a former assistant secretary of the treasury in the Bill Clinton administration, to serve as the country's chief performance officer.

John Atta-Mills was sworn in as the new president of Ghana on Wednesday following a peaceful but tense election that secured the country's status as one of the continent's few stable democracies.

Intel Corp. forecasted Wednesday that its revenue for the 2008 fourth quarter will fall 23 percent to $8.2 billion citing further weakness in demand and inventory reductions by its worldwide PC producer customers which use Intel's chips.

Wednesday's opening in Wall Street headed lower after Alcoa Inc. announced it will cut about 13 percent of its workforce.

The chairman of Indian firm Satyam Computer Services Ltd. resigned today admitting the company falsely inflated profits for several years. Shares of the company dropped nearly 90 percent.

The world's third-largest aluminum producer Alcoa Inc. announced Tuesday it will reduce about 13 percent of its global workforce by the end of the year due to the faltering world economy.

Investors affected by Bernard Madoff's $50 billion alleged fraud are likely to start recovering their money in the next month if the cash isn't difficult to trace, said the President of investor protection fund, Securities Investor Protection Corp President Stephen Harbeck said in an interview with Bloomberg.

President-elect Barack Obama has promised Washington lawmakers long-term fiscal discipline despite a push for a costly economic stimulus plan.

Israel suspended its offensive in Gaza for three hours on Wednesday to allow food and other aid reach to Palestinians.

Brad Pitt speaks about former wife, Jennifer Aniston and his current partner, Angelina Jolie in an interview with W magazine.

Lisa Marie Presley has written a blog denying the general though that scientologists do not take medicine.

After a yearlong battle with pancreatic cancer, Patrick Swayze is pushing ahead to start a new TV series.

Denver Nuggets Carmelo Anthony was fitted with a red, removable splint Tuesday the All-Star forward injured the middle finger of his right hand in the second half of the 135-115 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Monday. Anthony is averaging 21.1 points and 7.3 rebounds for the Nuggets, who top the Northwest Division with a 24-12 record.

The eagles now have their hard-fought 26-14 victory over the Minnesota Vikings in last Sunday's NFC Wild Card Playoffs

Major League Baseball announced Tuesday Phillies reliever J.C. Romero is suspended for the first 50 games of next season after testing positive for a banned substance.

President-elect Barack Obama has approached its medical correspondent CNN and CBS News, Sanjay Gupta, to be the country's next general surgeon.

Liskula Cohen, 36, is going to court in an attempt to identify a blogger who wrote negative comment about her using Google's Blogger.com services.

The world's largest aluminum maker Alcoa Inc. said Tuesday it plans to cut 13,500 jobs or 13 percent of its workers as an action to address the economic downturn.