IBT Staff Reporter

Third place U.S. wireless carrier Sprint Nextel may introduce unlimited voice service for as slow as $60 per month to counterattack a wave of new plans charging $99, analysts say.

Social-networking site, MySpace is in talks with major record companies to create a service that would provide users with free music as it moves to distinguish itself from encroaching competitors such as Facebook, according to news reports.

Oil prices fell back on Wednesday from a record of $100.10 a barrel on speculation U.S. crude stockpiles will rise.

Bain Capital Partners said on Wednesday it withdrew its application for U.S. national security approval for its planned $2.2 billion acquisition of network-equipment maker 3Com Corp.

The rippling effects from the 100-day Hollywood writers' strike took an estimated $2.5 billion toll on the Los Angeles County and surrounding areas.

It will be tougher to persuade shoppers to buy Sony's Blu-ray discs in an industry which is looking ahead to the download era.

Platinum ended a record-setting streak on Wednesday after 14 straight days of gains as profit-takers stepped in, but analysts said it was likely to recover after a pause because of persistent supply problems.

Inflation accelerated in January in a worrying sign for the Federal Reserve's campaign to bolster the flagging economy, while a separate report on Wednesday showed more troubling signs for beleaguered housing market.

Inflation fears and delays in debt payments by an affiliate of private equity giant KKR spooked financial markets on Wednesday, battering stocks and driving the cost of corporate debt insurance to all-time peaks.

Oil retreated on Wednesday, a day after hitting a record high above $100 a barrel, as investors focused on a U.S. inventory report expected to show crude stockpiles rose for a sixth week.

A top Chinese state newspaper has lambasted Hollywood director Steven Spielberg for quitting the Beijing Olympic Games over Darfur, saying childish vanity politics lies behind Western criticism of Beijing policy.

Japan's most popular online networking site, Mixi Inc, said on Wednesday it plans to establish a subsidiary in Shanghai to tap China's fast-growing Internet market.

Air China is in initial talks to buy all the shares it does not already own in its cargo venture with the parent of Beijing Capital International Airport, an Air China executive said on Wednesday.

Pop star Britney Spears on Tuesday failed to regain the right to see her two young sons after a closed-door court hearing in the lengthy and bitter custody dispute with her ex-husband Kevin Federline.

Annual pay cheques of some fund managers in India have hit $1 million, levels seen normally in London and Tokyo, as asset management firms scramble for scarce talent in a booming market.

China Mobile Ltd signed up a record number of users in a single month in January, as the world's top cellular carrier built on its dominance in the world's largest wireless market.

Amazon.com Inc announced its support for Sony Corp's Blu-ray format on Wednesday, days after Toshiba Corp pulled the plug on the rival HD DVD format, as key studios and retailers also took Blu-ray's side. The online retailer said it would continue to sell HD DVD products for customers who already use that format.

Investors who have written off 2008 as a year of an economic slowdown and depressing stock market returns, are already gearing up to face a cocktail of new problems next year.

Fifty-four percent of Americans expect a recession in the next year as the housing downturn deepens, inlfation rises and credit conditions worsen, according to a new poll released Wednesday. As economic anxiety grows, nearly half said they planned to use their government tax rebate checks to pay down debt or pad savings.

British bank Alliance & Leicester on Wednesday suffered a double blow from the impact of financial market turmoil, warning of sharply higher funding costs to add to a big writedown on the value of risky assets. Britain's seventh largest listed bank is estimating higher funding costs as it seeks to avoid a crisis that hit rival Northern Rock last year.

Nokia highlighted the role of its N-Gage mobile telephone and handheld game system, in evolving mobile games industry including the impact of the mobile devices on entertainment around the world, during the on-going Games Developers Conference in San Francisco.

The Mozilla Foundation announced that it has started a new mail-focused subsidiary in hopes that its mail client can become more viable in the face of mainstream competition.

Intel unveiled a new high-end computing platform at the Game Developers Conference on Tuesday, which includes two quad-core processors and graphic cards.

Copper prices rose reaching a four-month high amid strong Chinese demand London Metal Exchange inventories which continue to drop.

Gold futures rallied near 3 percent on Tuesday, gaining the most in almost seven weeks on speculation of a weaker dollar while platinum surged more than 4 percent to another record high of $2,174 on persisting stockpile concerns from South Africa, the metals top producer.

Crude oil prices rose on Tuesday above $100 a barrel to set a new record before falling slightly on speculation that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries may diminish oil output next month and after an explosion shut off operations in a U.S. refinery.

The end of the format battle is finally here. Toshiba said overnight that it would withdraw from the HD DVD business causing U.S.-listed shares of Sony Corp rallied to a 3-week high on Tuesday on optimism about sales of its PlayStation 3 video game consoles and Blu-ray DVD players.

Oil prices surged more than 4 percent on Tuesday to hit a record over $100 a barrel on expectations OPEC will keep production levels steady when it meets next month. News Nigerian oil delta rebel leader Henry Okah had died raised worries about supplies from the OPEC country, but a spokesman for the government later said he was alive and in custody.

The dollar is weaker against the euro and Aussie as the US market returns from holiday, falling to its lowest level in 3-months versus the Aussie at 0.9236 and a 2-week low against the euro at 1.4756.