IBT Staff Reporter

Nevada senator John Ensign on Tuesday admitted to having an extramarital affair with campaign treasurer, Cynthia Hampton.

Preorders of the new Apple iPhone 3G S from the AT&T store online is already sold out, leaving many to have to resort to waiting in long queues at Apple and AT&T stores on Friday when it's officially launched.

Oil fell below $70 a barrel on Wednesday, pressured by weaker stock markets, as investors awaited a U.S. inventory report expected to show supplies declined in the world's top consumer.

President Barack Obama will lay out on Wednesday his vision for reshaping U.S. financial regulation, aiming to tighten oversight of the largest firms whose excessive risk-taking triggered a global recession.

U.S. consumer prices edged up in May on higher gasoline prices, but fell over the past 12 months by the most since 1950, in a sign that inflation was no threat for now as the country fights a brutal recession.

The head of the World Trade Organisation is hopeful long-running trade talks can be wrapped up next year.

Rio Tinto (RIO.AX) and BHP Billiton's (BLT.L) proposed iron-ore joint venture has a strong monopolistic flavour and Chinese firms are actively seeking ways to cope with it, state media on Wednesday cited a senior official as saying.

The euro zone's unadjusted external trade surplus rose in April as exports showed signs of stabilising on a monthly basis and fell less than imports, though shipments sank more than a quarter from a year earlier.

Malian security forces have clashed with a group of suspected al Qaeda militants in the northern Tessalit region, killing several people, a senior military source in the West African country said Wednesday.

A coal mine explosion in Indonesia's Sumatra island has killed 28 miners and 12 others are missing, officials said Wednesday.

Spain is ready to take between three and five inmates from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, newspaper El Pais reported Wednesday, citing government officials.

Mexico's navy has seized more than a ton of cocaine stuffed inside frozen sharks, as drug gangs under military pressure go to greater lengths to conceal narcotics bound for the United States.

Leftist urban guerrillas shot dead a Greek anti-terrorism policeman in Athens on Wednesday in the worst attack since riots in December launched a wave of bombings and shootings in Greece.

The presidents of Russia and China on Wednesday called for a diplomatic push to resolve tensions over the nuclear programs of Iran and North Korea after wide-ranging talks in Moscow.

Stock index futures pointed to a flat to lower open on Wednesday as key data for May tempered inflation concerns but was offset by a disappointing earnings outlook from package delivery company FedEx Corp .

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Wednesday that Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari had sought more time to act against anti-India militants because Islamabad's fight with the Taliban had entered a crucial phase.

France's chief air disaster investigator said on Wednesday he was unhappy that a French pathologist had not been allowed to take part in autopsies in Brazil of bodies recovered after an Air France plane crash.

U.S. President Barack Obama will sign a memorandum on Wednesday to extend healthcare and other benefits to unmarried domestic partners of federal workers, a White House official said on Tuesday.

The leaders of South Korea and the United States told North Korea to drop its atomic ambitions and stop threatening the region while media reports on Wednesday said Pyongyang was moving ahead with plans to launch a long-range missile.

U.S. consumer prices rose at a slower-than-expected pace in May despite higher gasoline costs, and fell over the past 12 months by the most since 1950, according to government data on Wednesday.

U.S. mortgage applications fell for a fourth consecutive week, with overall demand plunging to its lowest level in nearly seven months, data from an industry group showed on Wednesday.

U.S. mortgage applications fell for a fourth consecutive week, with overall demand plunging to its lowest level in nearly seven months, data from an industry group showed on Wednesday.

The U.S. economy will not recover until the end of this year, and even then growth will remain meek and vulnerable to higher interest rates and commodity prices, economist Nouriel Roubini said on Tuesday.

Apple iPhone 3.0 Update will be released today June 17, according to the Apple iPhone website.

New U.S. housing starts and permits surged in May from record lows, while wholesale prices were muted despite higher gasoline costs, indicating the economy was moving closer to the end of a deep recession.

FedEx Corp on Wednesday reported a larger fourth-quarter loss, due to charges at two units that have been hit by the recession, but gave a low outlook for the current quarter, citing the continued downturn and rising fuel prices.

The local market was caught by surprise yesterday following the release of the minutes to this month's Australian Reserve Bank meeting.

S&P 500 stock index futures fell and Dow futures turned negative on Wednesday after package delivery company FedEx Corp forecast an extremely difficult operating environment for the first two quarters of its fiscal year.

U.S. mortgage applications fell for a fourth consecutive week, with overall demand plunging to its lowest level in nearly seven months, data from an industry group showed on Wednesday.