IBT Staff Reporter

Fox scored an overall ratings win Wednesday night on the strength of The X Factor, while Modern Family took the night's top rating spot and NBC suffered a night of declines, according to preliminary numbers.

In the new action-comedy Tower Heist, Alan Alda plays a Bernie Madoff-ish financier who promotes his business acumen and lives a flashy lifestyle, complete with penthouse apartment and world-class art collection, but winds up being a total fraud.

Two previously unreleased songs from Amy Winehouse aired on radio stations this week ahead of her posthumous album, generating mostly positive comments from critics and bittersweet memories for fans.

Paramount has been sneaking screenings of Young Adult, Jason Reitman's droll new film that could be a black comedy, but then again could be an outright tragedy merely punctuated with moments of hilarity.

Actress and film producer Lucy Liu is expanding her talents into the art world with a new book of illustrations that explores Kabbalah and meditation.

Country music singer Keith Urban will undergo throat surgery later this month, forcing the star to postpone numerous scheduled performances, Urban's spokesman said on Thursday.

Submarine Entertainment has been busily selling the DVD and home entertainment rights to Robert B. Weide's documentary on director Woody Allen.

Shares of Embraer , the world's third-largest commercial planemaker, suffered the worst drop on Brazil's benchmark stock index on Thursday after reporting weak results and disclosing a bribery investigation.

Short sellers who banked on a fall in the price of solar stocks this year pocketed big returns and are already positioning themselves for another go at the battered sector.

Attention, Australia: Kim Kardashian hasn't just left the building, she's left the country.

Attention, Australia: Kim Kardashian hasn't just left the building, she's left the country.

Michael Jackson paid with his life for the criminal negligence of his personal doctor, prosecutors told a Los Angeles jury on Thursday, but defense lawyers said there was no evidence any crime was committed in the singer's 2009 death.

NASA scientists find the more habitual parts of Mars were subterranean where most of the water was warm and wet.

It was announced Thursday that search engine giant Google will be tweaking its algorithm to produce fresher results, which will affect about 35 percent of what search results come up now.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc unveiled a plan on Thursday to save about $200 million of operating costs in 2012 by slashing 10 percent of its global workforce and streamlining internal business processes.

The new Ultimate update releases only a year after the original MvC3 was launched and adds 12 new characters and a host of modes and gameplay balances.

A former sanitation worker charged with murdering 10 women and girls as a Los Angeles serial killer dubbed the Grim Sleeper is now considered a suspect in six more slayings, police said on Wednesday.

Insurer American International Group lost more than $4 billion in the third quarter, as its aircraft leasing unit took an impairment charge on a portion of its fleet and the fair value of the company's one-third stake in Asian insurer AIA fell.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou has struck a deal with ministers to step down and hand power to a negotiated coalition government if they help him win a confidence vote on Friday, government sources with knowledge of a cabinet meeting said.

The government of Switzerland has proposed a multibillion-dollar settlement with U.S. authorities over allegations that it helped wealthy Americans avoid billions of dollars in U.S. taxes, according to sources briefed on the matter.

Activist investor Carl Icahn revealed an increased stake in WebMD Health Corp , a day after the company adopted a shareholder rights plan.

LinkedIn reported a net loss of $1.6 million for the third quarter Thursday, and although this beat Wall Street expectations, investors aren't pleased.

Thirty large and profitable U.S. corporations paid no income taxes in 2008 through 2010, said a study on Thursday that arrives as Congress faces rising demands for tax reform but seems unable or unwilling to act.

For the U.S. economy, it all comes back to the housing market.

DirecTV's record number of quarterly subscriber additions show that even in a tough economy Americans will pay up for one of their favorite pastimes -- live sports on TV.

A fossil of a sabre-toothed squirrel has been found in Argentina.

Fewer Americans filed new claims for jobless benefits last week while the country's vast service sector continued to grow last month, according to data on Thursday that showed the U.S. recovery was on track, though not speeding along.

Explore the spot where East meets West in Istanbul, Turkey, a city that teeters between modernity and age-old tradition.

Starbucks Corp's quarterly profit rose after the summer's economic jitters failed to dilute the coffee buying habits of the world's largest coffee chain's customers.