IBT Staff Reporter

Everybody knows social media firms are growing like gangbusters. Facebook, for instance, recently surpassed 350 million users, 16 months after reaching 100 million users.

Dwindling prospects a strong climate deal at a U.N. summit in Copenhagen were likely to knock carbon permits under the European Union emissions trading scheme, traders said, and prices fell to a two-week low on Thursday.

Research In Motion Ltd., maker of the BlackBerry phone, said Thursday that some of its North American customers are experiencing outages with the phone's BIS, or BlackBerry Internet Service which is affecting their email service.

Leaf Clean Energy Co, which invests in clean-energy companies mainly in North America, agreed to merge with closed-end investment company Trading Emissions Plc in an all-share deal, creating the largest carbon-focused company listed in London.

Rite Aid Corp posted a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss on Thursday, helped by pharmacy sales, and its shares rose 4.5 percent.

Sony Corp said it struck a deal with News Corp that will make The Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch, and the New York Post available on its electronic reader, the latest shot fired in an intensifying battle with Amazon.com Inc's popular Kindle device.

The Google phone, A.K.A the Nexus One, was so last week, today, it's all about a newly-rumored Google netbook. According to TechCrunch's Michael Arrington, Google has already submitted a request for proposal to a hardware manufacturer, with a list of detailed technical specifications.

U.S. stocks fell on Thursday as the dollar rebounded, diminishing the appetite for risky assets, while FedEx forecast profits below estimates and Citigroup got a cool reception for its stock offering.

Three films, Inglorious Basterds, Precious and Up in the Air, earned three nominations apiece from the Screen Actors Guild on Thursday, giving them a boost in the race for Oscars.

French rocker Johnny Hallyday, who has been hospitalized in Los Angeles, has taken legal action to determine whether his Paris surgeon was at fault over a previous operation for back trouble, his publicists said on Thursday.

The idea of brooding, dramatic double-Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis singing and leaping around a stage in a movie musical seemed as improbable to him initially as it might be for audiences.

All nations need to set tougher targets to combat global warming at a U.N. summit and the rich should spell out how much aid they will give the poor by 2020, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday.

U.S. motorhome maker Winnebago Industries Inc said its quarterly loss narrowed as demand for its biggest and most profitable vehicles showed signs of life, sending Winnebago shares up as much as 15 percent.

Vinny Cerrato announced his resignation from the Washington Redskins' executive Vice Presidency of football operations, the club announced Thursday morning.

The economic crisis in Dubai is over, the United Arab Emirates foreign minister said on Thursday.

FedEx Corp forecastprofit for the current quarter below analysts' expectations, casting doubt on the sustainability of its holiday volume surge and sending the package delivery giant's shares down more than 5 percent.

Anadys Pharmaceuticals Inc said its experimental hepatitis C drug, ANA598, showed positive preliminary results in a mid-stage trial, sending its shares up as much as 9 percent in premarket trade.

For once, the TV writers were content.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Thursday he saw no need for a new security treaty proposed by Russia, rebuffing the Kremlin's call for new defense arrangements in Europe.

Older women who take an antidepressant seem to have a small but noteworthy increased risk of stroke and death compared to older women not on an antidepressant medication, a new study shows.

When Second City, the Chicago-based comedy theater troupe, marked its 50th anniversary this past weekend with an alumni reunion, the event drew as many stars as a Hollywood premiere.

Suvadee Sukkasem is still searching for her son who vanished when the Indian Ocean tsunami turned this tropical paradise into a mass grave for thousands of Thais and foreign vacationers nearly five years ago.

Television polygamy drama Big Love returns for a fourth season in January with a gay storyline that is likely to stir up controversy in Mormon circles where homosexual relations are prohibited.

Treating depression may help people with diabetes get their blood sugar under control.

Synthetic blood platelets injected into patients at the scene of a traumatic injury can speed up blood clotting and stem internal bleeding, U.S. researchers reported on Wednesday.

The number of workers filing new applications for jobless insurance unexpectedly rose last week, bumped up by seasonal adjustments, according to government data on Thursday that still suggested the labor market was improving.

Will a gene bring healthful blessings or the curse of disease? It may depend on whether it is inherited from mom or dad, researchers reported on Wednesday.

Aircraft black boxes should be adapted to emit signals for longer to make it easier to find the flight recorders after crashes at sea, experts investigating an Air France disaster said on Thursday.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was discharged from hospital on Thursday, four days after an attack which left him with a fractured nose and broken teeth.