IBT Staff Reporter

The Vancouver housing market is attracting unusually strong demand but Canada as a whole does not face a housing bubble that requires government action, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said on Wednesday.

Demi Lovato spent most of last year out of the limelight because of personal issues. While many celebrities were supportive of her leave and even more supportive upon her comeback, the star reveals that only two actually called her while in treatment--Kim Kardashian and Selena Gomez.

A disturbing tape of an incoherent, slurring Michael Jackson speaking to his personal physician, Conrad Murray, was played in court during Murray's trial for involuntary manslaughter Wednesday.

A years-long investigation into whether Bank of New York Mellon Corp and other banks overcharged clients on foreign-exchange transactions has risen to a new level with a civil fraud action by federal prosecutors who police Wall Street.

The euro zone's services sector shrank for the first time in two years in September as new orders dried up, stoking fears that the region's economy could be heading back into recession.

Manitoba voters re-elected the New Democratic Party government on Tuesday, which won a record-matching fourth straight majority in the western Canadian farm and mining province.

A high stakes patent trial between Oracle and Google will likely be postponed beyond its currently scheduled October 31 start date, a U.S. judge said in a court filing.

Fred Shuttlesworth, a prominent civil rights leader who worked alongside Martin Luther King Jr. and Ralph Abernathy, died in Birmingham, Ala., on Wednesday. He was 89.

Salesforce.com Inc and Oracle Corp engaged in a public spat over a keynote speech on Wednesday, highlighting the software companies' increasingly bitter rivalry.

Stocks added to gains in afternoon trading on Wednesday, with the Nasdaq Composite up more than 2 percent and the S&P 500 rising more than 1 percent.

Stocks advanced on Wednesday as better-than-expected U.S. economic data and signs that officials were moving forward to help struggling European banks reassured nervous investors.

Large banks need to tie more employees' compensation to the risks their decisions pose to their institutions, through such things as deferred pay, the Federal Reserve said in a report released on Wednesday.

Frequent fliers are getting a chance at an expedited security process at select airports through TSA’s new PreCheck program.

Banks in France, Italy and across Europe are under renewed scrutiny for signs they will follow Dexia and need state help as policymakers talk up the need to raise capital to halt a euro zone crisis.

U.S. bank profits have been rising steadily for more than a year, but the recovery may be losing momentum due to weak loan demand and low lending rates.

Wikipedia has disabled its Italian website in protest against a privacy law drafted by Silvio Berlusconi's government which would impose new restrictions on newspapers and Internet pages and curb police wiretaps.

Rival smartphone makers could exploit a rare letdown by Apple in the launch of its new iPhone 4S model, which failed to wow fans, and grab a bigger share of the most lucrative part of the phone market.

U.S. stocks floated higher on Wednesday as stronger-than-expected U.S. economic data and signs that officials were moving forward to prop up struggling European banks reassured nervous investors.

For Sara Darwiche, it has been more than problematic running her fast-paced Internet company out of Lebanon, a country with Internet access that is among the worst in the world.

The International Monetary Fund urged Europe on Wednesday to pump as much as 200 billion euros into its banks and warned of a freeze in lending and an ensuing recession if the region's leaders failed to do more to reassure panicky investors.

Growth in the U.S. service sector was steady in September and private hiring picked up, suggesting the economy was not yet slipping into recession.

DUBAI - Nearly two years after it was forced to go cap in hand to neighbor Abu Dhabi for a bailout, a chastened Dubai has ringfenced vulnerable assets, forced banks to bolster reserves and deferred debt maturities.

Seattle police threatened protesters with arrest if they did not take down the tents they had set up in Westlake Park. The Occupy protests have spread across the country in a matter of weeks.

A source at Oracle Corp denied the company had canceled the keynote speech of Salesforce.com Inc Chief Executive Marc Benioff at Oracle OpenWorld and said Oracle had instead changed the time of the speech.

Stocks were little changed on Wednesday as European finance ministers appeared ready to prop up struggling banks while reports on the U.S. labor market and services sector came in stronger than expected.

The world’s only remaining dry Oktoberfest in Cullman, Alabama gets wet this year, sipping its first taste of beer freedom.

A Belgian record label that gets fans to fund its bands and identifies future stars by tracking Facebook and Twitter, has scored three number one hits in the past year.

Amanda Knox's acquittal was surprising, but not among the most controversial acquittals. Here are five not-guilty verdicts that were even more surprising.

Costco Wholesale Corp is increasing annual membership fees by 10 percent for 22 million members, a long-awaited move that pleased analysts even as fourth-quarter profit missed forecasts.