IBT Staff Reporter

Publisher HarperCollins said on Wednesday it would make samples from 14 new book titles available for Apple Inc's Web-browsing iPhone in a new effort to extend publishing into digital formats.

Aluminum company Alcoa Inc. said on Wednesday it named Klaus Kleinfeld, the former president and chief executive officer of Siemens AG, as its president and chief operating officer.

Countrywide Financial Corp shares fell as much as 9.2 percent on Wednesday after the largest U.S. mortgage lender was downgraded to sell from buy by a Merrill Lynch & Co. analyst, who said bankruptcy may be possible if liquidity worsens.

World oil demand forecasts are falling into a widening range, adding to uncertainty that may steer OPEC towards doing nothing when it meets on September 11, analysts said on Wednesday.

The region is still a safer bet than struggling U.S. and European markets despite an expected dip in investment due to higher borrowing costs from the U.S. subprime crises.

While India is doing away with some symbols of British rule, such as the names of some cities and towns, other things, such as language and the university system remain firmly entrenched.

Britain said on Wednesday it would ease restrictions on livestock movements and was likely to stand down vaccination teams after initial tests for foot and mouth disease at a farm and theme park proved negative.

A bridge that collapsed in China killing at least 36 people broke apart like a pat of beancurd because there were apparently no steel reinforcement bars, state media said on Wednesday, quoting a rescuer.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh marked the 60th anniversary of independence from British rule by urging the country to work harder to free itself from the shackles of poverty, ignorance and disease.

Democratic presidential hopefuls have seized on the deepening U.S. mortgage crisis and gyrating financial markets as signs they would be better stewards of the economy, but Republicans argue the outlook is strong.

Most U.S. voters think the economy is in fair shape, at best, and will grow at a slow pace over the next six months, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.

Central banks on Wednesday progressively withdrew the cash they recently injected into money markets as the focus of the global credit storm rolled into emerging markets and currencies.

Organic and natural foods grocer Whole Foods Market Inc. said late on Tuesday it is investigating the release of proprietary business information by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which it claimed violated a court confidentiality order.

Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. is in talks to buy a Ford Motor Co. financing unit in India as a way to secure an additional license to beef up what it can offer clients in that expanding market.

Retailer Macy's Inc. posted a lower quarterly profit and cut its full-year outlook on Wednesday, sending its shares down.

U.S. futures exchanges are trying to get other futures companies to step in and ease Sentinel Management Group Inc's concerns about client redemptions, a Commodity Futures Trading Commission official said on Tuesday.

U.S. consumer prices edged up in July while a measure of manufacturing activity in New York this month dipped slightly, according to data released on Wednesday that was unlikely to sway an inflation-wary Federal Reserve. While the Fed said last week that inflation was its top concern, it also acknowledged that the housing market downturn had led to tightening credit terms for some households and businesses.

Deere & Co. said on Wednesday its net earnings in the latest quarter rose a better-than-expected 23 percent, driven by strong overseas sales of tractors and other equipment.

Japan's Nikkei plumbed a 2007 low and other Asian stock markets fell as much as 6 percent on Wednesday as investors shunned risky trades amid growing credit jitters, pushing the yen to a 4 and a half month high. The nervous sentiment is set to hit Europe, where financial bookmakers are calling for falls of half a percent or more for major indexes.

Consumer appetite for digital cameras so far this year has grown twice as fast as expected, as buyers replace older models at cheaper prices, according to research firm IDC.

U.S. broadcaster CBS settled its termination dispute with fired radio shock jock Don Imus on Tuesday, a possible step toward Imus reviving his multimillion-dollar career with a rival broadcaster.

U.S. stocks skidded on Tuesday on fresh signs that global credit markets were seizing up, while a lower profit forecast from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. renewed worries about consumer spending. Wal-Mart's pessimistic outlook and subsequent news that a U.S. investment firm wants to halt redemptions delivered a one-two punch to already shaky confidence.

U.S. consumers are showing signs of lethargy and have retreated from their free-spending ways.

Citigroup Inc. could suffer as much as $1 billion of after-tax losses from credit turmoil in the third quarter, analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. said on Tuesday.

Fallout from the global credit crunch spread to Canada on Tuesday with a rating agency warning of possible defaults in the C$116 billion ($109 billion) market for asset-backed commercial paper, one issuer saying it couldn't repay paper that is due, and a mortgage lender saying its profits could be hurt.

Trouble is mounting in the $2.2 trillion commercial paper market, and further deterioration could trigger problems for banks that would rival what they've suffered from the subprime crisis.

Swiss bank UBS, the world's largest wealth manager, beat forecasts with record second-quarter profits on Tuesday but warned market turmoil was likely to hit its investment banking business in the second half of the year.

British authorities said on Tuesday they were investigating two new suspected cases of foot and mouth disease, raising fears that an existing outbreak of the livestock disease may not have been contained.

The powerful head of India's ruling Congress party stood firm behind a controversial nuclear deal with the United States on Tuesday as fresh efforts were launched to convince communist allies who have rejected it.