UNITED STATES

Google Inc will build a high-speed Internet network in Kansas City, Kansas, the first site selected by the company's project to spur development of a new generation of Web applications.

Google Inc will allow people to personally endorse search results and Web pages, an important step in its efforts to add social networking capabilities to its products amid increasing competition from Facebook.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc is not interested in a bidding war for U.S. drugmaker Cephalon Inc , and Chief Executive Michael Pearson said on Wednesday he was willing to walk away.

A long-running transatlantic trade dispute over illegal state handouts for Airbus and Boeing comes to a head Thursday with the latest ruling from the World Trade Organization.

Crude oil prices hovered near unchanged on Wednesday in choppy, thin trading after slumping on data showing rising U.S. crude stockpiles even as Libya and Middle East uncertainty limited losses ahead of the close of first-quarter 2011.

U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday as investors positioned themselves for the quarter's end and the S&P 500 attempted to hold above a key technical level.

Search giant Google Inc has settled with U.S. regulators investigating privacy problems that cropped up in its botched roll-out of social network Buzz, the Federal Trade Commission said on Wednesday.

Facebook has taken down a page created by Palestinian supporters which called for a new ‘intifada’ (uprising) against Israel, after Israel officials and U.S. Jewish groups complained.

A group of Lehman Brothers creditors, including the largest U.S. public pension fund and hedge fund Paulson & Co, has asked a bankruptcy judge to consider its reorganization plan for the bankrupt company at the same time that Lehman's own plan is up for consideration.

U.S. securities regulators proposed rules on Wednesday that would require publicly listed companies to have independent compensation committees and make key disclosures about their use of compensation consultants.

President Barack Obama told U.S. students on Wednesday that with rapid growth in China and India, global demand for energy will continue to increase and a solution for reducing U.S. dependence on imported oil would require long term solutions, setting out goals for reducing oil imports and boosting the use of alternative electricity sources decades from now.

U.S. private employers added more than 200,000 jobs in March while planned layoffs fell, underscoring expectations that momentum in the labor market will help underpin the economic recovery.

U.S. chief executives' view of the economy brightened in the first quarter, with 92 percent expecting sales to rise over the next six months and more than half looking to add jobs, according to a survey.

Research In Motion has reached a deal with Intellectual Ventures that will give the BlackBerry maker access to more than 30,000 patents held by the intellectual property company.

The Australian dollar, which was free floated in 1983, just hit an all-time high against the US dollar.

Oil fell on Wednesday, weighed down by swelling crude inventories in the United States, while President Barack Obama was expected to set an ambitious long-term goal to cut oil imports.

Barclays Plc is considering moving its headquarters out of London as the cost of holding more capital threatens to make it less attractive than rival financial centers, people familiar with the matter said.

Family Dollar Stores Inc sees higher-than-expected yearly profit after more shoppers flocked to its stores for low-priced holiday items and groceries and spent a little bit more on average.

U.S. private employers added 201,000 jobs in March, while February's figure was revised down slightly, a report by a payrolls processor showed on Wednesday.

The British government has expelled five Libyan diplomats who allegedly could pose a threat to UK national security.

U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday as data showed private-sector job creation while acquisition activity lifted sentiment.