GOLD

Toronto's main stock index slumped more than 3 percent on Thursday, as rising concerns about global growth more than wiped out the previous session's late-day rally and knocked world markets lower.

Nashville Predators captain Shea Weber, one of the top defenseman in the National Hockey League (NHL), was awarded a record $7.5 million one-year contract by an arbitrator, the team said on Wednesday.

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, is already known for her keen fashion sense, and her mastery of recycling looks from her own closet, but when it comes to hats, well, it seems the new royal is willing to spend a pretty penny.

Shares of the following companies are actively trading in the pre-market hours Thursday on Nasdaq. The companies are Dendreon, Entropic Communications, Cadence Pharma, Zipcar, On Assignment, GT Solar and Randgold Resources.

The global economy is more sluggish than first thought, government bonds offer no real return, gold is super expensive and stock markets sell off at the slightest setback.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has extended the use of 3D imaging technology to screen oesophageal and colon cancer. The new imaging system is based on Optical coherence tomography (OCT) and has the advantage of detecting underlying microscopic pre-cancerous tissues.

The companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trade on Thursday are: Kraft Foods, CIGNA, Teradata, NYSE Euronext, Davita, Tiffany, Alpha Natural Resources, Northrop Grumman, Carnival, Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold and United States Steel Corp.

New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg is not waiting for Congress to address long-standing social concerns: he's donating $30 million of his money to launch a new $127 million program to improve the lives of thousands of young black and Latino men, who are cut off from New York City's civic, educational, and economic life.

The top after-market NASDAQ Stock Market gainers are: Web.com Group, On Assignment, Zipcar, Allied Motion Technologies, Savient Pharmaceuticals, and The Andersons. The top after-market NASDAQ Stock Market losers are: Dendreon, Entropic Communications, comScore, Zumiez, Oncothyreon, and Career Education.

South African government bonds rallied sharply on Wednesday and the yield on the benchmark note fell to 9-month lows as a gloomy global economic climate cast a shadow on the domestic outlook.

According to a new report, the president's land seizure program has cost the country $12 billion.

On Tuesday, President Barack Obama signed a bill to raise the U.S. debt ceiling, preventing the nation from defaulting for the first time in its history.

Major stock indexes around the world lost all of their gains on the year and gold hit a record on Tuesday after a deal to raise the U.S. debt ceiling gave no comfort to investors preoccupied with sluggish global growth.

Breaking Benjamin, the Pennsylvania based alternative metal band, are no longer together. The band is facing some internal legal issues.

The Swiss franc held hefty gains in Asia on Wednesday, having rocketed to record highs as investors scrambled for a safe haven on renewed tensions in the euro zone debt market and worries about a global slowdown.

South African government bonds rose on Tuesday, boosted by an auction which saw the strongest demand in a year with foreign buying a key feature.

Heartthrob Leonardo DiCaprio struck gold at the box office last year, making him the highest-paid actor in Hollywood in 2010, according to Forbes.

South Korea's central bank bought 25 tonnes of gold over the past two months in its first purchase in more than a decade, saying the time was ripe to boost its gold holding, but markets barely moved on the news.

Asian shares fell on Tuesday on concerns about a downgrade of the United States credit rating and economic worries after sluggish data, while the yen gave some gains on jitters over the possibility of intervention by Bank of Japan.

Gold was flat in early trade on Tuesday, supported by the gold purchase by South Korea's central bank, while investors watched the outcome of a vote on the debt deal.

Blizzard is expected to release its beta version of Diablo 3 later this year. Meanwhile, it has opened up registrations for beta testers.