IBT Staff Reporter

Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile will allow customers in Germany to buy Apple's iPhone without having to sign a T-Mobile contract after rival Vodafone obtained a court injunction against it.

India and the International Atomic Energy Agency agreed on Wednesday to start negotiations on putting Indian reactors under IAEA safeguards, clearing a key hurdle to closing a U.S.-Indian nuclear supply pact.

Asset manager BlackRock is set to be signed up as the manager of a $75 billion fund being put together by U.S. banks to help struggling structured investment vehicles (SIVs), the Financial Times said, without citing the source of the information.

Stocks slid on Wednesday as fears of more credit losses and mortgage defaults sunk shares of financial services companies, while worries about the impact of near record crude oil prices hit retailers and shares of big manufacturers.

Dubai raised almost $5 billion selling a stake in port operator DP World in the Middle East's largest IPO, setting the scene for perhaps the biggest test for the emirate's two-year-old bourse where the shares will trade.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf returned from Saudi Arabia on Wednesday expecting to be sworn in as a civilian leader in days, having already freed thousands of detainees held under emergency rule.

World stocks and the dollar tumbled on Wednesday while the yen and government bonds soared as concerns for the health of the U.S. economy stirred the biggest wave of risk aversion since August in global financial markets.

Gold briefly traded over $800 an ounce on Wednesday, bringing recent 28-year highs back into view as oil topped $99 per barrel and the dollar plumbed record lows against the euro.

U.S. oil surged to a nominal all-time high of $99.29 a barrel on November 21, boosting the annual average price to $69.97.

Chrysler LLC's recent decision to cut up to 10,000 factory jobs and slash production in North America tested the credibility of the automaker's new private equity owner, the head of the Canadian Auto Workers said on Tuesday.

Oil held above $98 a barrel on Wednesday, after closing in on the $100 milestone as the dollar hit new lows and cold weather in the United States, the world's biggest fuel consumer, stirred anxiety over winter supplies.

President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party will win an overwhelming majority in a parliamentary election on December 2 and only one other party will get enough votes to join it, according to a poll on Wednesday.

A growing number of consumers say they plan to spend less on gifts this holiday season than last year, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll, the latest sign of a potentially bleak Christmas for retailers. A total of 38.8 percent of those surveyed said they would spend a little less or a lot less this year, up from 31.1 percent a month ago, according to the poll.

Northern Rock shares fell over uncertainty about the bank’s price on Tuesday after a pair of suitors submitted bids for the embattled UK bank.

Credit market trouble struck again on Tuesday as Freddie Mac, the second largest U.S. mortgage finance company reported a big loss of more than $2 billion for its latest quarter, prompting the firm to say that it may cut its dividend investors.

Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Yahoo Inc. announced Tuesday they reached a licensing deal that will allow Yahoo portal users to upload music or video files from the record label.

Concerns of a relapse in financial conditions trumped hawkish rhetoric from the minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve's October rate meeting, keeping market expectations for a near-term interest-rate cut intact. Minutes from the October 30-31 Federal Open Market Committee meeting showed the Fed's decision to cut benchmark rates last month was a close call and an insurance policy against the risk the economy would weaken even more than officials expect.

Fresh off multi-billion write downs, officials at two major financial services firms are being sued by shareholders alleging that they concealed heavy exposure to risky subprime mortgages.

ValueVision Media, Inc. shares rose on Tuesday despite the media company's report of a third-quarter loss on Monday.

Hurray! Holding Co, a China-based artist development and wireless music company, announced on Monday it would merge with Enlight Media, an entertainment production company.

Crude oil zoomed to a record close above $98 per barrel in New York on Tuesday as investors sold off the dollar, sending it to a record low against the euro.

The Federal Reserve was unsure last month whether lower borrowing costs were needed to cushion the U.S. economy from a housing slump and credit market woes but, in a close call, decided to cut interest rates as an insurance policy, minutes of the meeting released on Tuesday show.

Advertising dollars at U.S. print newspapers continued to fall in the third quarter, declining by 7.4 percent, according the latest industry report.

Serbian and Kosovo Albanian leaders failed in talks on Tuesday to break a deadlock over the breakaway Serb province, but agreed to hold three days of negotiations next week ahead of a December 10 deadline to try to reach a compromise, mediators said.

Weeping relatives gathered in cemeteries around Donetsk, heart of the Donbass coalfield, on Tuesday to bury the dead from Ukraine's worst mining accident.Flags in the ex-Soviet state were adorned with black ribbons and flew at half mast on a national day of mourning for at least 89 people killed in Sunday's methane blast.

The Federal Reserve debated in October whether it needed more evidence the economy had been damaged by the housing slump and market turmoil before deciding to cut rates as an insurance policy, minutes of the meeting released on Tuesday show.

Freddie Mac, the second-largest U.S. mortgage finance company, on Tuesday posted a wider third-quarter loss and said it may slash its dividend and raise new capital as it works through what it called an extremely difficult year for housing and credit markets.

The dollar dropped to a record low versus the euro on Tuesday, amid worries that credit-market turmoil will result in slower economic growth and lower interest rates from the Federal Reserve.

Stocks rose slightly following strong results from Hewlett-Packard Co. and a gain in the price of oil boosted energy companies which encouraged bargain investors to trade before the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve's last meeting.