IBT Staff Reporter

Tropical island. Eleven competitors. Osama bin Laden. Porn scandal. Prize? Best job in the world.

An Iranian-American journalist detained in Iran, Roxana Saberi, has been charged with espionage on behalf of the United States and her trial will start next week, Iranian media reported on Wednesday.

As people cut back on travel and going out, they are turning more to home entertainment, providing a boost to the videogame industry that is under pressure to keep gamers amused and beat the recession.

General Motors Corp and Chrysler launched government-backed assistance programs for parts suppliers on Wednesday, and the task force overseeing the carmakers' restructuring was expected to meet with GM this week to speed up the process.

Australian Dollar: In what has become somewhat of an anticlimax to Tuesday’s rate announcement the Aussie dollar appears to have found a solid short term trading range over the last 24 hours

French people are feeling more confident about the economy than two months ago, partly in response to stimulus measures agreed at last week's G20 summit of world leaders, a survey showed on Wednesday.

U.S. securities regulators floated five new proposals to curb short selling, drawing fire from short sellers who feel they are being made scapegoats for the financial crisis and stock market plunge.

Grocery sales

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said yesterday that he supports investments to develop technology that captures and stores carbon emissions originated from burning coal, but added that it would take a minimum of eight years to develop a cost-effective technology.

Stocks snapped a two- day slide on Wednesday on news the government is shoring up life insurers and optimism about consumer spending after Bed Bath & Beyond Inc reported a better-than-expected profit.

U.S. stock gains eased on Wednesday and risk aversion rose, driving bond prices higher, after minutes from the Federal Reserve's last meeting showed policy-makers worried about a steep drop in economic activity.

Apple has already made plans to build between 5 to 6 million new iPhones, an analyst said Wednesday.

Consumers are struggling to find an easy way to get files like photographs out of their phones to share with friends and family.

Consumers are struggling to find an easy way to get files like photographs out of their phones to share with friends and family.

Ford Motor Co has no interest in acquiring any Chrysler assets or brands if the automaker is forced into bankruptcy, the president of Ford's Americas unit said on Wednesday.

The recession chokehold that is gripping the world's richest nations won't loosen until late this year, and Reuters polls show the economic outlook has dimmed for 2009 despite a vigorous global stock market rally.

Stocks snapped a two- day slide on Wednesday on news the government is shoring up life insurers and optimism about consumer spending after Bed Bath & Beyond Inc reported a better-than-expected profit.

Federal Reserve policy-makers, faced with bleaker forecasts for a rapidly worsening recession, decided to buy a substantial amount of U.S. Treasury and mortgage debt to halt the slide, minutes of their most recent meeting showed on Wednesday.

Belize is a peaceful, English-speaking country just two hours away from 3 major U.S. Gateways. With a diversity of adventure opportunities unmatched by any other country, the Belizean people have protected over 40% of the country as parks and natural reserves.

Google's operating system will not debut on netbooks anytime soon due to its browsing experience, said Acer executives.

Let's say you attend a business function. You meet a top tier prospect, and give her your card. As you are driving home, you realize that twenty other people may have approached that prospect and presented their business cards. So what will make your card stand out from the collected stack?

A banking analyst at Oppenheimer & Co said that when big banks proclaim that they are performing well, they better be right.

Famed game designer Will Wright is leaving publisher Electronic Arts to focus on his own multimedia entertainment firm, the company said on Wednesday.

Alcoa shares rose after analyst saw cost cutting progress inside it first-quarter loss.

Teck Cominco said on Wednesday it sold the 5.6 million shares of Kinross Gold Teck acquired when it sold Kinross its 60 percent share of the Lobo-Marte gold property in Chile.

Alcoa Inc stock see-sawed on Wednesday, with some on Wall Street seeing the aluminum producer's second consecutive quarterly loss as the glass being half full and others as half empty.

Royal Dutch Shell and Russian gas giant Gazprom signed a series of gas supply agreements on Wednesday under which both parties will buy LNG from the Sakhalin II project in eastern Russia over 20 years.

Author Kevin Phillips expects rising inflation, similar to the 1970s, as the economy recovers from the current recession.

When it comes to paying back the financial bailout loans issued by the government in the last half year, the interests of taxpayers and banks come into play.