IBT Staff Reporter

The U.S. financial system has completed a big part of the painful adjustment away from its excessively leveraged state, and lending is starting to improve, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Wednesday.

The United States now has 3,009 confirmed cases of the new H1N1 influenza across 45 states and Washington, D.C., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Tuesday.

IBM is releasing the availability of Lotus Notes and Domino 8.5.1 Software with iPhone support. The beta release of Lotus Notes wit Domino software will give capabilities for e-mail and calendaring tools to the Apple iPhone as well as supporting Microsoft's Exchange ActiveSync.

Pope Benedict witnessed the watchtowers and high walls that seal Bethlehem off from Jerusalem on Wednesday as he entered the Israeli-occupied West Bank and pressed his call for a Palestinian state.

Sales at U.S. retailers fell for a second straight month in April as cash-strapped consumers held back on some purchases, according to a government report on Wednesday that dented hopes the economy was beginning to improve.

The U.S. financial system has completed a big part of the painful adjustment away from its excessively leveraged state, and lending is starting to improve, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Wednesday.

Stocks fell on Wednesday after key U.S. retail sales data came in worse than expected, dampening hopes of a quick economic recovery.

A former student leader of China's 1989 pro-democracy movement has been arrested on fraud charges, his family said on Wednesday, weeks before the 20th anniversary of the June 4 crackdown on Tiananmen Square protests.

Sarah Palin, the Alaska governor pulled from the U.S. political periphery onto the 2008 Republican presidential ticket, has signed a deal to write her memoirs with HarperCollins.

MGM Mirage said on Wednesday that it had amended its senior credit facility, allowing the casino operator to offer up to $2.5 billion in stock and debt, and its shares fell 15 percent.

Frontier Communications Inc has agreed to buy 4.8 million access lines from Verizon Communications Inc for $5.25 billion in stock, in a deal that triples its size and makes it the largest U.S. communications provider serving rural areas.

Stock index futures pointed to a drop of more than 1.5 percent at the open on Wednesday after key U.S. retail sales data came in worse than expected, dampening hopes of a quick economic recovery.

The European Commission fined Intel Corp a record 1.06 billion euros ($1.45 billion) on Wednesday and ordered it to halt illegal rebates and other practices it used to squeeze out its rival, AMD.

Macy's Inc posted a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss on Wednesday as cost cuts eased the pain of declining sales at its department stores, and its shares rose 1.6 percent in premarket trade.

Eradicating greenhouse gases from power stations and cars, trucks and aviation must be Europe's next policy move to tackle climate change, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Wednesday.

The remarkable spending on commodities out of China continues... this single country demand continues to make old sign posts useless.

Pollution-free electric scooters and bicycles have been available for a while but nothing on the market so far has come close to providing what bikers would regard as a ride with the style and performance they crave.

I've become numb a long time ago ... but seeing these programs and solutions one after the other is simply.... I don't have words.

Global talks on combating climate change this year might progress best by focusing on Mexico's proposal for a world climate change fund, one of the European Union's top negotiators said.

The founders of India's Suzlon Energy Ltd are looking to raise up to $48 million through the sale of 30 million shares or a stake of 2 percent in the world's fifth-largest wind turbine maker, sources said on Tuesday.

Macy's Inc posted a wider quarterly loss on Wednesday, hurt by a persisting decline in sales as shoppers at its department stores shunned unnecessary items in the recession.

Stock index futures fell about 1 percent on Wednesday as investors waited for key retail sales data for an indication of the mood of the U.S. consumer.

Pacific Ethanol Inc said on Tuesday that its first-quarter sales had fallen by nearly half and warned again that it would need to file for bankruptcy protection if it could not soon restructure its debt.

Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc reported higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Wednesday as consumers drank up its value-priced soft drinks, and the company raised its 2009 profit forecast, sending its shares up 5.9 percent in premarket trade.

Fashion company Liz Claiborne Inc reported a quarterly loss deeper than Wall Street expected as retail sales remained weak in the recession, and its shares fell nearly 12 percent in light premarket trading.

U.S. power plants will burn about 2.3 percent less coal in 2009 than they did last year as the recession trims electricity demand, the government's top energy forecaster said on Tuesday.

Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Wednesday as consumers drank up its value-priced soft drinks.

Stock index futures pointed to a slightly lower open on Wednesday as investors waited for key retail sales data for an indication of the mood of the U.S. consumer.

Executives at Citigroup Inc's Primerica Financial Services unit are looking to sell the division's marketing arm, Bloomberg said, citing four people familiar with the matter.