IBT Staff Reporter

The top U.S. communications regulator offered to pay television broadcasters to give up their rights to airwaves worth an estimated $50 billion as it looks to overcome a looming scarcity of wireless spectrum for advanced mobile phone services.

Securities regulators on Wednesday delayed plans to allow domestic companies to use international accounting standards because it will take businesses at least four years to switch to new rules.

The victim of a whale attack at Orlando's SeaWorld on Wednesday is apparently 40-year-old Dawn Brancheau, an anonymous law enforcement official said, according to CBS News.

An 12,300-pound whale at SeaWorld killed a trainer in front of a horrified audience today, causing the park to immediately close, the Associated Press reports.

General Motors Co will wind down its iconic but tarnished Hummer brand after Chinese regulators rejected a $150 million bid by an obscure Chinese machinery maker to buy the money-losing SUV line.

ral Motors Co will wind down its Hummer SUV line after failing to complete a deal to sell the brand to China's Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery, the automaker said on Wednesday.

Top executives at two of the five largest U.S. airlines said on Tuesday they are open to a merger, adding that the airline industry needs to consolidate to return to profitability.

General Growth Properties Inc unveiled a bankruptcy exit plan bankrolled by Brookfield Asset Management that would split it in two.

The Carlyle Group aims to invest most of its Asia-focused funds on deals in China.

A Manhattan federal judge gave final approval to Bank of America Corp's $150 million settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Octomom Nadya Suleman was on The View today for her first-ever visit to the show, where she laughed hysterically with the presenters and answered questions about her sanity.

Bank stocks led the S&P 500 Index in Wednesday's rally as Fed Chairman Bernanke reiterates his commitment to low interest rate and offered an optimistic view of the financial markets.

The Australian Dollar opens marginally higher today at 0.8920. It was a quiet domestic session yesterday with only a 50 point range between 0.8880 and 0.8930.

Securities regulators adopted a new rule to restrict short selling more than a year after the financial crisis provoked cries to rein in investors who bet on a stock's decline.

The number of affluent investors worrying about jobs and the political environment rose in February as bipartisan cooperation remains elusive in Washington and the economy struggles with high unemployment.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke was the center focus for global market participants on Wednesday as he testified before the House Financial Services Committee about the state of the U.S. economy and the Fed's monetary policy.

After being in stealth mode for eight years, Bloom Energy unveiled its Bloom Box, a device which it believes will revolutionize the world, at a highly publicized media event on Wednesday.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke reassured lawmakers interest rates will remain low, driving stocks higher on Wednesday as investors welcomed the promise of more cheap money.

Seventy four teachers from the Central Falls High School in Rhode Island were fired on Wednesday as the school struggles with under-performance.

Sales of new homes unexpectedly fell to a record low in January while demand for loans to buy homes hit a 13-year low last week, fanning fears of renewed weakness in the housing market.

Seventy-four Rhode Island teachers have been fired from poor performing Central Falls High School in Rhode Island, as well as 19 staff members and the principal.

Every teacher and staff at the Central Falls High School in Rhode Island was fired in the midst of a federal effort to fix under-performing schools nationwide.

President Barack Obama launched a vigorous defense of his economic agenda on Wednesday, rejecting critics who say it amounts to socialism and insisting his policies would boost U.S. competitiveness.

Toyota Motor Corp chief Akio Toyoda stepped to center stage in a sprawling U.S. investigation of the Japanese automaker's safety crisis, apologizing to consumers and pledging reforms to skeptical lawmakers.

The FCC chairman is hoping to free up a section of the wireless spectrum in an effort to make room for wireless broadband Internet.

After being in stealth mode for eight years, Bloom Energy unveiled its Bloom Box, a device which it believes will revolutionize the world, at a highly publicized media event on Wednesday.

Sanjiv Ranjan Das, a professor at California's Santa Clara University, last fall attacked the problem of underwater mortgages often cited as an Achilles' heel to the U.S. housing market.

HSBC has this week launched the 2 billion pound ($3.1 billion) sale of its UK rolling stock leasing company as it builds its balance sheet by shedding non-core assets.

Citigroup Inc is in advanced talks to sell its $4 billion hedge fund business to SkyBridge Capital LLC, a New York firm that invests in start-up fund managers.