IBT Staff Reporter

Lingering U.S. labor market weakness and nagging doubts about the solidity of the economic recovery are expected to keep the Federal Reserve committed to holding borrowing costs very low for a long time at a monetary policy meeting next week.

Sales incentives, including zero-percent financing offers, have boosted Toyota Motor Corp's U.S. sales by nearly 50 percent in early March, an industry tracking service and dealers said on Thursday.

The appetite and sense of urgency for world financial reform have waned as markets have rebounded and the world economy has shown signs of recovering, the head of exchange operator NYSE Euronext said on Thursday.

The U.S. stock market recovered from losses caused by China's inflation data and an underwhelming U.S. unemployment claims report to trade positive for the day.

The chief executive of Simon Property Group Inc said on Thursday a revised plan by management of General Growth Properties Inc to emerge from bankruptcy would not put pressure on his company to sweeten its own $10 billion offer.

Investing in a high-speed Internet network would open up a new global trade route for Britain, boosting economic recovery and creating thousands of jobs, the opposition Conservative party said on Thursday.

As the ground shook and buildings swayed, conservative billionaire Sebastian Pinera took office as Chile's president on Thursday, tasked with rebuilding after a massive earthquake killed hundreds just 12 days ago.

Corporate America needs to track its use of energy and resources as closely as it does its hiring and cash flow if it wants to keep pace with social concern about climate change and other sustainability issues, an activist U.S. investor group argues in a new report.

Researchers found that among 160 5- to 18-year-olds with asthma seen at their center, the 46 with peanut allergies generally had more hospitalizations for asthma exacerbations than children without the food allergy.

Exxon Mobil Corp will increase its capital spending nearly 4 percent this year to $28 billion in part as the largest U.S. oil company seeks to increase its share of the global market for natural gas.

Worries that China may move to cool its overheating economy weighed down U.S. stocks on Thursday, but rising bank shares kept the market near break even.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Needle-exchange programs designed to cut injection drug users' risk of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and other infections do seem to reduce needle sharing, but there is only limited evidence that they lower disease transmission, a new research review concludes.

According to the Northern Territory Aboriginal health organization, AMSANT, Australia is in the face of a 'renal tsunami' due to bickering between Northern Territory and Southern Australia governments on the matters of renal dialysis.

According to Australian government health data, a significant proportion of Australians are getting bigger.

A world expert, professor Graham Colditz, an Australian who has taught Harvard, and is now based at the University of Washington Medical School, warns that Australia could expect a double in the number of cancer cases within 20 years, if poor lifestyle habits are not changed.

Healthcare and industry groups are calling for chronic pain to be accepted as a disease, saying the condition has been misunderstood; similar to depression was, back before it was recognized as a disease.

A recent spread of dengue fever cases has been declared, with three cases originating in the north Queensland town of Tully. Queensland Health medical director Dr Jeffrey Hanna says while the outbreak is small; there is no time to be complacent.

Chances of a broad overhaul of U.S. financial regulation this year dimmed on Thursday after bipartisan Senate talks collapsed.

An overwhelming majority of Americans wants Wall Street subjected to tougher regulation in the aftermath of the bank bailout and the bonus scandals that have rocked the U.S. financial sector, according to a Harris poll released on Thursday.

Senator Christopher Dodd, the chief negotiator for the Democrats on financial regulation reform in the U.S. Senate, said on Thursday he will unveil a reform bill on Monday, after talks with Republicans broke down.

Barnes & Noble said on Thursday it has developed a version of its eReader app just for the iPad.

U.S. stocks edged lower on Thursday as China inflation data raised worries about reduced demand from one of the world's largest economies, but gains in big-cap technology shares limited losses.

EUR/USD has been range-bound since the beginning of the U.S. session on Wednesday as it failed to break out of the range when the unemployment claims report was released at 8:30 am Thursday morning.

The chief executive of Simon Property Group Inc on Thursday said a plan by management of General Growth Properties Inc to emerge from bankruptcy lacks certainty despite new financial backing.

Two years ago, a poisonous brew of bad economics, lax regulation, and egregious behavior boiled over, scalding the financial system and pitching the United States into its steepest downturn since the Great Depression.

China's insatiable demand for energy to power its economy has made it a serious contender in the fight for control over vast energy resources in its thinly populated and impoverished western backyard.

A tsunami alert has been announced Thursday for Chile's fourth and tenth regions following a magnitude 7.2 aftershock this morning.

(Reuters) - Only half of patients at high risk of heart disease are given the right targets for cutting their cholesterol and millions may suffer heart attack or stroke due to doctors' poor advice, scientists said on Thursday.

Pakistan's unprecedented crackdown on its homegrown Taliban may have weakened the militants but the insurgency is still a threat to the unpopular U.S.-backed government.