IBT Staff Reporter

Studying the potential health hazards of nanotechnology will require an additional $24 million a year to close the knowledge gap about the tiny particles used in a fast-growing array of consumer products, the National Research Council said on Wednesday.

Google Inc, which revolutionized Internet searches with an easy-to-use website, has itself become an increasingly tricky business to grasp.

The European Central Bank has ruled out taking voluntary losses on its Greek bond holdings but is now debating how it would handle any forced losses and whether to explore legal options to avoid such a hit, central bank sources told Reuters on Wednesday.

The European Central Bank has ruled out taking voluntary losses on its Greek bond holdings but is now debating how it would handle any forced losses and whether to explore legal options to avoid such a hit, central bank sources told Reuters on Wednesday.

J.C. Penney Co Inc is doing away with deep discounts in favor of offering shoppers simpler pricing, and plans to carve up its stores into about 100 shops featuring specific brands, the department store's new executive team said on Wednesday.

Big profits from Apple and a promise from the Federal Reserve to keep rock-bottom rates for at least two more years powered the U.S. stock market higher on Wednesday.

Airbus blamed a recent series of A380 wing cracks on a combination of design and manufacturing flaws and said it had worked out a two-stage solution, while stressing the superjumbo was in the meantime safe to fly.

Netflix Inc's fourth-quarter revenue outpaced Wall Street's expectations as the video rental website reversed subscriber losses to sign up more than 600,000 new U.S. customers in the period, pushing its shares up 12 percent.

Boeing Co said on Wednesday that a pension expense larger than Wall Street had anticipated would weigh on its 2012 earnings, but it handed investors good news with expectations for increased commercial aircraft deliveries this year.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke signaled on Wednesday the central bank may consider further monetary easing, after the central bank announced interest rates would remain near zero until late 2014.

A huge banner in Davos trumpets India's launch of a $35 tablet computer and U.S. group Medtronic Inc is hoping to launch a similar low-cost revolution in medical devices like pacemakers.

Netflix on Wednesday announced fourth quarter earnings of $40.7 million, or 73 cents a share, beating out Wall Street expectations of 55 cents a share.

The arrival of the man known as the Warren Buffett of North on Research In Motion's board this week offers a ray of hope to the BlackBerry maker's impatient shareholders after their disappointment that an insider was named new chief executive.

Symantec Corp took the rare step of advising customers to stop using one of its products, saying its pcAnywhere software for accessing remote PCs is at increased risk of getting hacked after blueprints of that software were stolen.

Motorola Mobility, which is seeking regulatory approval to be bought by Google Inc, has filed a new lawsuit against Apple Inc accusing the iPhone maker of infringing its technology patents.

The U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday said it will not raise interest rates until at least late 2014, even later than investors expected, in an effort to support a sluggish economic recovery.

When Apple Inc set up its customer service plan for the iPhone, it seems to have had the best intentions of humanity in mind -- any phone under warranty can get serviced because it's the phone that's tied to the warranty, not the owner.

Sometimes Maggie Smith worries that she may outlive her savings.

Following is the Federal Open Market Committee's statement on interest rate policy issued at the close of its meeting on Wednesday:

Europe proposed strict new data privacy rules on Wednesday, putting greater responsibility on companies such as Facebook to protect users' information, and threatening those who breach the code with hefty fines.

The U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday said it will not raise interest rates until at least late 2014, even later than investors expected, in an effort to support a sluggish economic recovery.

Merrill Lynch agreed to pay a $1 million fine for failing to arbitrate disputes with employees about retention bonuses related to its 2009 merger with Bank of America Corp , the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority said on Wednesday.

Beyond Oblivion, a digital music startup backed by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp and investment bank Allen & Co Director Stanley Shuman has filed for bankruptcy protection after spending millions of dollars building a service that never saw the light of day.

More than half the recent global investment in commercial real estate found a home in just 30 cities with a quarter spent in London, Tokyo, New York, Hong Kong and Paris, according to real estate services company Jones Lang LaSalle .

Global growth is slowing rapidly and the possibility of ample economic slack means risks of damaging deflation are rising in some G20 member economies, the International Monetary Fund said in a paper published on Wednesday.

The deal could help USA Today become one of the most-visited sports properties online.

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday pushed back the likely timing of an eventual interest rate hike until late 2014, much later than it had previously said, as it nurses a still-sluggish economic recovery.

The Nasdaq rose on Wednesday, powered by a strong earnings report from Apple, while the Dow and S&P 500 turned higher after the Federal Reserve said it would keep interest rates near zero through at least 2014.

Danny Robbie Hembree Jr., a death row inmate in North Carolina, sent a chilling letter to his hometown newspaper on Wednesday, mocking the legal system for allowing him to live a life of leisure in prison.