IBT Staff Reporter

U.S. environmental regulators on Tuesday finalized engine and fuel standards for U.S. flagged ships to cut emissions that cause lung diseases and save more than $100 billion in health costs.

Russia is unlikely to stop crude deliveries to Belarus in 2010, even if a deal on supplies is not reached quickly, Alexander Surikov, the Russian ambassador to Belarus said on Wednesday.

Americans looking for work are unlikely to find new jobs before next spring, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Wednesday, though he insisted the economy was on the mend.

Danish state-controlled oil and gas group DONG Energy said it signed a deal to sell 25.1 percent of its Walney offshore wind farm to Scottish and Southern Energy.

When Bob Stark bid on a loft apartment in a trendy Vancouver neighborhood in June this year, he wasn't expecting competition.

Freddie Mac's mortgage investment portfolio shrank in November while the rate of delinquencies on the loans in guarantees escalated, the U.S. home funding company said on Wednesday.

Stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wednesday after data showed personal spending rose in November, though by less than expected.

Research In Motion's Blackberry users in North America suffered another outage with their e-mail service, just a week after another outage hit the company. Late Tuesday night, RIM confirmed that its BlackBerry service had suffered its second e-mail outage in five days.

Demand for U.S. home loans fell last week to the lowest level in almost two months even though mortgage rates held steady below 5 percent, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Wednesday.

Russia has agreed to sell Myanmar 20 MiG-29 jets for 400 million euro ($572.2 million), the Vedomosti daily reported on Wednesday, citing unidentified sources in Russia's defence industry.

The grouping of China, India, Brazil and South Africa has emerged as a significant force in Copenhagen and they could lead the way in future negotiations, the head of the U.N. climate panel said on Wednesday.

Colombia said on Tuesday FARC guerrillas slit a state governor's throat hours after they kidnapped him during a brazen raid in one of worst rebel strikes during President Alvaro Uribe's government.

Police shot dead an Afghan senator and his son in northern Baghlan province after their car ran a checkpoint in the early hours of Wednesday morning, the provincial governor and police chief said.

A self sustaining recovery?; Elderly care with doubts; China's Swedish auto push;

An American Airlines Boeing 737 overshot the runway while landing at Kingston international airport in Jamaica late on Tuesday, and around 40 passengers were treated in the hospital, some for broken bones, authorities said.

Dubai developer Deyaar said it is not in merger talks, and said it remained focused on exploring growth opportunities in the United Arab Emirates and other markets.

This Christmas, shoppers in Europe are discovering new uses for mobile phones as technology barriers that have prevented mass-market take-up are overcome, spurred on by Apple's iPhone.

One of China's most prominent dissidents, Liu Xiaobo, fought subversion charges at a trial on Wednesday that drew an outcry from local activists and foreign governments angered by Beijing's crackdown on political dissent.

Rostelecom (ROS.N), Russia's largest long-distance fixed-line call operator, is to buy a significant stake in IT company NVision Group to diversify its business in the face of stiff competition from mobile phones.

Drug gang hitmen shot dead the grieving mother, brother, sister and aunt of an elite Mexican marine who died after taking part in a raid that killed a notorious drug lord, police said on Tuesday.

Telepresence was science fiction in the 50s, a Disneyland attraction in the 60s, and eventually morphed into costly corporate “telepresence rooms” and other high-end systems, which relied on expensive dedicated communications lines.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown and other members of his government will not appear before an inquiry into the Iraq war until after a general election next year, the inquiry team said on Wednesday.

On December 14, 2009, an inauguration took place that deserves more attention than it received because it marks an economic power shift to the benefit of three Central Asian countries and China and to the detriment of Russia.

The Philippines' most active volcano shot higher ash columns and rumbled louder on Wednesday as authorities warned of a potential hazardous eruption in Mount Mayon anytime.

Iranian security forces armed with batons and teargas clashed with supporters of the late dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri in two central cities on Wednesday, opposition websites said.

A new government insurance program that would help the elderly and disabled stay in their homes is headed for passage in the U.S. Senate's sweeping healthcare revamp despite doubts about its viability and cost.

China's automakers Geely and BAIC pushed ahead with plans to harness the technology of Ford's and General Motors' ailing Swedish brands Volvo and Saab in a bid to be global industry players.

Swiss food company Nestle has suspended operations in Zimbabwe, complaining of harassment after it pulled out of a deal to buy milk from a farm taken over by President Robert Mugabe's family.

Stock index futures rose on Wednesday, a day after chipmaker Micron Technology swung to a quarterly profit and as investors awaited data expected to show an improvement in consumer sentiment.