IBT Staff Reporter

Three years ago Gabe Collins was on the front line in Kandahar province, one of the most dangerous places in war-ravaged Afghanistan, conducting search and rescue missions with the U.S. Navy.

Investors largely took a wait-and-see approach on Thursday as stocks ended little changed ahead of Friday's key employment report, but tech shares rose after strong earnings from chipmaker Qualcomm.

Investors largely took a wait-and-see approach on Thursday as stocks ended little changed ahead of Friday's key employment report, but tech shares rose after strong earnings from chipmaker Qualcomm.

Coinstar is expected to report net profit of $20.93 million, or 65 cents a share, down 7.1 percent from $22.42 million,or 68 cents a share in the year earlier period..

Advanced Micro Devices' new chief executive delivered an enthusiastic pitch in his debut before Wall Street analysts, telling them he was getting the struggling PC chipmaker fit to fight in a quick-changing computer industry.

Rick Santorum has picked up a last-minute endorsement in Nevada from Sharron Angle, a popular Tea Party figure who ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in 2010. How much will Angle's backing help Santorum's struggling campaign?

Britain's Supreme Court risks jeopardizing extraditions to many neighboring countries if it stops WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange being sent to Sweden for questioning over sex crimes, a lawyer for Swedish prosecutors argued Thursday.

Three days before Super Bowl XLVI, U.S. prosecutors said they seized 16 websites that illegally streamed live sports and pay-per-view events over the Internet, and charged a Michigan man with running nine of those websites.

The Chevrolet Volt stands as the most heavily promoted - and harshly scrutinized - vehicle from General Motors Co in decades. And that's just version 1.0.

The New York Times Co, which is grappling with sinking advertising revenue and a recent change in the top management, said it continued to add subscribers for its digital products in the fourth quarter.

Nearly two dozen U.S. senators have signed a letter to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation, urging it to reinstate funding to Planned Parenthood for breast cancer screening exams for low-income women, The Washington Post is reporting.

An elite club of bankers traditionally close to London's mining companies stand to earn their firms a share of a $140 million fee pot if the proposed merger between Glencore and Xstrata succeeds.

Stocks seesawed in a tight range on Thursday as earnings reports drove individual shares, while a drop in jobless claims pointed to a slowly healing labor market before Friday's employment report.

Zynga shares jumped as much as 22 percent on Thursday in the first trading session after Facebook revealed it made 12 percent of its revenue last year from the video game publisher.

Shareholder group Ethos called for Novartis investors to vote against re-electing board members who were among those deciding on the pay awarded to the Swiss drugmaker's chairman, Daniel Vasella.

Quarterly earnings at U.S. chains including Abercrombie & Fitch Co and Ann Inc took a big hit from deep discounts they offered to clear out clothes stocked for snow and cold that never came.

Competition watchdogs are stifling those companies still braving economic uncertainty to attempt mergers and acquisitions, say bankers and lawyers who claim the burden of bureaucracy has intensified with the financial crisis.

Facebook aims to connect all two billion Internet users. So far it has captured 845 million of them. Of the rest, nearly 60 percent live in Asia and hooking them is going to be a daunting challenge.

Three days before Super Bowl XLVI, federal prosecutors said they have seized 16 websites that illegally streamed live sports and pay-per-view events over the Internet, and charged a Michigan man with running nine of those websites.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Thursday defended the U.S. central bank's policies against charges from Republican lawmakers they risked sparking inflation, saying the economy still needs plenty of support.

Facebook unveiled plans for the biggest ever Internet IPO that could raise as much as $10 billion, but made it clear CEO Mark Zuckerberg will exercise almost complete control over the company, leaving investors with little say.

New claims for unemployment benefits in the United States fell more than expected last week, pointing to further healing in the nation's battered jobs market.

Spain and France gained respite at bond auctions on Thursday highlighting a rally in euro zone government debt markets since the European Central Bank flooded banks with cheap money in December.

Dow Chemical Co's quarterly profit and revenue missed Wall Street's expectations as demand for electronics, plastics and coatings plunged, causing the company to slash production and aggressively discount some products.

Depending on who you ask, Facebook is either the best company to go public since Google or the hallmark of another tech bubble.

Zynga shares jumped as much as 22 percent on Thursday in the first trading session after Facebook revealed it made 12 percent of its revenue last year from the video game publisher.

Europe's financial crisis still threatens the U.S. recovery, and the Federal Reserve will do everything it can to protect against damage to the economy, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Thursday.

Europe's financial crisis still threatens the U.S. recovery, and the Federal Reserve will do everything it can to protect against damage to the economy, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Thursday.