IBT Staff Reporter

Major publishers accused Google Thursday of brutally exploiting France's literary heritage as they launched a court challenge to the Internet giant's drive to scan digital copies of books and put extracts online.

Companies need to find a way to tackle the stress put on employees caused by nonstop emails in the BlackBerry age, according to a top executive at France Telecom, which is dealing with a spate of employee suicides.

Stocks fell on Thursday as signs of weakness in housing and investors' worries that authorities might be curbing stimulus efforts too soon sparked caution.

Google Inc's Web-based email service on Thursday suffered its second technical problem in a month as users reported difficulty accessing their contacts.

World leaders at the G20 meeting here on Thursday were closing in on a statement calling for new restraints on banker pay, but would not endorse specific monetary caps, a deal-breaker for the United States.

Sales of the PlayStation 3 video game console jumped in the weeks after a $100 price cut last month, and strong demand could lead to empty shelves at retail, a Sony Corp executive said on Wednesday.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned on Thursday that a U.S. drive to rebalance the global economy risked distracting the Group of 20 from a more urgent need for market regulation at their Pittsburgh summit.

Research In Motion is expected to forecast strong gains for its current quarter on Thursday as it gets set to update its BlackBerry smartphones for consumers and business users.

Corrects to read Sony's God of War and Activision Blizzard's Call of Duty in penultimate paragraph; names of video game publishers were transposed

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion reported weaker quarterly profit and an outlook that fell short of analyst expectations on Thursday, sending its shares down almost 10 percent in after-hours trading.

Major world central banks announced on Thursday that they planned to scale back massive injections of U.S. dollars into their banking systems as financial markets stabilize after a devastating crisis.

Hewlett Packard Co on Thursday forecast revenue that is up from 2009 but slightly below what analysts expected, despite hopes that corporate spending on hardware would bounce back.

Oil prices settled more than 4 percent lower at below $66 a barrel on Thursday as weak U.S. home sales data and high crude oil inventories in the top energy consumer stirred doubts about a potential fuel demand recovery.

Stocks fell on Thursday as signs of weakness in housing and investors' worries that authorities might be curbing stimulus efforts too soon sparked caution.

Sales of previously owned homes in the United States unexpectedly fell for the first time in four months in August, indicating a less vigorous pace of economic recovery from a deep recession.

Oil prices dropped over 4 percent on Thursday to $66 a barrel as weak U.S. home sales data and high U.S. crude inventories stirred doubts about a potential fuel demand recovery.

The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits fell last week, but a surprise drop in sales of existing homes in August hinted at a less vigorous pace of recovery from a severe recession.

Oil prices dropped over 4 percent to below $66 a barrel on Thursday as weak U.S. home sales data and high crude oil inventories in the top energy consumer stirred doubts about a potential fuel demand recovery.

U.S. stocks fell on Thursday as a surprise drop in August sales of existing homes signaled more weakness in housing and investors worried that authorities might be curbing stimulus efforts too soon.

U.S. stocks slid on Thursday, as world central banks said they would scale back infusions of U.S. dollars into their banking systems and after weak U.S. housing data.

Research In Motion Ltd. Reported a drop of 4 percent in its second quarter earnings as a legal settlement charge offset strong sales of the company's popular line of BlackBerry devices.

The U.S. car market should see a modest recovery in 2010, with sales possibly reaching between 11.5 million and 12 million vehicles, General Motors Co Chief Executive Fritz Henderson said on Thursday.

Research In Motion Ltd. Reported a drop of 4 percent in its second quarter earnings as a legal settlement charge offset strong sales of the company's popular line of BlackBerry devices.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu brandished at the U.N. on Thursday Nazi-era documents on the extermination of Jews, dramatically rebutting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's denial of the Holocaust.

Younger white women with vitamin D deficiencies are about three times more likely to have high blood pressure in middle age than those with normal vitamin levels, according to a study released on Thursday.

The secret to fixing healthcare in the United States is to focus on value, a measure that takes into account both quality and cost, says Dr. Denis Cortese, president of the Mayo Clinic.

Worries about the economy have led many American women to think twice about having a baby, a survey released on Wednesday found, with nearly half of those surveyed saying they want to delay pregnancy or limit the number of children they have.

Makenzie Philips was interviewed in the Today Show this morning where she spoke about her incestuous relationship with her father.

Twitter is close to securing as much as $100 million of new funding from up to seven investors in a deal that values the fast-growing microblogging site at about $1 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.