IBT Staff Reporter

Guinea will make no economic or social progress until uncertainty over the health of its wounded junta chief is resolved, potential investors and Conakry residents said on Thursday

Gazprom is confident it will be able to supply China with large volumes of natural gas despite a recent deal between Beijing and Turkmenistan, the Russian gas export monopoly's chief spokesman said on Thursday.

South Africa's trade union Solidarity said on Thursday four workers died at the Newcastle plant of the local unit of the world's top steel maker ArcelorMittal (ACLJ.J).

PTT Chemical PCL (PTTC.BK) will defer maintenance at its 461,000 tonnes per year (tpy) ethane cracker by about two months to February, while it holds trial runs at its new 1 million-tpy cracker, its CEO said on Thursday.

U.S. stocks fell on Thursday despite data that showed the number of people filing for jobless benefits fell to the lowest level in about 17 months.

U.S. copper was up half percent to 16-month highs on Thursday as fund buying and a looming mine strike in Chile put the red metal on course for a 140 percent gain this year, its best in at least 20 years.

Digital Realty Trust Inc (DLR.N) said it, along with its operating partnership Digital Realty Trust L.P., plans to raise up to $400 million through sale of its common shares.

Actor Charlie Sheen asked a Colorado court on Wednesday to lift an order that has required him to stay away from his wife, amid reports that the couple hope to reconcile after his Christmas Day domestic violence arrest.

Prudential Financial Inc said on Thursday it completed the planned sale of its minority stake in a retail brokerage to Wells Fargo & Co for $4.5 billion in cash.

U.S. online spending rose 5 percent to $27.12 billion from the start of November through Christmas Eve even though individuals spent slightly less than they did last year, according to data released by comScore on Wednesday.

Anika Therapeutics Inc (ANIK.O) said it acquired a unit of privately held Italian company Fidia Farmaceutici Spa in a cash-and-stock deal worth about $34 million.

Prudential Financial Inc(PRU.N) said on Thursday it completed the planned sale of itsminority stake in a retail brokerage to Wells Fargo & Co(WFC.N) for $4.5 billion in cash.

In what is traditionally a high-volume download week thanks to shiny new MP3 players under the tree and download cards stuffed in stockings, a digital sales mark has fallen by the wayside.

A second person has agreed to plead guilty in the case involving a copy of the Mike Myers bomb The Love Guru leaking on the Internet a day before its theatrical release.

Conservative U.S. radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh was resting comfortably at a hospital in Hawaii on Wednesday after suffering chest pains, his website said.

Venture capital investors spent 36 percent less this year on clean technology for a total of nearly $5 billion, an industry group reported on Wednesday.

U.S. trucking giant YRC Worldwide said on Thursday it averted bankruptcy by successfully negotiating a critical debt-for-equity exchange that wipes out $470 million in debt and gives the struggling company access to needed credit as it restructures.

The year is ending with quite a hangover.

India is planning to auction third-generation wireless radio spectrum by mid-February, about a month later than had been scheduled, a senior government official told Reuters on Thursday.

Pfizer Inc shares fell 1 percent on Thursday after it said a U.S. decision on whether to approve the company's new version of its big-selling Prevnar vaccine that fights pneumonia and meningitis would push past the deadline.

India will introduce mobile number portability across the country by March 31, 2010, pushing back its commencement by up to three months in parts of the country, the government said on Thursday.

Geely, China's No.1 private carmaker, said on Thursday that its parent company has strong support from the Chinese government to acquire Ford Motor's Volvo unit, and expects robust growth for China's auto industry in 2010, also with help from Beijing.

The number of workers filing new applications for jobless benefits fell last week to the lowest level in about 17 months, according to U.S. government data on Thursday.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Thursday he hoped for improved relations with the United States in 2010, days after his attack on U.S. missile defense plans displayed the fragility of efforts to draw closer.

Stocks dipped on Thursday despite data showing that the number of people filing for jobless benefits fell to the lowest level in about 17 months, with indexes on track for the best yearly gains since 2003.

Four people were killed when a gunman opened fire at a Finnish shopping mall on Thursday, police said, in the country's third multiple shooting incident in as many years.

Two French journalists have been kidnapped by insurgents northeast of the Afghan capital together with their translator and driver, a police official said on Thursday.

Russia has given permission for a second attempt to resume air links with Georgia following last year's war between the two countries, Interfax said on Thursday, after Georgian Airways cancelled flights earlier this week.

Despite iPods, genetic sequencing, the Internet and Twitter, nearly a third of Americans said they thought there would be more technological advances by the year 2010.