IBT Staff Reporter

Online travel agency Expedia Inc on Thursday reported a higher-than-expected profit as travel bookings rose, boosting its shares 2 percent.

Quest Software Inc posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit, helped by a 25 percent jump in license revenue, sending its shares up 6 percent in extended trade.

Two lawsuits have been filed over a gob of toothpaste.

Google Inc's Web search and mobile services in China were blocked on Thursday, according to a message on the company's website.

(Corrects value in second sub-head to $40 bln, not $40 mln)

The Justice Department said on Thursday it sued Oracle Corp, alleging it defrauded the federal government on a software contract in effect from 1998 to 2006 that involved hundreds of millions of dollars in sales.

Department of Environment and Resource Management Director General John Bradley has played down reports of hydrocarbon and possibly mercury contamination of Kogan Creek near Dalby, Queensland.

Medicare aimed at helping half a million Australians on the waiting list for more than two years because they could not afford the high cost of private dental treatment.

Emerging market governments and investors have issued near-record amounts of debt this month and cash-loaded investors, afraid to bet on stocks, have flocked to the relative safety of bonds.

Federal Reserve officials clashed on Thursday over whether the central bank should be more aggressive in supporting the stumbling economy and one said the Fed's current policy may be contributing to worryingly low levels of inflation.

Top U.S. phone carrier AT&T Inc on Thursday named Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco Systems Inc and Juniper Networks as key suppliers for its networks.

New claims for unemployment benefits slipped last week, but stayed at a stubbornly high level that underscored the labor market recovery was having trouble gaining traction.

U.S. stocks sagged in volatile trading on Thursday after weak outlooks from technology companies and downbeat comments from a Federal Reserve official gave investors little reason to buy.

Executive compensation at large and mid-sized U.S. companies is expected to rebound modestly this year after two consecutive years of declines as business conditions improve, according to a survey.

A court in Russia's far east has ordered an Internet provider to block five sites which it said disseminated extreme views, prompting U.S. Internet giant Google to say on Thursday the move restricted access to information.

Buying returned to U.S. stocks on Thursday after a key semiconductor index bounced off its lows, helping to reduce losses and leaving the market little changed.

Stocks recovered earlier losses in choppy trading on Thursday as technology shares cut declines and gains in bank shares helped lift the S&P 500.

The Federal Reserve should consider buying more Treasury securities, instead of promising an extended period of low rates to support recovery, should inflation drift lower, a top Fed official said.

Nvidia Corp shares tumbled 10 percent on Thursday, as analysts slashed price targets after the graphics chipmaker cut its sales outlook.

Senate Republicans blocked a $30-billion plan to help community banks boost lending to small businesses, dealing a blow to President Barack Obama's election-year battle to reduce unemployment.

Trading in Cisco Systems Inc shares was briefly halted on Thursday after triggering a circuit breaker.

France's Sanofi-Aventis is expected to bid up to $18.7 billion for Genzyme Corp by the weekend, but an offer at that price is not likely to sway the U.S. biotech company, sources said on Thursday.

Amazon.com launched a cheaper, wireless-only Kindle on Wednesday, betting that the $139 price will turn its latest electronic reader into a mass-appeal device as Apple Inc's iPad gains ground.

Citigroup Inc will pay U.S. regulators $75 million to settle charges that it failed to disclose $40 billion in subprime exposure to investors in 2007, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Thursday.

Exxon Mobil's quarterly profit jumped 85 percent on surging oil prices and a big rise in refining margins, while Royal Dutch Shell Plc's profits rose 34 percent.

Motorola Inc posted stronger-than-expected quarterly results on strength in its enterprise and network units, boosting its shares despite investors' frustration that its phone sales target wasn't raised.

Mining firm Minerals and Metals Group and the Tasmanian Department of Health & Human Services told Rosebery residents Thursday that results of MMG's extensive soil, dust and water tests in the Tasmanian town, including blood tests on locals, found no evidence that heavy metals have harmed the community's population.

Slashed outlooks from Nvidia Corp and Symantec Corp knocked chipmakers lower on Thursday, raising questions about demand for technology components and igniting a broad selloff.

A one-year-old boy from South Australia afflicted with Goldenhar syndrome does not know how to eat because of a deformed jaw and tongue. His parents feed him through a tube as doctors have given up on how to make him eat normally.