IBT Staff Reporter

S&P 500 Index gained 13.19 points, or 1.18 percent, to trade at 1,192.55 at 09:50 a.m. EDT. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 122.79 points, or 1.12 percent, to trade at 11,130.67. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1.29 percent to trade at 2,508.13.

A suspect package believed to be containing components of a bomb was reportedly found at the Namibian Capital of Windhoek on Thursday. A suitcase checked on to a plane en-route to Munich Germany was intercepted during the loading of an Air Berlin flight. Initial reports from the Germany's Federal Crime Office suggest that the X-ray device revealed batteries that were attached with wires to a detonator and a ticking clock.

Hollywood actress and model Pamela Anderson entered Bigg Boss 4, an Indian television reality show on Wednesday night, creating excitement among television viewers in India.

Verizon resurrects Microsoft's social network-focused phones Kin One and Kin Two from the crypt, christening them Kin ONEm and Kin TWOm in their new avatar.

The FIFA Ethics Committee, on Thursday, banned Nigeria's Amos Adamu and Oceania's Reynald Temarii from voting in the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids on December 2. The ballot will now go ahead with 22 voters deciding between the nine candidate nations.

Boston Federal Reserve's Chairman Eric Rosengren defended the Fed's second round of quantitative easing, stating that it was necessary to avoid deflation and help unemployment. The fact that the U.S. Treasury yields have risen since the Federal Reserve announced a second round of quantitative easing does not mean that the QE2 is failing, Capital Economics said in a note.

Cardinal Health Inc. announced its acquisition of privately-held drug distributor Kinray Inc. for $1.3 billion in cash to expand its presence in community pharmacy.

A global study from Motorola says more people prefer paid TV content rather than free-to-air, despite the latter being more available.

A computer algorithm that matches kidneys to donors could help save lives.

Israel-based IT services provider Ness Technologies is looking to buy two companies in India in the outsourced product development and financial services areas by the end of next year.

Microsoft has announced that it has partnered with Symantec and retailer PC Mall to offer free software security package for small business until December 31.

The first 36 minutes of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1”, produced by Warner Bros, was leaked on Tuesday on the Internet ahead of the movie’s release this Friday.

Retail sales in the U.K. rose by 0.5 percent for the first time in three months during October, according to a report by the Office for National Statistics.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is likely to be detained for questioning over his alleged connection to a rape case. The Director of Prosecution, Marianne Ny, has requested the District Court of Stockholm to detain Assange, claiming that they have not been able to meet with him to accomplish the interrogations.

Sarah Palin, who announced her intent to run for the Presidential bid on Wednesday, seems to be reaching out to the American public in a rather tidy way. Her latest stint on reality TV, coupled with an unfaltering media management, could come along in her pursuit to the White House.

Ford Motor co engineer Xiang Dong Yu, 49, of Beijing, China, pleaded guilty today in federal court to two counts of theft of trade secrets.

Cadillac today introduced the Urban Luxury Concept, which complements its compact dimensions with the design, features and technology for which Cadillac is known.

Hardware partners beware, lock your warehouses or get sued. Oracle filed a suit against Multis on Nov. 9 at U.S. District Court for Northern District of California, for breach of contract under which they were liable for losses, if they failed to secure the partner's hardware.

Caterpillar Inc.'s (CAT) $7.6 billion-acquisition of rival Bucyrus International is likely to trigger a consolidation of the attractive mining equipment industry.

Futures on the S&P 500 gained 11.80 points to 1,189.30, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average are up 87.00 points to 11,082.00 and Nasdaq100 futures are up 25.50 points to 2,122.50.

London Stock Exchange Group said activity on the primary markets picked up with a more than doubling of the total number of new issues. The group lifted its interim dividend by 5 percent to 8.8 pence.

Investec Plc, the specialist bank and wealth manager, posted a "strong" operational performance in the first half, with five of its six core businesses recording a substantial increase in earnings. Third party assets under management grew 4.9 percent to 77.8 billion pounds.

The Chevrolet Volt electric car is the Automobile Magazine's 2011 Automobile of the Year. The award will be presented to Joel Ewanick, GM U.S. Marketing Vice President, on Wednesday at the Los Angeles International Auto Show.

OnLive, a video game streaming company, will begin selling its small gaming console on Thursday for a promotional price of $99.

Facebook is not sure if it's “100 per cent right” in preventing Google’s Gmail and other third party apps from automatically importing email addresses from the social-networking service.

House Democrats re-elected Rep. Nancy Pelosi D-CA as their leader for the next Congress by a large margin on Wednesday as her challenger said the fragmented vote meant moderates should get a say in decision making.

The web retailer has decided to open a movie studio aimed at attracting aspiring filmmakers.

Republican Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski is the projected winner of her tight race for the Senate against challenger and tea-party-backed Republican Joe Miller.

President Obama, last Saturday in Japan, reiterated his administration’s commitment to Russian President Dmitri Medvedev to get the new START Treaty approved by the lame-duck U.S. Senate before the year is out.