IBT Staff Reporter

MANAMA - Several foreign banks see huge untapped opportunities in Iran for Islamic finance, spurred on by hopes U.S. President Barack Obama's new approach toward the Islamic Republic will end years of sanctions hampering busines

On Thursday the nation's second-largest shopping mall owner, General Growth Properties, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after failing to reach an out of court consensus on how to restructure its $27 billion debt.

IBM is no longer interested in buying smaller rival Sun Microsystems Inc at any price, CNBC reported on Thursday, although many investors appear to believe a deal was still possible.

The Swedish Pirate Bay Web site server used to serve Bit-torrent files was put display in museum for public viewing on Thursday.

New York Gov. David Paterson on Thursday introduced a bill to allow gay marriage in the state, likening the effort to civil rights struggles and brushing aside objections from religious leaders.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown apologized on Thursday for offensive emails about top opposition figures sent by one of his most influential aides, as the government tried to limit fallout before next week's budget.

Rosetta Stone Inc shares rose 42 percent in their trading debut Thursday, following the company's initial public offering, putting it on pace for the strongest start of a new stock in a year.

Washington's visiting Middle East envoy vowed on Thursday to vigorously pursue the creation of a Palestinian state, setting the stage for possible conflict with Israel's new right-leaning government.

Sun Microsystems shares rose 10 percent Thursday after its willingness to resume IBM acquisitions talks to complete the deal; however IBM is no longer interested.

The number of Americans claiming jobless aid hit a record in early April and groundbreaking for new homes slumped last month, but a top Federal Reserve official voiced hope the recession was ending.

Stocks jumped on Thursday as expectations of reassuring quarterly results from bellwethers including Google lifted technology shares, while JPMorgan's better-than-expected profit added to bank stabilization hopes.

The current global recession is likely to be unusually long and severe and the recovery sluggish since it sprang from a financial crisis, the International Monetary Fund said on Thursday.

Wall Street has high hopes for Google Inc after the bell on Thursday, even as advertising spending remains under pressure and another tech giant, Intel Corp, disappointed some investors.

Nissan chief executive Carlos Ghosn said on Thursday that the company will introduce zero emission cars into the U.S. market by 2010 with a price that makes sense in the market.

Stocks rose on Thursday as JPMorgan's better-than-expected profit added to optimism about bank stabilization, while expectations of reassuring technology results boosted bellwethers like Hewlett-Packard and Google Inc .

Technology magazines, facing dwindling advertising and lost luster for big-ticket gadgets, may be turning their attention to helping readers make home improvements or beef-up devices they already own.

Stronger-than-expected results on Thursday from motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson Inc and off-road vehicle maker Polaris Industries Inc raised a glimmer of hope that the buyer pullback bedeviling consumer goods companies may be slowing.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq rose on Thursday after JPMorgan posted better-than-expected earnings and amid a flurry of positive news on the technology front.

JPMorgan Chase & Co reported better-than-expected first-quarter profit as debt trading and underwriting revenue surged, lifting the shares of the second-largest U.S. bank by as much as 4.5 percent.

JPMorgan Chase & Co reported better-than-expected first-quarter profit as debt trading and underwriting revenue surged, lifting the shares of the second-largest U.S. bank by as much as 4.5 percent.

A federal indictment against Texas billionaire Allen Stanford is not likely before the end of April, one of his lawyers said on Thursday.

President Barack Obama outlined his plan for long overdue high-speed rail on Thursday that would rival air travel, create jobs and help curb the U.S. transportation system's appetite for oil.

House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants to create a special panel to investigate the causes of the Wall Street meltdown that helped put the country into a severe economic recession, a spokesman said on Thursday.

Who gets an upgrade and who gets bumped? What if your name is on a watch list? How can you avoid baggage fees? Why do airfares change several times in one day? Where to find the blacklist of airlines banned for safety reasons?

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq rose on Thursday after JPMorgan posted better-than-expected earnings and amid a flurry of positive news on the technology front.

Plugged-in hotels are likely to get the most guests checking in, with a global survey showing websites, and hi-tech facilities, are the top criteria travelers look for when picking a place to stay.

NEC and Panasonic will unveil on Monday nine new cell phone models running the open-source LiMo operating system, wireless Linux foundation LiMo said at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona.

Rosetta Stone Inc shares rose nearly 44 percent in their trading debut Thursday, following the company's initial public offering, the fourth in the United States this year.

Ashton Kutcher and CNN are competing to see who can first reach a million followers on popular social networking site, Twitter.