IBT Staff Reporter

At least 63 people, more than half of them children, were killed in a stampede triggered by a massive rush for free food and clothes at a Hindu temple in northern India Thursday, police said.

Any job losses from Prudential Plc's planned $35.5 billion acquisition of American International Group's Asian insurance arm will be mainly in back-office operations and not among sales forces, the companies' CEOs told staff in Asia, sources said.

A dozen House of Representatives Democrats opposed to abortion are willing to kill President Barack Obama's healthcare reform plan unless it satisfies their demand for language barring the procedure, Representative Bart Stupak said on Thursday.

Citigroup chief executive Vikram Pandit on Thursday will endorse a key aspect of President Obama's financial reform proposal known as the Volcker Rule as he testifies before Congress on the financial bailout investments the bank has received.

Wendy's/Arby's Group Inc reported a stronger-than-expected quarterly results but said it will spend more to jump-start growth at its restaurants in 2010, and its shares fell nearly 4 percent in premarket trading.

Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world's largest brewer, said it faced a challenging start to 2010 with U.S. consumers drinking less after it unveiled mixed fourth-quarter earnings buoyed by a sharp rise in Brazil sales.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc on Thursday said it raised its annual dividend by 11 percent, citing its strong underlying operations and free cash flow.

Mukesh Ambani, India's richest man, is faced with a prospect he has only rarely encountered: not getting what he wants.

The number of U.S. workers filing new applications for unemployment benefits fell last week, while productivity was stronger than initially thought in the fourth quarter, boosting hopes for the economic recovery.

Citigroup Inc Chief Executive Vikram Pandit said he supports an enhanced federal consumer protection authority because problems for consumers can affect the entire financial system.

The Bank of England held fire on both interest rates and quantitative easing on Thursday as it paused to assess the impact of the massive stimulus it has already injected into the economy.

The defining technology trade show of the '80's and '90's is making a return this November, revived as an online-only event.

Futures on U.S. stock indices traded higher before the open as declining unemployment claims, combined with Wednesday's better than expected ADP employment data, eased investor sentiment ahead of Friday's unemployment rate report.

Canon Inc declared its $1 billion offer for Oce NV, sending a clear message to shareholders holding out for a better deal it is set to tie up the acquisition.

Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg is in no rush to take the popular social-networking site public, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

Japanese group Olympus Corp is aiming for its small, lightweight models to have 20 percent of the high-end digital camera market in three years, up from 5 percent now, its president said.

University of California students take to the streets on Thursday to protest fee hikes, campus racism, and what they call privatization of the public system that was a beacon for the state in the 1960s.

The number of U.S. workers filing new applications for unemployment insurance fell as expected last week, a government report showed on Thursday, while those continuing to receive benefits dropped to the lowest level in over a year.

Iceland can get by without more cash from the International Monetary Fund until it needs to refinance debt in 2011, although any big delay will hit its economy, a central banker said on Thursday.

Stock index futures ticked higher on Thursday as retailers posted better-than-expected sales for February and as investors awaited the latest data on the labor and housing markets.

Citigroup Inc Chief Executive Vikram Pandit said he supports a federal consumer protection authority, because a key lesson of the crisis is that issues influencing consumers can become issues for the whole financial system.

The hackers behind the attacks on Google Inc and dozens of other companies operating in China stole valuable computer source code by breaking into the personal computers of employees with privileged access, a security firm said on Wednesday.

A measure to give some 57 million elderly people, veterans and persons with disabilities a $250 check was rejected by the Senate on Wednesday, a setback for the powerful seniors' lobby.

Stock index futures were little changed on Thursday as investors awaited data on the labor and housing markets, along with a report on January U.S. factory orders.

Debt-burdened Greece drew strong demand for a crucial bond issue on Thursday but paid a steep risk premium that underscored its plea to Germany and other EU partners for support to help lower its borrowing costs.

Greece will need to take further action in 2011 and 2012 to repair its public finances, EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said in an interview on Thursday.

The Obama administration is expected to send Congress legislative language on its proposal to clamp down on banks' risky activities.

Iceland can get by without more cash from the International Monetary Fund until it needs to refinance debt in 2011, although any big delay in foreign aid flows will hit its economy, a central banker said on Thursday.

Any job losses from Prudential Plc's planned $35.5 billion acquisition of American International Group's Asian insurance arm will be mainly in back-office operations and not among sales forces, the companies' CEOs told staff in Asia, sources said.