Google Inc. unveiled a set of enhancements to its Internet search engine Wednesday that predict search queries as users type, promising to speed up the time it takes to find information online.
Google Instant, which is being launched Wednesday in the United States, delivers search results on a Web page before a user finishes typing in a query. The search results displayed on the page refresh and change as the user continues typing additional letters of the search term. Get the full story »
Oil prices followed stocks higher on Wednesday, as worries about European debt problems eased and buyers returned to the market.
After months of speculation, Piers Morgan, the British newspaper editor best-known to U.S. audiences as a judge on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent,” has finally completed talks to take over Larry King’s weeknight talk show on CNN.
Chicago Tribune parent Tribune Co. today named Donald Liebentritt chief restructuring officer, effective immediately. The company promoted David Eldersveld to be his successor as general counsel.
Groupon has filed a trademark and copyright infringement case against two Australian businesses that it claims use “confusingly similar terms” while providing “identical services” to the Chicago-based daily deal site. Get the full story »
A New York-based Web start-up specializing in restaurant discounts and reservations is expanding into Chicago, hoping to give restaurateurs and diners an alternative to daily deal sites such as Groupon.
VillageVines officially launches in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington D.C. on Sept. 15. In the meantime, Chicagoans can sign up for the site starting today. When the site goes live, members will be able to log in and book a reservation through an online calendar that lists available restaurants and dates. VillageVines charges $10 per reservation and typically offers 30 percent off the check. Get the full story »
Two Chicago-based companies – a railroad freightcar maker and an insurance brokerage – announced acquisitions Wednesday morning. Get the full story »
National Manufacturing Co., PNC Bank, Precision Dormer LLC and Northwestern Memorial Hospital are among about a dozen companies that notified the state of Illinois in August that they plan to close plants or institute “mass layoffs,” putting a total of more than 1,100 employees out of work. Get the full story »
A fire boat response crews battle the blazing remnants of the Deepwater Horizon on April 21. (AP /US Coast Guard)
Shares in BP PLC tracked slightly higher after the release of an internal report on the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that deflects much of the blame onto rig owner Transocean Ltd. and contractor Halliburton Co. The stock bounced as high as $6.44 after the report was made public Wednesday, before retreating a little to trade up 1.8 percent in early afternoon trading London time.
BP took some of the blame for April 20 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig that killed 11 workers and started the worst oil spill in U.S. history. It acknowledged in the report that its own employees misinterpreted a safety test that should have raised a red flag about a potential blowout of the Macondo well. Get the full story »
A new study showing the cost of malpractice at more than $55 billion a year to the U.S. health care system has Illinois medical-care providers once again calling for tort reform.
A comprehensive analysis by researchers at Harvard University figures the annual overall cost of medical liability to be $55.6 billion, or 2.4 percent of total health care spending, according to an article published in the September issue of the journal Health Affairs. Get the full story »
Navistar International Corp. swung to a fiscal third-quarter profit that handily topped analysts’ estimates as sales rebounded and margins widened sharply.
But the revenue growth was less than anticipated and the maker of heavy-duty vehicles lowered its top-line forecast for the year to $12 billion from its upbeat April view of $13.2 billion to $13.7 billion as it said it will defer military revenue to the next fiscal year. But it affirmed its earnings prediction, saying it “has found other measures” to meet the estimate. Get the full story »
The leaders of General Growth Properties Inc. will stay on for up to one year following completion of the company’s restructuring, which is expected in October, the company said Tuesday.
Chief Executive Officer Adam Metz and President and Chief Operating Officer Thomas Nolan have agreed to remain in their roles to oversee General Growth’s emergence from the largest real estate bankruptcy in U.S. history. Get the full story »
U.S. House of Representatives Republican leader John Boehner called Wednesday for a two-year freeze on all current U.S. tax rates, including Bush-era tax cuts for the rich set to expire at the end of this year. Get the full story »
Abbott Laboratories Wednesday said it closed the acquisition of Piramal Healthcare Ltd.’s generic drugs unit. In May, Abbott had agreed to buy Piramal’s healthcare solutions business for about $3.7 billion, Abbott Laboratories said in a statement.
EU regulators will review a bid by bug spray maker S.C. Johnson to purchase Sara Lee Corp.’s remaining insecticide business at the request of national watchdogs, the European Commission said on Wednesday. Sara Lee announced the $200 million deal in June as part of a strategy of focusing on selling food, coffee and tea. Get the full story »
