IBT Staff Reporter

Ensuring justice in last November's Mumbai attack is a high priority for President Obama and the United States will keep pressing Pakistan for action against its planners, a top U.S. diplomat said on Wednesday.

Loss-making lender Amcore Financial Inc said its unit will sell two branches to First National Bank and Trust Co of Beloit, Wisconsin to improve liquidity and return to profitability, sending its shares up more than 16 percent.

Cameco Corp reported a higher and forecast-topping quarterly profit on Wednesday as stronger results from its electricity business offset the impact of higher uranium sales costs.

Canadian private-equity firm Onex Corp swung to a quarterly profit on Wednesday and said it is well positioned to move on deals for distressed and restructured assets created by the weak economy.

Belgian-based RHJ International is set to sweeten its offer for General Motors' European business in its race with Canadian rival Magna to buy Opel, sources close to the situation said on Wednesday.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton launched a free guide on Wednesday to the New York City neighborhood of Harlem where authorities say more than one third of small businesses have closed amid the U.S. recession.

Private equity firm Blackstone Group plans to sell bonds in the private placement market through a unit called Blackstone Holdings Finance, the firm said on Wednesday.

Kourtney Kardashian is most definitely pregnant with her first child, E! news reports.

Manulife Financial Corp said on Wednesday it has bought AIC Ltd's Canadian retail investment fund business, boosting its mutual fund arm in another big-player takeover of an independent fund company.

Hedge fund manager John Paulson, who earned a fortune by betting against financial companies after foreseeing the credit crisis, stocked up on shares of Bank of America Corp and other lenders during the second quarter, according to a regulatory filing.

The U.S. coal business of miner Rio Tinto PLC submitted a new application on Wednesday for an initial public offering of up to $500 million.

Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd agreed the $1.38 billion sale of a stake in Israeli telecom operator Partner on Wednesday as it offloads certain overseas units to offset losses elsewhere.

Volkswagen (VW) and Porsche have broadly agreed on details for a deal to combine two of Europe's most storied automakers, two VW supervisory board members told Reuters on Wednesday.

Former AIG chief executive, Maurice Hank Greenberg, and five other defendants, have agreed to pay $115 million to settle a shareholder lawsuit, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Mexico's national team retained its never defeated at home by the U.S title on Wednesday beating the American national team 2 to 1 in front of 100,000 at the packed Azteca stadium in Mexico City.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc is suing American International Group for $9 million in payments the bank says it is owed from credit default swap protection it bought from the insurer on companies including General Motors and Washington Mutual.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has told Arthur Samberg, a once powerful hedge fund manager, it plans to file civil insider trading charges against him and his firm, Pequot Capital Management.

The Federal Reserve said on Wednesday the U.S. economy was showing signs of leveling out two years after the onset of the deepest financial crisis in decades and it moved to phase out one emergency measure.

The biggest California gay rights advocacy group on Wednesday said it needed three years to build a coalition to repeal a ban on same-sex marriage in the state, creating a rift in the movement with those who want to go back to the polls next year while anger is hot.

The U.S. Federal Reserve said on Wednesday the economy was showing signs of leveling out two years after the onset of the deepest financial crisis in decades and moved to shut down one emergency measure.

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday made two notable changes to its eagerly awaited policy meeting statement since its last meeting in June, as it upgraded its view of the economy and set a clear date to end its bond purchase program.

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday kept its key interest rate near zero as expected and said it would end its purchase of $300 million in Treasury securities in October, one month later than previously announced. The Fed is expected to maintain the current rate of between 0 and 0.25 percent.

JetBlue Airways Corp. in a bid to fill up empty planes has launched a $599 fly pass promotion allowing passengers unlimited airplane rides for a month valid between September 8 and October 8.

Citigroup Inc's contract with energy trader Andrew Hall, which reports say could pay him up to $100 million this year, will not be subject to rulings by the Obama administration's pay czar, a source close to the bank said on Wednesday.

The Department of Energy announced a fund of $38 million from the stimulus package to all 50 states for emergency preparedness plans in case of energy supply disruptions. Crude oil futures settled at $70.16 a barrel at 2:44 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange Wednesday. The first offshore wind farm in Germany, started operations of its first three turbines.

Below is the full text of the Health Care Reform Bill HR 320. Section 1233 of the Health Care Reform Bill HR 3200 is over 1,000 pages long and was crafted by House Democrats. The bill shows it would take the better part of a decade — from 2010-2018 — to get all the components of the far-reaching proposal up and running.

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced today the agency he leads allocated nearly $38 million in funding economic stimulus package funds to all states to help their emergency preparedness plans in case of energy supply disruptions.

A U.S. federal court's ruling in a patent infringement case could threaten sales of Microsoft Corp's popular word processing application.

U.S. stocks powered higher on Wednesday as the Federal Reserve said it saw signs of a more stable economy.