IBT Staff Reporter

The Vancouver Olympics kicks off tonight, and already more than 60,000 people are there to witness the Olympic cauldron being lit in BC Place stadium during the opening ceremony. Below is a breakdown of the Full Olympics Schedule of 2010:

U.S. technology giant Hewlett-Packard Co won approval from EU competition regulators on Friday for its takeover of 3Com Corp, reinforcing its presence in the network equipment market.

H1N1 swine flu has killed as many as 17,000 Americans, including 1,800 children, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Friday.

The shuttle Endeavour crew bolted the last connecting module onto the International Space Station on Friday, completing more than a decade of major construction on the outpost.

Seven years after the U.S.-led invasion ushered in democracy, Iraqis making do with a few hours of power a day and living amid mounds of rubbish and pools of sewage wonder if they should vote in a March election

A U.S. high-powered airborne laser weapon shot down a ballistic missile in the first successful test of a futuristic directed energy weapon, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency said on Friday.

A NATO offensive is a hard sell to some Afghans, even if it breaks the Taliban's iron grip on their lives and eventually delivers Western aid.

Even if EU leaders put some flesh on the bones of their vague promises to support Athens next week, Greece still faces a race against time to win back market confidence to fend off a financing squeeze looming before June.

Microsoft Corp is set to announce new mobile phone software on Monday, according to sources close to the company, as it looks to wrestle back market share from Apple Inc's iPhone and Research in Motion Ltd's BlackBerry.

Republicans and Democrats in the Senate share common ground on financial regulation, but the White House's stance on how to protect consumers from banking abuses remains an obstacle to legislation, a top Republican senator said on Friday

The Dow and S&P edged lower on Friday after a surprise move by China to restrict bank lending, while the Nasdaq was little changed as strength in technology shares offset other losses.

Ingersoll-Rand Plc's fourth-quarter profit and first-quarter forecast fell short of Wall Street expectations as demand for its heating and cooling systems showed few signs of picking up.

Online video sharing service Veoh Networks Inc plans to file for bankruptcy protection and liquidate the business, according to the company's founder.

U.S. consumer confidence slipped in February, but a stronger than expected rise in retail sales last month suggested households were feeling a bit more comfortable to spend and sustain the economic recovery.

New York Governor David Paterson appeared on Larry King's Live Thursday evening to call the New York Times to publish a much talked about story that according to some media outlets, will force the governor to resign.

U.S. stocks fell on Friday after a surprise move by China to restrict bank lending to cool its surging economy weighed on commodity prices and resource shares.

Private-sector economists see the economy growing more quickly than previously forecast in the first three quarters of 2010, but growth would be slower than expected toward the end of the year, a Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia survey said on Friday.

U.S. consumer sentiment slipped in early February, with high unemployment expected to continue and with most looking for no gain in income or home values in the year ahead, a survey released on Friday showed.

U.S. stocks fell on Friday as investors adjust to a more aggressive monetary policy from China, mixed data on U.S. consumers and disappointing reports of euro zone Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

In 2008, users of Total Body Formula and Total Body Mega Formula started losing their hair and began suffering from fatigue, diarrhea, nausea and other symptoms; some doubled their dose of the liquid supplement in response.

Ingersoll-Rand Plc posted fourth-quarter earnings that missed Wall Street's expectations, as weak nonresidential construction activity hit demand for heating and cooling systems.

(Corrects paragraphs 11 and 12 to show 2010 EPS forecast revised up, not down; error first occurred in update 2)

Bottler PepsiAmericas Inc , which is being bought by PepsiCo Inc , posted a lower-than-expected quarterly profit, hurt by forex pressures and charges related to restructuring its Caribbean business.

Ukraine's Yulia Tymoshenko on Thursday defiantly refused to concede defeat to rival Viktor Yanukovich in a presidential election, throwing Ukraine into turmoil that threatened chances of a swift return to stability.

Former President Bill Clinton arrived home early on Friday following a successful heart procedure at a New York hospital to open a blocked artery in his heart that had caused him chest discomfort.

Republicans and Democrats in the Senate share common ground on financial regulation, but the White House's stance on how to protect consumers from banking abuses remains an obstacle to legislation, a top Republican senator said on Friday.

Stocks tumbled on Friday after a surprise move by China to increase bank reserve requirements raised worries about the impact of monetary tightening on global growth, weighing on commodity prices and resource shares.

Discover Financial Services paid Morgan Stanley $775 million to settle claims related to sharing proceeds from an antitrust suit against credit card networks Visa Inc and MasterCard Inc , according to a regulatory filing on Friday.

NATO and the European Union's new president joined U.S. President Barack Obama in congratulating Viktor Yanukovich on Friday on his election in Ukraine, as the West looked to extend a hand to the Moscow-leaning leader.