IBT Staff Reporter

Plagued by a second day of service outages spanning four continents, Research In Motion's (RIM) management is facing a precarious time in the days ahead. In early September, investor and merchant bank Jaguar Financial released a statement saying it was raising support amongst BlackBerry partners for the sale of a portion of the company or some other method of maximizing shareholder value.

Dawn spacecraft discovers huge mountain on asteroid.

In the UK, a team of scientists have set out on an Antarctic expedition to get to the bottom of climate change mysteries. Quite literally, the group is planning to drill through three kilometers of Antarctic ice in order get samples from its lake.

Electronics giant Sony Corp suffered a fresh blow on Wednesday after several of its Bravia LCD televisions sets emitted smoke or parts began to melt, a company official said on Wednesday.

EBay Inc is set to deepen its relationship with social network leader Facebook at a developer conference this week, a person familiar with the e-commerce company said on Tuesday.

France's cabinet on Wednesday approved a law paving the way for the government to guarantee over one third of Franco-Belgian lender Dexia SA's potential losses on toxic debt, as called for in a rescue deal inked early this week.

Stock index futures rose on Wednesday, putting the benchmark S&P 500 on track for its sixth day of gains in the past seven, as Slovakia moved to reach a deal on expanding the euro zone rescue fund.

Britain's economy is likely to get steadily weaker through the rest of this year, and the Bank of England's future decisions on asset purchases will be largely driven by overseas developments, BoE chief economist Spencer Dale told Reuters.

PepsiCo Inc reported slightly better-than-expected quarterly earnings on Wednesday and affirmed its full-year target, helped by international growth and the acquisition of a Russian beverage company.

Hong Kong's PCCW Ltd <0008.HK> got the green light from shareholders on Wednesday for its plan to spin off and list its multi-billion dollar telecoms unit, paving the way for owner Richard Li to create the media empire he has long yearned for.

The euro zone economy risks a protracted period of weakness while inflation is not a worry, European Central Bank policymaker Ewald Nowotny said, expecting price pressures in the bloc to fall below the ECB's target level next year.

Stock index futures rose on Wednesday, putting the benchmark S&P 500 on track for its sixth day of gains in the past seven, as Slovakia moved to reach a deal on expanding the euro zone rescue fund.

Dexia Crediop, the Italian public financing arm of bailed-out Franco-Belgian bank Dexia , will soon be put up for sale, a source close to the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.

Sony Corp will recall 1.6 million of its Bravia brand LCD televisions worldwide after several incidents of TV sets emitting smoke or parts melting due to faulty components, a company official said on Wednesday.

Millions of BlackBerry users around the world were left without text communication services for a third day on Wednesday as Research in Motion struggled to fix what it said was a switching failure in its private network.

Eurogroup Chairman Jean-Claude Juncker has proposed 10 steps for solving the Eurozone crisis including automatic sanctions for fiscally irresponsible governments, greater authority for the Commission and a dividend for taxpayers who rescue banks.

Eurogroup Chairman Jean-Claude Juncker has proposed ten steps for solving the euro zone crisis including automatic sanctions for fiscally irresponsible governments, greater authority for the Commission and a dividend for taxpayers who rescue banks.

A Russian court is expected to throw out a $2.8 billion lawsuit against two BP executives on the board of the British major's Russian joint venture, TNK-BP , a lawyer for BP said on Wednesday.

Samsung Electronics Co said on Wednesday it will soon release upgraded versions of three Galaxy smartphones in Europe to get around temporary sales bans on earlier versions of products that violated an Apple patent.

Britain's economy is likely to get steadily weaker through the rest of this year, and the Bank of England's future decisions on asset purchases will be largely driven by overseas developments, BoE chief economist Spencer Dale told Reuters.

Stock index futures pointed to a slightly lower open on Wall Street on Wednesday, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.26 percent, Dow Jones futures down 0.14 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.22 percent at 0740 GMT.

World stocks slipped below an earlier three-week high on Wednesday while top-rated government bonds rose as a weak start to the U.S. earnings season and Slovakia's rejection of a plan to expand the euro zone rescue fund kept investors nervous.

Infosys Ltd , India's No.2 software services exporter, reported a 9.7-percent rise in quarterly profit and cut its full-year revenue outlook by less-than-expected, cheering investors who shrugged off its warning about global economic uncertainty.

An Australian court will hand down its judgment on Thursday on Apple's request to ban the sale of Samsung Electronic's latest tablet computer in Australia.

A rebound in Chinese shares helped lift most Asian stocks into positive territory on Wednesday, but gains were limited by concerns that the threat posed to the global economic outlook by Europe's debt crisis is weighing on corporate earnings.

An Australian court will hand down its judgment on Thursday on Apple's request to ban the sale of Samsung Electronic's latest tablet computer in Australia.

Self-proclaimed Seattle superhero Phoenix Jones, a vigilante crime fighter, is due in court on Thursday to face charges that he assaulted a group of people with pepper spray outside a nightclub.

In his latest campaign video, Texas Governor Rick Perry takes direct aim at Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney over healthcare.

Rick Perry hopes to end a string of poor performances and campaign rival Mitt Romney looks to consolidate his newly regained front-runner status at a U.S. presidential debate for Republicans on Tuesday.