IBT Staff Reporter

Cornell University scientists in New York have just completed a social behavior study focusing on Twitter. Published in the journal Science, the research was based on a two-year period of observations recording 509 million tweets from 2.4 million users. Scientists gathered participants from 84 different countries to determine whether there were any trends or correlations to people's moods across regions.

Japanese electronics firms are suffering from the downturn in European consumption and the euro's slump to a 10-year low against the yen, senior executives from Sony Corp, Panasonic Corp and Fujitsu Ltd said on Tuesday.

World stocks hit a fresh 15-month low on Tuesday and the dollar rose to a nine-month peak as fears over a major banking crisis in Europe mounted along with expectations Greece could soon default, accelerating a global economic slowdown.

A battered pickup truck pulling up to Huaying Trading's back street office in Goma is about all that remains of Congo's once-bustling resources business as an impending U.S. crackdown on so-called conflict minerals scares most buyers away.

Switzerland, despite bank settlements with the United States to disclose tax evaders, remains the top refuge for financial secrecy, according to a new international ranking of tax haven countries.

Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Tuesday, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.4 percent, Dow Jones futures down 0.5 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.5 percent at 0841 GMT.

Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Tuesday, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.4 percent, Dow Jones futures down 0.5 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.5 percent at 0841 GMT.

Anyone hoping that recent falls in commodity prices would provide a boost to powerhouse Asian economies and help lift the developed world out of recessionary danger will be disappointed. The region's focus remains firmly on inflation.

Apple Inc rejected an offer from Samsung Electronics Co to settle their tablet computer dispute in Australia, possibly killing off the commercial viability of the South Korean firm's new Galaxy tablet in that market.

Murdered Briton Meredith Kercher has been forgotten in the fog of a tireless media and public relations campaign to free the American student convicted of killing her, a lawyer for the victim's family told Reuters.

The family of murdered British student Meredith Kercher still finds it difficult to forgive her murder, her brother and sister said on Monday, just hours before an expected verdict in an appeal by American student Amanda Knox.

Supporters of Amanda Knox hugged, cheered and cried at a Seattle hotel on Monday as the 24-year-old former University of Washington student was cleared of murder by an Italian court and ordered freed from prison.

As American student Amanda Knox's court appeal ends, exasperated residents of Perugia wish for a return to the days when the Italian town was known for chocolate, art and history rather a sex and drugs scene made notorious by the murder case.

Amanda Knox and her Italian former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were cleared and freed Monday after appealing a 2009 verdict that originally found them guilty of murdering British student Meredith Kercher.

Swiss bank UBS said on Tuesday it expects to report a modest net profit for the third quarter after a $2.3 billion rogue trading scandal.

World stocks hit a fresh 15-month low on Tuesday while the dollar neared a nine-month peak on growing doubts over Greece's ability to avert a default that would spark a major banking crisis in Europe and accelerate a global economic slowdown.

European stock index futures fell on Tuesday, after global stocks sank to a 15-month low, as investors shed riskier assets on growing doubts over Greece's ability to avoid default that fueled fears of global financial turmoil and recession.

Amanda Knox and her former boyfriend left prison after four years Monday when an Italian appeals court cleared them of the 2007 murder of British student Meredith Kercher.

Paramount Pictures is closing its New York-based film distribution office, according to a studio insider.

Authorities searched for a gunman who opened fire from a speeding car on Monday at an ambulance, a police car and at least two other vehicles along a San Diego freeway, the California Highway Patrol said.

Producer Saul Zaentz has sued distributor Miramax and its former owner, the Walt Disney Co., for $20 million, claiming the defendants hid profits to the Oscar-winning drama The English Patient.

A retired federal judge was appointed mediator on Monday to try to settle the battle for control of the bankrupt Los Angeles Dodgers that has pitted Major League Baseball against team owner Frank McCourt.

The man who claims to have provided the tip leading police to publicist Ronni Chasen's murderer is suing for $125,000 in reward money he says he's owed.

True to his prediction, Hank Williams never got out of this world alive. But leave it to country's all-time monarch of misery, last heard on this mortal coil 58 years ago, to be responsible for the most delightfully despondent album of 2011.

Dole Food Co Inc said it has settled lawsuits filed by farm workers claiming injuries from the agricultural chemical DBCP.

Some Android phones are believed to allow internet applications to access a user's information, such as their location or text messages. Who is at risk?

On Friday, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Bill of Rights Defense Committee joined the fight for user privacy on Facebook. Earlier last month, the Federal Trade Commission was urged by House members Ed Markey and Joe Barton to move forward with investigating the social media company for violating user privacy with browser cookies.

World stocks fell to a 15-month low and the euro tumbled to its weakest level against the yen in more than a decade on Monday as growing expectation of a Greek default increased fears of another global recession.

Japanese Finance Minister Jun Azumi urged Europe on Tuesday to come up with a transparent scheme to resolve the Greek debt crisis, to help stabilize the world economy and keep the euro from weakening too much against the yen.