IBT Staff Reporter

Sprint Nextel Corp.(NYSE:S), which is currently in need of a new chief executive, refused a $5 million investment bid that would have installed the former chairman as CEO, according to a report released Thursday.

President Bush asked Congress to approve billions of additional dollars to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on Thursday.

Police in New Zeland are questioning an 18-year-old suspected of being part of an international team of cyber hackers that infected and disabled more than 1.3 million computers in the U.S. and the Netherlands last year.

A British teacher based in Sudan was found guilty on Thursday of insulting Islam and was sentenced to 15 days imprisonment for naming a teddy bear Mohammed, British authorities reported.

While Nintendo's hot selling Wii game console has been making headlines and new video game fans, shortages of the console mean third-party developers are getting a smaller piece of the gaming revenue pie, says one analyst.

Morgan Stanley Co-President Zoe Cruz is retiring as the subprime mortgage crisis ends a 25-year tenure for a woman who had been seen as the front-runner to succeed Chief Executive John Mack.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Thursday a resurgence in financial strains in recent weeks had dimmed the outlook for the U.S. economy, signaling an openness to lowering interest rates again. He said the Fed will have to remain exceptionally alert and flexible.

Officials in South Korea said that the death of a man, found with a burnt cell phone in his chest-pocket, was really a victim of accidental vehicular homicide.

Users of Apple's portable entertainment devices may be getting a less entertaining, more functional surprise as the world's largest software maker plans to port office documents for the iPod.

Apple fans leap for joy as AT&T leaks news of a 3G Apple iPhone in 2008 leaving analysts speculating whether there even exists a market for such a high-speed phone.

AT&T’s chief executive said Thursday that there will be a new edition of the iPhone available next year that will use 3G technology for faster data access.

Hewlett-Packard Co. in the third quarter continued to expand its lead over rivals in the global PC market, while Taiwan based Acer saw the largest increase, displacing Dell as the world's No. 2 notebook maker.

Google Inc is looking to improve the relevancy of its search results as it tests out a new feature that lets users vote for or against search results, in a way similar to selection process at community content sharing site Digg.

Dell Inc the world's second-largest personal computer maker, posted a rise in quarterly profit on Thursday but gave a cautious outlook, and its shares dropped nearly 7 percent. Net income for Dell's fiscal third quarter grew to $766 million, or 34 cents per share, from $601 million, or 27 cents per share, a year earlier, as the company sold more laptops and component prices fell. Revenue in the quarter ended November 2 rose to $15.65 billion from $14.42 billion.

Treasuries and three-month bill yields dropped to less than 3 percent amid great concerns over banks’ willingness to lend that led investors to relative safety of U.S. government debt.

Britain's FTSE 100 index remained steady on Thursday, with an increase in commodity stocks due to speculations for M&A and higher raw material prices.

The dollar rose against the euro on Thursday after Goldman Sachs analysts said the dollar’s drop may be at an end and a new report indicated weaker consumer confidence in France, one of Europe’s key economies.

Adani group-promoted Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone Ltd (MPSEZL) debuted on the Bombay Stock Exchange, Tuesday, Nov. 27, at a 75 percent premium over its issue price of Rs.440 and closed 118.57 percent above at Rs.961.70.

Soft sales and plunging prices for new homes together with a surge in claims for new jobless benefits highlighted a slide in U.S. economic activity that forced the Bush administration on Thursday to scale back its estimate for growth in 2008.

India's largest real estate firm, in terms of market capitalisation, DLF Ltd, said it will hold equal stakes with Adrian Zecha, founder of luxury hotel chain, Aman Resorts, in the Singapore-based company in a transaction valued at $400 million.

Suited executives, grungy teens and even some savvy grannies are already using Wi-Fi to wirelessly link their laptops to the Internet. It may not be long before the short-range high-speed technology is just as popular for those looking to connect music players, phones, cameras, game consoles and more.

Hinduja group company Hyderabad-based Gulf Oil Corporation has received permission from the Karnataka state government to develop a 40-acre IT Park at Yellahanka.

E*Trade Financial Corp is getting a $2.55 billion cash infusion from investors led by Citadel Investment Group, which is also buying the mortgage-related securities portfolio that has been the primary source of the discount brokerage's recent woes. The bail-out by Chicago-based Citadel will give the alternative fund manager about 18 percent ownership of E*Trade and a seat on the board, E*Trade said on Thursday.

Gold fell on Thursday as the dollar rose, dulling the metal's attraction for non-U.S. investors as an alternative investment.

Oil gave back nearly all of its big gains on Thursday after Enbridge Pipeline said its fire-damaged crude pipeline in Minnesota could resume normal operations within days.An explosion along the Canada-to-United States pipeline, which supplies more than 10 percent of U.S. crude imports, killed two workers and choked off crude flows Wednesday.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said after peace talks in Washington that failure to negotiate a two-state solution with the Palestinians could threaten Israel's long-term survival.

India Infoline Investment Services (IIIS) has announced that it has sold 22.5 percent stake to Singapore-based private equity investor Orient Global, founded by emerging markets expert Richard Chandler, for $76.7 million (Rs.300 crore).

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said on Thursday he would end a state of emergency next month, bowing to domestic and international pressure to restore normal government ahead of general elections in January.

The JSW Group, a part of the $4 billion O. P. Jindal Group has announced its plans of injecting Rs.7525 crore in four different projects in Tamil Nadu within the next three years.