IBT Staff Reporter

A group of influential mortgage investors is intensifying efforts to encourage a new phase to U.S. housing stability plans that would give homeowners ability and incentive to pay their loans.

Economists at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, known as CMS, said in a new report that the national healthcare spending will grow an average 6.1 percent a year over the decade to $4.5 trillion in 2019, about 1.7 percent faster than the overall economy.

Oil fell by more than $1 to below $76 a barrel on Thursday as rising crude inventories and higher unemployment figures in the United States dampened expectations for stronger demand.

U.S. stock markets fell in early trading on Thursday, tracking Asian and European markets as worries over European sovereign debt intensified and concerns arose after a disappointing U.S. unemployment claims report was released this morning.

According to a recent study by comScore, the number of people in the U.S. using multipurpose smartphones such as iPhones, Blackberries, and Droids more than doubled last year.

Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook from his Harvard dormitory, but after the social networking website exploded in popularity, he promptly quit school and became a full-time entrepreneur.

British and Belgian researchers used a brain scanner called functional magnetic resonance imaging to show the man, who suffered a severe traumatic brain injury in a road accident in 2003, was able to think yes or no answers to questions by wilfully changing his brain activity.

In a study published in Science Translational Medicine, the scientists said they found 25 different stretches of DNA that were especially active in the leukemia cells. Each one has the potential to become a target for a new drug.

Internet search firm Google is finalizing a deal that would let the National Security Agency help it investigate a corporate espionage attack that may have originated in China, the Washington Post reported on Thursday.

Kraft Foods Inc on Thursday launched a 4-part, $9.5 billion debt sale to help finance its acquisition of British confectioner Cadbury, IFR reported.

Wall Street was set to drop nearly 1 percent at the open on Thursday after new applications for jobless insurance rose unexpectedly, adding to worries over sovereign debt in some euro zone countries that kept investors away from risky investments, including equities.

They said gene variants in the mother and fetus can make them susceptible to an inflammatory response to infections inside the uterus, raising the risk that a baby will be born early -- before 37 weeks of gestation.

The U.S. and Haitian governments are holding talks on the fate of 10 American missionaries accused of illegally trying to take children out of the quake-hit Caribbean country, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday.

Britain and India have reached an outline agreement on cooperation in the nuclear fuel sector, British Business Secretary Peter Mandelson said on Thursday.

Certain countries and companies feel threatened by growing efforts against climate change, the U.N. climate chief said on Thursday, after other officials spoke of a campaign to undermine a consensus on global warming.

North Korea has eased some curbs it placed on black market trading, the South's spy agency said on Thursday, rolling back part of what was widely seen as a policy blunder that caused unrest in the authoritarian state.

China dismissed U.S. threats to get tough on trade and exchange rates to ensure American goods are not disadvantaged, saying on Thursday that its currency was at a reasonable level.

China told other world powers on Thursday that discussing sanctions against Iran was counterproductive, striking a blow to a Western push to rein in Tehran's nuclear program.

Blocks from where U.S. and U.N. soldiers distribute sacks of rice to Haitian women in earthquake-shattered Port-au-Prince, street vendors are openly selling rice by the cup from bags stamped with U.S. flags.

Pakistani police have arrested 30 suspects in connection with a bombing that killed three American soldiers, three children and a Pakistani paramilitary soldier outside a girls' school, an officer said.

Tough enforcement of trade agreements will help the United States meet President Barack Obama's goal of doubling exports during the next five years, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said on Thursday.

Oil fell toward $76 a barrel on Thursday as rising crude inventories in the United States signaled a rebound in U.S. economic activity was failing to translate into higher demand.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc said it planned even deeper cuts to its oil refining and retail operations after downstream weakness caused a 75 percent fall in fourth-quarter profits to $1.18 billion.

U.S. stock index futures fell on Thursday as renewed worries over sovereign debt in some euro zone countries kept investors away from riskier investments, including equities, ahead of U.S. jobs and factory data.

Sony Corp's first profit in five quarters showed a restructuring at the electronics maker is starting to pay off as it halved its annual loss forecast on a rebound in its flat-TV business and cost cuts.

Oil fell toward $76 a barrel on Thursday as rising crude inventories in the United States signaled a rebound in U.S. economic activity was failing to translate into higher demand.

Stock futures for the Dow Jones industrial average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 fall 0.5 to 0.6 percent, pointing to a weaker start on Wall Street on Thursday.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc posted a 75 percent fall in fourth-quarter profits to $1.18 billion, as the oil major was punished for falling output and its focus on the depressed refining and natural gas businesses.

The euro hit a seven-month low against the dollar on Thursday as concerns intensified that Greece's fiscal problems would spread to other highly-indebted euro zone countries, while European stocks followed Asia lower.