IBT Staff Reporter

Iran said on Wednesday it viewed pending nuclear talks with six world powers as an opportunity and a test, and the United States said an extraordinarily difficult process was starting with more meetings likely.

German police said Wednesday they had broken up an international child pornography network that exchanged pedophile images on the Internet and sexually abused children.

U.S. stocks dropped on Wednesday, after an unexpected contraction in Midwest business activity sounded a dour note at the end of a strong quarter.

U.S. President Barack Obama announced a plan on Wednesday to spend $5 billion to create new jobs for medical and scientific research, medical supplies and improved laboratory capacity.

A powerful earthquake struck off the city of Padang on Indonesia's Sumatra island Wednesday, killing at least 75 people and trapping thousands under rubble, officials said.

Chinese leaders have told their diplomats to seek greater political and economic influence, changing tack from the low profile they relied on for decades to allay foreign concerns about the country's growing might.

The following stocks may be affected by newspaper reports and other factors on Wednesday:

The following are planned mergers under review by the European Commission and a brief guide to the EU merger process:

Oil rose above $68 per barrel on Wednesday, buoyed by a drop in U.S. gasoline inventories and a weak dollar.

Lawyers for Oscar-winning film director Roman Polanski lodged an appeal with a Swiss court on Tuesday against his arrest on a U.S. extradition warrant to face sentence for having sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977.

Talks between Bharti Airtel and MTN Group to create the world's third-largest mobile operator collapsed for the second time in just over a year on Wednesday.

Iconix Brand Group Inc slashed its 2009 view, hurt by the transition to a new licensee for one of its brands and dilution from its June share offer, sending its shares tumbling 23 percent.

China has made a proposal to buy 6 billion barrels of Nigeria's crude oil reserves and the West African country said on Wednesday it could sell stakes in its joint ventures with Western oil firms to help Beijing do so.

French food group Danone settled a legal row with China's top beverage producer Wahaha by selling out of their joint venture, as analysts speculated Danone is looking to the United States for a big acquisition.

More than 5,800 people were killed and 515,000 injured in U.S. car crashes last year tied to distracted driving, according to data released on Wednesday.

American Samoa tsunami videos are being made public online by witnesses showing the devastation left in the villages along the shoreline of the island.

Environmental software company Village Green Global Inc is joining the dash in the market to track carbon footprints, partnering with software giant Microsoft Corp to capture the business of cities and local governments.

Man Group, the world's largest listed hedge fund firm, said slowing outflows helped lift assets to an estimated $43.8 billion at end-September, at the top end of forecasts, boosting its shares.

The times they are a-changin', and Bob Dylan's surprise decision to release his first Christmas album next month now comes with a banking tie-in that would have been unimaginable during the singer's 1960s protest years.

U.S. holiday sales in 2009 will likely be almost flat with the anemic showing of a year ago, a new survey predicted, following in a line of cautious early forecasts for the period.

U.S. stocks fell sharply on Wednesday as an unexpected fall in business activity in the U.S. Midwest sparked worries about the pace of economic recovery.

Freddie Mac said on Wednesday it plans to sell about $1 billion of multifamily mortgage-backed securities next week and expects new issues at least quarterly.

The number of home foreclosures in process and delinquent mortgages rose during the second quarter, while home retention actions also rose, U.S. bank regulators said on Wednesday.

The U.S. economy contracted at slower pace than previously thought in the second quarter as improved consumer and business spending cushioned the impact of a record decline in inventories, according to a government report on Wednesday.

(Corrects age of Staley to 52 in paragraph 8 and corrects paragraph 13 to show Winters was in London, Black in New York)

Honduran police on Wednesday began evicting supporters of toppled President Manuel Zelaya from government office buildings where they had holed up for three months to protest his ouster in a military coup.

Vietnam's central provinces battled the biggest floods in decades on Wednesday caused by a powerful typhoon that swept into the country after wreaking havoc in the Philippines.

Repsol YPF's Bilbao Knutsen liquefied natural gas tanker is expected to arrive at the Canaport LNG terminal in New Brunswick from Trinidad on Oct. 5, according to AISLive ship tracker on Reuters.

Iran said on Wednesday it viewed talks with six world powers in Geneva as an opportunity and a test, while the United States weighed sanctions over Tehran's nuclear program if Thursday's meeting fails.