GERMANY

Pakistan hopes to win a seat on the U.N. Security Council as a temporary member alongside archrival India when the United Nations holds annual elections to the 15-nation body on Friday.

French First Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy gave birth to a baby girl on Wednesday night. It is her first child with her husband French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

U.S. stocks closed decidedly in the negative territory on Wednesday as high expectations regarding the Eurozone bailout were dimmed.

Coalition of U.S. solar cells and panels makers have petitioned the U.S. government to stop rising tide of heavily subsidized product entering the American market from China's state-supported solar industry.

As Porsche prepares to introduce the Cajun model, the company announced the expansion of its production facility in Leipzig, Germany.

Gold eased on Wednesday as growing hopes of a resolution to the Eurozone debt crisis persuaded investors to shrug off a downgrade to Spain's credit rating and buy riskier assets such as equities.

Nasdaq index futures fell on Wednesday after technology heavyweight Apple missed earnings expectations, while the broader market was little changed after a big run-up in the last session on a report Europe may beef up its crisis fund.

French on-line music streaming service Deezer will launch in more than 100 countries in the coming weeks, and the start-up is negotiating with roughly a dozen telecom operators on partnerships in a bid to expand its global reach.

Gold prices held steady on Wednesday, shrugging off the downgrade of Spain's sovereign credit rating, as investors wait for clarity on Europe's plans to tackle the debt crisis at this weekend's European Union summit.

No agreement has yet been reached on scaling up the size of the Eurozone's bailout fund to better tackle the debt crisis, two senior European Union officials said on Wednesday.

European stock index futures jumped on Wednesday, tracking a rise in Asian shares, but a cut to Spain's sovereign credit rating from Moody's Investors Service kept investors' risk appetite in check.

If there's nothing to fear but fear itself, as President Franklin Roosevelt contended during the Great Depression, then the world economy in 2011 has reached an interesting juncture between sentiment and reality.

A double-notch downgrade to Spain's credit ratings has piled more pressure on European leaders to make rapid progress on solving the region's debt crisis or face unbearable borrowing costs.

The GOP presidential hopefuls -- except for former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman -- came together yet again to debate in Nevada Tuesday. Former Massachusetts Gov. Romney deftly neutralized the attacks, even using them to make presidential-sounding comments aimed at general election voters.

Samsung Electronics Co. and Google Inc. has announced the Galaxy Nexus, a new smartphone that's running a new Android operating system called the Ice Cream Sandwich. Google's Ice Cream Sandwich a mobile software than can run on both tablet computers and smartphones.

Europe's highest court has ruled that scientists can't patent embryonic stem cell techniques for research. Scientists call the move devastating, but Christian and moral rights groups hail it as a victory against the commercialization of the human body. The case was triggered when German Greenpeace charged Dr. Oliver Bruestle with violating public order and morality.

Adbusters, the left-leaning magazine that ignited the Occupy Wall Street protests, said the movement should get behind one solid demand -- a 1 percent Robin Hood tax on financial transactions and currency trades.

The leaders of the most powerful nations in Europe, France and Germany, have reportedly agreed to increase the size of the Eurozone’s rescue fund to 2 trillion euros ($2.7 trillion) – up from the current 440 billion euro ($604 billion) lending capability -- as part of comprehensive program to find a solution to the debt crisis wreaking havoc across Europe.

China-born researcher Kexue Huang pleads guilty to economic espionage, stealing trade secrets during employment at Dow AgroSciences, Cargill

Apple Inc.'s projection of selling 25 million iPhones by the end of 2011 lends credence from the registered sales of 4 million units of iPhone 4S during the opening weekend.

In just a mere three days after its release, Apple's newest iPhone 4S has already sold over four million units.