IBT Staff Reporter

Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton on Wednesday sued the road manager of the chart-topping hip-hop band the Black Eyed Peas for allegedly punching him in the face outside a Toronto nightclub at the weekend.

Social networking Internet service LinkedIn said on Wednesday that interim President Jeff Weiner will take over as chief executive officer, six months after the company's co-founder stepped into the role.

Three of China's “big four” banks ranked in the top five in terms of profits among all banks around the world last year, the UK magazine The Banker released on Wednesday.

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi condemned China on Wednesday of arresting the leading pro-democracy advocate Liu Xiaobo.

A combination of two drugs from Novartis AG cut the size of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours in more than 80 percent of patients in a mid-stage study, the Swiss group said on Wednesday. Patients who received a once-daily pill Afinitor in combination with Sandostatin LAR had no progression in their disease for a median of 16.7 months, according to results from the so-called RADIANT-1 study of 160 patients.

Chrysler's dash through bankruptcy has cost $12.7 million in legal costs in its first month, according to a court filing.

The new overseer of the U.S. government's $700 billion bank bailout fund said on Wednesday an intently awaited program to cleanse toxic assets from banks' balance sheets should soon be ready to roll out.

China's Wuhan Iron & Steel Inc (WISCO) made a nonbinding offer of $400 million for a minority stake in Brazilian miner MMX and its subsidiary MMX Sudeste Mineracao, MMX said on Tuesday in its website.

One of the lessons that the global financial crisis has taught the world is that the top reserve currencies should be kept stable, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said on Wednesday.

President Barack Obama on Wednesday signed into law a $106 billion measure to fulfill his plans to wind down the war in Iraq and ramp up operations in Afghanistan where fighting against militants is intensifying.

Top members of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement agreed on Wednesday to hold its first congress in 20 years in August in Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

It was 26 years ago and Cuba's then-leader, Fidel Castro, foresaw today's global economic crisis, a Cuban official said on Wednesday.

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc on Wednesday reported an unexpected rise in quarterly profit as the retailer cut costs to offset slumping consumer demand for home furnishings, and its shares rose 6 percent.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday he hoped to reach an understanding with Washington over Jewish settlements in the West Bank, but an Israeli official predicted the dispute would be hard to resolve.

The United States and Canada must do more than currently proposed to tackle greenhouse gases, France says in a position paper ahead of global climate talks in Copenhagen this December.

Nissan Motor Co. will unveil its new electric car on August 2 in Japan but just as a prototype, according to British site AutoCar.

Exelon Inc, Wisconsin Energy Corp., Goldman Sachs and First Solar Inc were among the stocks with links to the clean energy industry which appealed to investors on Wednesday.

If 2008 was a tough year for Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, 2009 is looking no easier as political battles pile on top of tough economic challenges.

The Federal Reserve sought to hide its involvement in Bank of America Corp's acquisition of Merrill Lynch as Merrill's financial condition worsened, the top Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said on Wednesday.

The Dow fell for the fourth day and other indexes ended well off the day's highs on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve reiterated concerns about the economic outlook at the end of its policy meeting.

Time Warner Inc and Comcast Corp have banded together to test ways to allow people to watch more TV shows over the Web, while making sure they keep paying for their traditional cable or satellite TV services.

MetroPCS Communications Inc on Wednesday unveiled a discounted international calling service, its latest effort to appeal to cost conscious U.S. consumers.

Nike Inc reported a worse-than-expected global decline in forward orders sending shares of the world's largest athletic shoe and clothing company down 4.1 percent.

Warren Buffett said on Wednesday that the U.S. economy has no bounce and will take time to recover, but there is no risk of deflation to push it further into despair.

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday stuck to its huge program of buying government and mortgage debt and said it saw signs that the deep U.S. recession was easing.

The wife of South Carolina governor, Mark Sanford, said in a statement Wednesday afternoon her and the governor had agreed on a trial separation to ultimately strengthen the marriage.

The world's rich lost a fifth of their wealth in 2008 and the number of people with fortunes of more than $1 million fell 15 percent as the financial crisis wiped out two years of growth, a study showed on Wednesday.

Sinopec Group launched China's biggest-ever foreign oil acquisition on Wednesday, agreeing to buy Addax Petroleum Corp for about C$8.27 billion ($7.24 billion) to secure the Swiss oil explorer's high-potential oil blocks in West Africa and Iraq.

Iran's state-run media reported Wednesday that the gunman who killed Neda may have mistaken her for the sister of an Iranian terrorist.