IBT Staff Reporter

U.S. stocks gained sharply on Thursday after an expansion in business productivity and a fall in jobless claims boosted investor confidence about the economy, while Cisco led gains in tech shares.

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd announced a share buyback worth up to $1.2 billion on Thursday, but analysts said competitive concerns will continue to exert pressure on the company's stock.

U.N. inspectors found nothing to be worried about in a first look at a previously secret uranium enrichment site in Iran last month, the International Atomic Energy chief said in remarks published Thursday.

Pakistani soldiers secured a fort captured from militants in the northwest of the country on Thursday and consolidated their positions on peaks around another insurgent base, the military said.

A controversial climate change bill cleared its first hurdle in the U.S. Senate on Thursday, allowing President Barack Obama to tout progress in the run-up to next month's global warming talks in Copenhagen.

Censorship of the Internet is open to challenge at the World Trade Organisation as it can restrict trade in services delivered online, a forthcoming study says.

Lenovo, the world's No.4 PC brand, reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit that more than doubled on an improving global PC market outlook, its first profit after three straight quarters of losses.

Yankee fans will get to celebrate their 2009 World Series champion team on Friday November 6 at the parade hosted by New York City, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced.

Intel Corp was sued by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who accused the world's largest chipmaker of threatening computer makers and paying billions of dollars in kickbacks to maintain its market dominance.

Four former dealers at UBS plundered customer accounts to trade and dumped the resulting losses on them, Britain's financial regulator said, further denting the battered Swiss bank's reputation.

Deutsche Post DHL raised its 2009 outlook when posting third-quarter earnings that beat forecasts, saying on Thursday cost cuts were helping offset stubbornly weak volumes.

Fiat SpA Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne on Wednesday delivered a long-awaited plan intended to turn around Chrysler over the next five years.

Nine more people have been arrested in the Galleon Group insider-trading scandal, bringing to 15 the number charged in the biggest hedge fund-related case in history.

U.S. business productivity grew at its fastest clip in six years in the third quarter and new claims for jobless aid fell to a 10-month low last week, suggesting the labor market may be starting to bottom out.

Yankees' Parade to celebrate the team's first World Series victory in nine years will be held on Friday beginning at 11:00 a.m. EST.

Microsoft announced 800 layoffs Wednesday, in what the company hopes will be the last in its recent series of job cuts.

Federal authorities have arrested eight more people in connection with the Galleon insider-trading scandal, sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

Pop singer Rihanna broke her silence about her former boyfriend, Chris Brown, Thursday on Good Morning America saying that returning to him after he beat her was wrong.

NEC Corp, Japan's largest PC maker, plans to raise up to 150 billion yen ($1.7 billion) in a share offering to shore up its capital and invest in growth businesses, four sources familiar with the matter said.

Oil hovered above $80 a barrel after a steep decline in U.S. crude inventories sent prices up 1 percent the previous day, as doubts about the pace of economic recovery in the world's largest fuel consumer tempered the rally.

U.S. stocks jumped on Thursday after strong results from Cisco lifted technology stocks, and an expansion in business productivity and a fall in jobless claims encouraged investors about the economy.

Spain's Telefonica will buy broadband operator HanseNet from Telecom Italia for 900 million euros ($1.34 billion), Telefonica said on Thursday, strengthening its competitive position in Germany.

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd announced a share buyback worth up to $1.2 billion on Thursday, driving up its share price, but analysts said competitive concerns will continue to exert pressure on the company's stock.

General Motors Co is confident that it can find the financing to keep and restructure its European Opel unit, Chief Executive Fritz Henderson said on Thursday.

Novatek, Russia's No.2 natural gas producer, has asked its shareholders to approve a 177.3 billion rouble ($6 billion) domestic gas supply deal with power trader Inter RAO.

CareFusion Corp, the medical device company spun off from Cardinal Health on Sept. 1, posted a higher-than-expected quarterly profit, driven by strong demand in ventilators for flu and emergency preparedness related to H1N1, or swine flu.

Online travel agency Orbitz Worldwide posted a quarterly profit, helped by lower expenses, on Thursday, but the results missed expectations and shares fell more than 9 percent in early trading.

TPG and the Canada Pension Plan on Thursday announced a deal to buy IMS Health Inc hich provides prescription drug sales data, for around $4 billion.

CNOOC Ltd has agreed to buy a minority stake in four prospects in the Gulf of Mexico from Norway's Statoil, opening crude oil reserves in the U.S. Gulf to China for the first time.