IBT Staff Reporter

Asian stocks slid and the euro struggled near a two-week low on Wednesday as investors unwound risky positions before the quarter-end amid heightened concerns over banks' funding conditions in Europe.

Gold prices advanced further in Asian trade Wednesday mainly on weak stocks amid rising concerns over Europe's credit crisis and weak US economy.

Good monsoon, high gold prices and global trends may help silver outperform the yellow metal in India.Indians love to possess silver in their homes and after gold silver is the most sought after metal in Indian households for jewellery. Since gold prices are touching Rs 19,000 per 10 gm, many rural families are now switching to silver.

Melbourne's education sector may become the next victim of CBD's rising rates, according to Herron Todd White.

UBS AG has re-filed a suit against Highland Capital Management LP for $686 million, saying the hedge fund manager provided false financial information to avoid making payments on a transaction, according to court documents.

Newly-installed Prime Minister Julia Gillard has brushed off statements that some school principals were intimidated out of speaking to a task force investigating her Building the Education Revolution program.

New South Wales may be losing their technology chiefs as Stephen Wilson will step down on his post as the Department of Education and Training chief information officer.

Several residents in Tasmania expressed their concerns in one of the area's water supply against toxic waste from plantations.

Google Inc's talks to buy ITA Software, an airline IT and services provider, has travel executives worried that the search engine giant could wield too much power in their industry.

(Corrects spelling of Andreessen Horowitz in second bullet, paragraph 2)

Google Inc will end the automatic redirection of users from its China to its Hong Kong website within the next 24 to 48 hours, a Google spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

A survey report showed that patients seeking treatment at Australian hospital increased at about 20 per cent than five years ago.

Democrats on Tuesday stripped out a controversial $17.9 billion tax from their landmark financial reform bill in a scramble to win the votes needed to pass it through Congress.

The International Monetary Fund is working to develop new lending instruments for economies hit by crises that are not of their own making, IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said on Tuesday.

A Victorian report released on Wednesday showed that children in out-of-home care change schools often, repeat grades, drop out early and suffer high rates of mental and physical health problems.

UBS AG sued Highland Capital Management LP for $686 million, saying the hedge fund manager provided false financial information to avoid making payments on a transaction.

Several homeless people in Queensland will be facing tougher times once winter season starts.

Bank of America has leap-frogged U.S. rival JPMorgan to rank as the world's top bank in terms of capital strength while Industrial and Commercial Bank of China tops the profit league, according to a new study.

Venezuela's parliament declared on Tuesday that 11 oil rigs seized from U.S. company Helmerich and Payne were now state-owned property, formalizing a move by the government to nationalize them.

Global IT group IBM will defend itself from the state government's attempt to withhold payments following the Queensland Health payroll fiasco.

Hulu introduced a new paid subscription service for watching TV shows and movies on mobile devices, game consoles, television sets and computers, and joined other media companies trying to strike a balance between paid and ad supported models.

The Health Minister admits there have been flaws of the Victorian's ambulance services and would need improvements once new paramedics arrive under the government's regional ambulance policy.

U.S. companies could face as much as $1 trillion in additional costs as a result of new laws designed to reduce risks in the $450 trillion, privately traded derivatives market, a derivatives trade group said on Tuesday.

The Australian Dollar fell two US cents as markets reacted to evidence of a slowing in the global economic recovery.

A group of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc's creditors, including the largest U.S. pension fund and a prominent hedge fund, said they object to the investment bank's Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan.

TransCanada Corp would offer equity stakes in its $41 billion Alaska gas pipeline to companies proposing a rival project, but there have been no talks to date, a TransCanada executive said on Tuesday.

WellPoint Inc has warned some 470,000 people who applied for its health insurance that a website security glitch may have exposed their Social Security numbers and other sensitive data to the public.

Several health groups have commended the move for Victoria to disclose the numbers of calories itno their food by major fast food outlets in 2012.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday agreed to pay $755,000 to a former staff attorney who was fired while he was probing possible insider trading at a prominent hedge fund.