IBT Staff Reporter

Google Inc. considered buying a newspaper but decided against it, CEO Eric Schmidt told the Financial Times.

President Barack Obama sought on Thursday to quell a domestic backlash against his efforts to close the internationally condemned U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay and roll back some of the most divisive Bush-era anti-terrorism policies.

A report by a leading proxy advisory firm that sided with activist hedge-fund manager William Ackman in his attempt to win seats on Target Corp's board contains statements that are inaccurate or misleading, the discount retail said.

The Obama administration is mulling a new agency to better protect consumers from practices like those that led to the current financial crisis, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Thursday.

U.S. stocks slid on Thursday as signs of further jobs weakness and a disappointing Fed regional survey fueled doubts about prospects for a quick economic recovery.

Xerox Corp on Thursday named Ursula Burns as its chief executive, replacing Anne Mulcahy, who has been credited with revitalizing the document management company.

Freddie Mac investors have filed expanded court claims accusing the mortgage finance company and three former executives of committing fraud by misleading them about risky loan practices and manipulating financial results.

U.S. mortgage applications rose last week, reflecting an increase in demand for home refinancing loans as interest rates trekked lower, data from an industry group showed on Wednesday.

Whitney Tilson, the outspoken founder of hedge fund T2 Partners LLC, is girding for a deeper mortgage market meltdown after being singed in his first foray into the credit crisis' most toxic of securities -- subprime bonds.

Stocks tumbled on Thursday, pushing the benchmark S&P 500 down 2 percent, as signs of more job market weakness and an anemic Fed regional survey fueled fears that the economic recovery might not happen quick enough.

The initial public offering of the financial instrument for betting on U.S. home prices has failed because its auction could not generate a balance of investor interest in the product's two linked trusts, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

U.S. mortgage rates fell in the latest week, trekking closer to a record low set last month. Interest rates on U.S. 30-year fixed-rate mortgages fell to 4.82 percent for the week ending May 21, down from the previous week's 4.86 percent, according to a survey released on Thursday by home funding company Freddie Mac.

Stocks slid on Thursday as signs of further jobs weakness and an anemic Fed regional survey fueled doubts about prospects for a quick economic recovery.

The 11th EU-China Summit took place on Wednesday in Prague with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao joining the summit.

Iran said Wednesday it had successfully tested a missile with a range that defense analysts say could reach parts of Europe.

Boeing Co said on Thursday that its Dreamliner 787 was still on track for its first flight later this quarter, and the company stood by a previous full-year forecast.

Drug gangs have forced open a bloody new front in Mexico's drugs war, extending their battles over smuggling routes into a formerly quiet northwestern state and further stretching the army.

Off-price retailer Ross Stores Inc posted a 15 percent rise in quarterly profit that matched estimates and it raised its full-year earnings view as strong sales and merchandise margins boosted business.

A former senior Chinese censor has claimed a major role in recording purged leader Zhao Ziyang's memoirs that decry the quelling of pro-democracy protests in 1989, adding to calls for the government to repent the crackdown.

Dental equipment distributor Patterson Cos Inc. reported lower-than-expected quarterly results as sales fell at two of its key businesses, and the company forecast a weak fiscal 2010, sending its shares down 11 percent.

The head of the World Health Organization said on Thursday she would not hesitate to raise the global pandemic alert to the top of the six-point scale if the new H1N1 flu is spreading globally.

Chinese solar energy company Suntech Power Holdings Inc on Thursday reported a surprise quarterly profit and said it expects its revenues to grow in the second quarter.

Sri Lanka plans to resettle most of the 280,000 refugees who fled the war with the defeated Tamil Tigers within six months, the government said on Thursday after meeting visiting Indian officials.

Israeli police broke up an unauthorized settler outpost in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, bulldozing makeshift cabins, police said.

Suicide bombers killed at least 19 people in Iraq on Thursday in separate attacks in Baghdad and the northern city of Kirkuk, security officials said, underscoring the fragility of Iraq's security gains.

Oil fell more than a dollar to below $61 a barrel on Thursday, after hitting a six-month high in the previous session on expectations of a rebound in the world economy.

The American man at the center of the trial against Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi swam to her house after having a vision that her life was in danger, Suu Kyi's lawyers said on Thursday.

President Barack Obama on Thursday will discuss his plan for closing the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in an effort to stop a revolt by lawmakers concerned that some of the detainees could be set free in the United States.

Porsche denied on Thursday that it had filed an application for aid that a government source had said had been rejected.