UNITED STATES

Stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Tuesday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.25 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.29 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.36 percent at 0920 GMT.

‘Assassin’s Creed 3’ is set to arrive on Oct. 30, 2012.

Google's latest doodle on Tuesday pays homage to Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, one of the masters of modern architecture whose 126th birthday falls on March 27.

Sharp Corp <6753.T> will announce a tie-up with Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry <2317.TW> on Tuesday that would include the sale of part of its loss-making major factory in western Japan, the Nikkei business daily reported.

Iraq's foreign minister has said that the Arab League summit in Baghdad this week will not ask Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down, but added that leaders are likely to agree on a doable solution to end the Syrian crisis.

Japan moved away from the agenda of the two-day nuclear security summit on Tuesday to criticize North Korea's plans for a rocket launch next month.

Japan's Hitachi Ltd <6501.T> said on Tuesday that it aimed to cut annual operating costs by 5 percent in four years, enabling the company to invest more in its growing infrastructure and telecommunications businesses.

Eye care company Bausch & Lomb (BOL) will acquire Ista Pharmaceuticals Inc for $500 million, according to a joint statement made by the two companies on Monday.

The average price of gasoline in the US rose to $3.92 per gallon, an increase of 11.49 cents in the last two weeks, according to the Lundberg Survey conducted across the nation.

Microsoft Corp claimed a victory in efforts to combat online banking fraud, saying it had confiscated several servers used to steal login names and passwords, disrupting some of the world's most sophisticated cybercrime rings.

U.S. tech giants Hewlett Packard and Oracle on Monday both sought pretrial wins in their bitter legal battle over whether Oracle can end support for Itanium, a heavy-duty microprocessor.

The U.S. is eliminated from qualification for the Olympics

Asian stocks rebounded Tuesday and the dollar eased after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said ultra-loose monetary policy was still needed to reduce unemployment even though the U.S. economy has shown signs of improvement.

Giant Gambian pouch rats -- among the largest muroid rodents in the world -- have hit Florida's Grassy Keys and are breeding despite efforts to eradicate them.

U.S. regulators are pressuring Internet companies to put in place by the end of the year a Do Not Track system that would give consumers more control over their personal data online, in a report released on Monday that privacy advocates dismissed as too soft.

The U.S. war effort in Afghanistan has become more unpopular than ever, a New York Times/CBS News poll released Monday finds.

When it comes to Apple, investors could become victims of their own success.

Contracts to purchase previously owned U.S. homes unexpectedly fell in February, suggesting a loss of momentum in the housing market after recent signs of improvement.

Blackstone Group LP and Bain Capital LP plan to take Michaels Stores Inc public, nearly six years after they bought North America's largest retailer of arts and crafts for more than $6 billion, four people familiar with the matter said on Monday.

AIG expects American taxpayers to end up with a profit of $5 billion to $10 billion on the company's 2008 rescue when all is said and done, the chief executive of the bailed-out insurer said on Monday.

Despite Monday's 92-4 vote, Republicans are likely to kill the bill later this week if, as expected, they're not allowed by the Senate's Democratic leadership to propose amendments.