IBT Staff Reporter

When director David Fincher decided to make a film of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Hollywood was abuzz with who might play the starring role of abused, vengeance-seeking computer hacker Lisbeth Salander.

The three finalists of TV contest The X Factor went back to their roots on Wednesday, each performing their first audition songs as they battled for votes and a $5 million recording contract.

Federal police in Brazil on Wednesday recommended the indictment of several Chevron and Transocean officials involved in an oil spill in early November for environmental crimes and withholding information in an investigation.

Tokyo Electric Power Co <9501.T> said on Thursday it will raise corporate customers' electricity rates in April and seek approval to hike household rates as soon as possible, as it struggles with hefty thermal fuel costs after the Fukushima crisis curbed its nuclear power output.

Japanese chipmaker Elpida Memory Inc will start tie-up talks next month with Taiwanese rival Nanya Technology Corp, with a view to a possible merger, the Nikkei business daily said on Thursday.

An electronics company engineer who the U.S. government considers a one-man sperm bank has fathered an estimated 14 children through free donations of his semen that he advertises over the Internet.

California Attorney General Kamala Harris sued Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on Tuesday in an effort to expand her probe into the companies' mortgage foreclosure practices.

History was made on a Virginia Beach pier on Wednesday when two women sailors, one just home from 80 days at sea, became what was believed to be the first same-sex couple to share the Navy's traditional first kiss.

Greg Heffley had better take his vitamins and do some push-ups, because he's about to go up against a formidable foe indeed -- a zombie who bears an eerie likeness to him.

Lord of the Rings movie fans were given an early holiday treat this week with the release of a trailer for prequel The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, whetting their appetites a year before the film hits theaters.

The legal troubles keep mounting for the Real Housewives crew.

Coming off the success of Midnight in Paris, Sony Pictures Classics has acquired North American and UK rights to Woody Allen's next picture, Nero Fiddled, the company said Wednesday.

With Tilda Swinton having racked up Golden Globe and SAG Award nominations for her role in We Need to Talk About Kevin, distributor Oscilloscope Laboratories has pushed up the New York City release date for the psychological thriller.

Heungkuk Life Insurance Co has withdrawn a $47 million lawsuit against Goldman Sachs & Co over the Timberwolf collateralized debt obligation and will arbitrate the case instead.

Micron Technology posted quarterly results below expectations and said weak prices for DRAM memory chips are making industry consolidation inevitable.

When Bonobos customers logged on to the men's apparel retailer's website late on Cyber Monday, all they saw was a photo of feet with a pair of pants drooped around them.

The AT&T/T-Mobile is the third high-profile merger the U.S. Department of Justice has successfully defeated in 2011.

Al-Jazeera's good year just got a whole lot better.

If you've always wanted to go to the Caribbean, but thought you could never afford it- it's time to rethink with these great budget-friendly accommodations.

Bank of America Corp's Countrywide Financial unit agreed on Wednesday to pay a record $335 million to settle civil charges that it discriminated against minority homebuyers, an historic settlement for the Obama administration in the wake of the subprime mortgage morass.

Activist investment fund Starboard Value has taken a 4.5 percent stake in AOL Inc and is pushing for a meeting with the Internet company's chief executive and the board to address what it sees as strategic failings.

Verizon Wireless said it had fixed a data service problem that started early on Wednesday, the second high-profile service problem this month for the company that boasts it is the most reliable.

Walgreen Co still believes it can succeed even if it stops filling prescriptions for Express Scripts Inc on January 1, and its stance suggests that the odds of the drugstore making up with the pharmacy benefits manager before the end of the year are remote.

Fitch Ratings on Wednesday reiterated the high and rising U.S. federal and government debt burden was not consistent with keeping its AAA credit rating, but said no decision on whether to cut the top level rating is likely to come before 2013.

Saab Cars North America said it hired a financial adviser to administer its operations, after its Swedish parent was declared bankrupt by a court on Monday.

Jefferies Group Inc's profit dropped 23 percent during its fiscal fourth quarter as the investment bank took aggressive steps to reduce risk-taking after MF Global Holdings Ltd's bankruptcy.

KB Home posted a lower fourth-quarter profit on reduced margins, sending shares down as much as 8.5 percent, but said orders for new homes surged and home prices rose in another sign that the beleaguered housing market was gaining a foothold.

Rick Santorum has been a sideshow for most of the Republican presidential campaign. Now, two weeks before the Iowa caucuses, he has nabbed endorsements from two evangelical leaders, Bob Vander Plaats and Chuck Hurley. But is it too little, too late?

Technology shares slumped on Wednesday and pushed the Nasdaq down 1 percent after Oracle reported results that cast doubts on the sector's health, even as broader markets closed mostly flat in a thinly traded day.