IBT Staff Reporter

The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) also pointed to a rise in the use of so-called date rape drugs, as sexual abusers try to get around more rigorous controls with substances not banned by international drugs laws.

Printing services firm RR Donnelley & Sons Co has agreed to acquire Bowne & Co Inc, which helps companies print regulatory filings, for $481 million.

Claus Yding Andersen, the Danish doctor who treated the woman, said the case showed how this method of storing ovarian tissue was a valid method of fertility preservation and should encourage the technique to be used more in girls and young women facing treatment that may damage their ovaries.

Seahawk Drilling Inc posted a narrower-than-expected quarterly loss, helped by lower costs, and said it sees deamand improving for jackups.

Pakistan received on Wednesday $349.3 million from the United States as part of a fund to help the U.S. ally sustain efforts to fight Islamist militancy, a central bank official said on Wednesday.

The WHO's emergency committee decided on Tuesday that it was premature to declare the pandemic, which was declared in June and was the first in more than 40 years, was past its worst.

Bank of Japan Deputy Governor Hirohide Yamaguchi said the central bank was ready to act to beat deflation, leaving room for more monetary easing amid a steady drumbeat of government pressure for BOJ steps to support the economy.

U.S. stock index futures pointed slightly higher on Wednesday as investors awaited congressional testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke for clues to the U.S. central bank's thinking on the economy.

Thomson Reuters Corp reported a lower quarterly profit and said it expects 2010 revenue to be flat or to fall slightly because of the impact of negative net sales last year.

Afghanistan's main opposition on Wednesday criticized President Hamid Karzai's removal of foreign observers from a U.N.-backed electoral watchdog as autocratic and urged international pressure to ensure impartial elections.

Global trade contracted by about 12 percent in 2009 but has started to pick up, the head of the World Trade Organization said on Wednesday.

The U.S. Supreme Court said a corporation's principal place of business is where its top executives work, typically at the corporate headquarters, rather than where its products or services are sold.

Two days after his appointment as president of Toyota Motor Corp last June, Akio Toyoda delivered his vision for steering the company founded by his grandfather.

U.S. stock index futures pointed higher on Wednesday as investors awaited congressional testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke for clues to the U.S. central bank's thinking on the economy.

President Barack Obama will appeal to U.S. business leaders on Wednesday to back his push to create jobs as he defends his agenda against conservative critics seeking to paint him as a big spender.

A nationwide strike grounded flights, trains and ferries in Greece on Wednesday as thousands rallied in Athens to protest austerity plans aimed at wrenching Greece out of a debt crisis that has shaken the euro zone.

U.S. banks and investment firms transferred their political contributions to Republicans in 2009 as Democrats in Washington put the focus on big bonuses, huge profits and tight lending, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday.

A Milan court has convicted three Google Inc executives for the 2006 transmission of a video showing the bullying of a youth with Down's syndrome, the judge in the case told Reuters on Wednesday.

European Union antitrust regulators are looking into complaints filed by three online companies against Google that may lead to a formal investigation into the search-engine giant's business practices.

Google said on Wednesday that a ruling against its top Italian executives attacks the principles of freedom of the Internet and poses a serious threat to the web.

Google Inc has scrapped the China leg of a regional event to show software developers its first smartphone, the Nexus One, in Beijing, its second such move following its threatened pull-out from the country.

Futures for the Dow Jones industrial average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 fell 0.2 to 0.3 percent, pointing to a weaker start for equities on Wall Street on Wednesday.

Hyundai Motor will recall 47,000 of its new Sonata sedans to fix faulty door latches, seeking to avoid the damaging criticism Japanese rival Toyota Motor Corp faces for its handling of a series of safety problems.

European Union antitrust regulators said on Wednesday they were looking into complaints filed by three online companies against Google.

European stocks eked out small gains on Wednesday against a background of investor caution globally following a dip in U.S. consumer sentiment.

Blockbuster Inc has hired a law firm and an investment bank to explore how the video rental firm can cut its $1 billion debt load, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

New Yorkers who want to watch online videos or family photos on their TVs will soon be able to do so on their own personal TV channel if they are Cablevision Systems Corp subscribers.

Asia shares fell on Wednesday as surprise declines in U.S. consumer confidence and German business sentiment fueled fears about the strength of the global economic recovery and boosted the safe-haven yen.

Toyota Motor Corp's president braced for tough questions from a U.S. congressional panel on Wednesday after the Japanese automaker conceded it had let safety standards slip and could still not explain most incidents of unintended acceleration.