IBT Staff Reporter

Beijing needs to tighten its monetary policy to head off asset bubbles, leading economist Nouriel Roubini said on Thursday.

The European Commission approved Oracle 's acquisition of Sun Microsystems after regulators were assuaged over the fate of an open-source database.

Coming to a video game console near you, an onslaught of new military-themed shooter games -- and they're not all for children as game publishers target a more mature audience.

Oil fell toward $77 a barrel on Thursday as worries that China will take more measures to temper its booming economy overshadowed its return to double-digit growth for the first time since 2008.

President Barack Obama, reeling from an election defeat in the Senate, will propose stricter limits on financial risk-taking on Thursday in a move that may recall Depression-era curbs on banks.

Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Thursday, ahead of a slew of earnings news, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.04 percent, the Dow Jones industrial average 0.1 percent lower and the Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.2 percent.

Developed and emerging equity markets diverged on Thursday with the latter falling on worries China will take more measures to temper growth after reporting its fastest quarterly growth in two years.

Sony Ericsson, a cellphone joint venture between Sony Corp and Ericsson, has no plans to delay the launch of a phone that runs Google Inc's Android operating system in China, the company's chief executive said on Thursday.

Democratic congressional leaders promised on Wednesday to push ahead with healthcare reform despite a stinging setback in a Senate election, but failed to agree quickly on a new approach.

The loss of a key Democratic Senate seat will likely strengthen the resolve of President Barack Obama to press ahead urgently with a package of targeted proposals to spur U.S. job creation.

Russia's navy will strengthen its Baltic fleet in response to U.S. plans to deploy Patriot missiles in Poland, Russia's state RIA news agency reported on Thursday, citing an unnamed senior navy official.

China says its Gross domestic product (GDP) in 2009 expanded by 8.7% and the fourth quarter expanded 10.7% that form a powerful springboard for it to jump over Japan and become the world's second-largest economy.

Most Asian stock markets fell on Thursday as investors worried that China would take more measures to temper growth after reporting its fastest quarterly growth in two years.

A substantial number of AIG's Financial Products employees set to get some $195 million in retention payments no longer work with the bailed out insurer, sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

Sony Ericsson, a cellphone joint venture between Sony Corp and Ericsson, has no plans to delay the launch of a phone that runs Google Inc's Android operating system in China, the company's chief executive said on Thursday.

China's economy finished 2009 with a flourish as a 10.7 percent year-on-year increase in fourth-quarter GDP took full-year growth to 8.7 percent, easily surpassing Beijing's 8 percent target.

YouTube, Google Inc's video website, said it will begin testing an online movie rental service with independent films from the Sundance Film Festival on Friday.

Google Inc's threat to exit China could create a big headache for its cellphone partners, especially Motorola Inc, which has bet its turnaround on Google's mobile software and China.

Google Inc's threat to quit China over cyber attacks and censorship highlights U.S. fears that a more powerful Beijing is tapping government and corporate computer networks to steal secrets and to prepare for potential conflicts.

Amid the flat, wide fields of central France, a team of re-trained secretaries and IT experts is packaging Europe's literary heritage for the digital era.

Microsoft Corp said it will issue a patch to fix the old version of its Internet Explorer browser that allowed recent attacks on Google Inc's network in China.

Congress should enact a law laying the groundwork for protecting consumers who use the Internet cloud to store data before states come in with an unwieldy patchwork of conflicting legislation, said Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith on Wednesday.

China's top search engine, Baidu Inc, sued its U.S.-based domain name service provider Register.com Inc on Wednesday after a cyber attack interrupted its web services last week.

Global oil prices remained below $78 a barrel in Asian trade Thursday as the market awaits a crucial energy report from the US. Light sweet crude for March delivery was seen trading at $77.61 a barrel at 11.30 a.m while Brent crude was at $76.10 a barrel at the same time.

China's economy finished 2009 with a flourish as a 10.7 percent year-on-year increase in fourth-quarter GDP took full-year growth to 8.7 percent, easily surpassing Beijing's 8 percent target.

Charles Schwab Corp , the largest U.S. online brokerage, on Wednesday said it priced an offering of more than 26 million of its shares at $19 a share.

China easily beat its 2009 growth target after a blistering performance in the fourth quarter that forms a powerful springboard for it to jump over Japan this year to become the world's second-largest economy.

China easily beat its 2009 growth target after a blistering performance in the fourth quarter that forms a powerful springboard for it to jump over Japan this year to become the world's second-largest economy.

When Google threw down the gauntlet to China's Internet censors, it also challenged the loyalties of the nation's wired generation.