IBT Staff Reporter

The 56-year-old comedian and actor was fired on Monday after he tweeted a series of jokes about the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

European Union finance ministers agreed on Tuesday on tougher rules against excessive borrowing and macroeconomic imbalances, aimed to shore up market confidence and help end the sovereign debt crisis.

Brent crude fell below $110 a barrel for the first time in nearly three weeks on Tuesday as a deepening nuclear crisis in Japan and rising radioactivity levels heightened risk aversion across financial markets.

Japan's Nikkei share average plunged 10.6 percent on Tuesday, posting the worst two-day rout since 1987, as hedge funds bailed out after reports of rising radiation near Tokyo. Many mutual funds were left on the sidelines, leaving them poised to dump shares into any rebound.

An evidently impressed Kevin Rose, founder of Digg, has shared an e-mail from a friend who works for Apple in Japan shedding light on the ways in which the tech giant stepped up and helped people caught off guard by Friday's earthquake.

Stock index futures dropped sharply on Tuesday, with futures for the S&P 500 down 2.8 percent, Dow Jones futures down 2.5 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures down 2.6 percent at 0935 GMT (5:35 a.m. ET), on mounting fears over Japan's nuclear crisis.

A book titled - What Every Man Thinks About Apart From Sex - containing blank pages has been lapped up by youths, making it a bestseller at Amazon.

(Corrects sixth paragraph to show ICE's failed bid four years ago was for Chicago Board of Trade)

The March 11 earthquake has plunged Japan into a state of nuclear crisis as fresh reports of blasts at nuclear plants pour in every few hours. The live slideshow contains photos of the blast with details.

The Bank of Japan on Tuesday continued to flood the money market with cash while top policymakers sought to contain a sharp sell-off in Tokyo stocks with reminders they kept a close watch over market moves and assurances about the economy's overall health.

Brent crude fell by as much as 2.2 percent to below $112 as a deepening nuclear crisis in Japan and rising radioactivity levels heightened risk aversion across financial markets.

A three-year $1.35-million grant will see the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University working closely with the University of the West Indies' Cave Hill School of Business (CHSB) to develop a comprehensive entrepreneurship program for MBAs.

World stocks hit 2-1/2 month lows on Tuesday and oil fell and the yen surged after reports of rising radiation near Tokyo triggered a 10 percent fall in Japanese stocks, hurting risky assets across the board.

Japanese auto major Mazda Motor Corporation will extend the production suspension at its Hiroshima and Hofu plants until March 20 following Friday's earthquake.

Brent crude fell by as much as 1.9 percent to below $112 after explosions rocked an earthquake-stricken Japanese nuclear plant on Tuesday, sending Japanese equities into a tailspin as radiation levels climbed and dampening sentiment across markets.

Japan has confirmed that a fire at the spent fuel storage pond at an earthquake-hit reactor of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was extinguished on March 15 at 02:00 UTC, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said.

Japanese leaders tried to calm panicky financial markets on Tuesday as a deepening nuclear power crisis looked certain to increase the toll on an economy already convulsing from a massive earthquake and tsunami.

Prices for key technology components extended gains on Tuesday, as damage at Japanese plants and infrastructure caused by Friday's devastating earthquake and tsunami threatens to disrupt the global manufacturing chain longer than many had expected.

Japanese Auto major Honda Motor Co has said that all production activities are suspended at the following Honda plants, the carmaker said in a statement.

Shares and other risky assets from the Australian dollar to commodities such as copper and oil slumped on Tuesday while safe-haven assets like U.S. Treasuries rallied as Japan's nuclear crisis worsened.

Japan has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that a spent fuel storage pond at an earthquake-damaged reactor is on fire and radioactivity is being released directly into the atmosphere, the Vienna-based U.N. atomic watchdog said.

Japanese stocks plunged 12 percent on Tuesday on reports of rising radiation levels near Tokyo and lurched toward their biggest loss since the 1987 crash, in a panic selloff likely to compound the economic impact on the quake-stricken country.

Japanese stocks plunged 10.6 percent on Tuesday, posting the worst two-day losing streak since 1987, on reports of rising radiation near Tokyo, suggesting any deterioration at a quake-hit nuclear plant could trigger more panic selling led by hedge funds.

Alexandra Juhasz, a professor of media studies from Pitzer College, has worked on a video text book where the instruction is imparted through a combination of text and a series of Youtube videos.

The Bank of Japan on Tuesday offered to pump 5 trillion yen ($61 billion) into the banking system, continuing its huge fund injection aimed at easing market jitters amid escalating damage from the earthquake.

The year is 2027, and the army of the Greater Korean Republic has occupied a crumbling, bankrupt United States after annexing Japan and much of Southeast Asia, led by current North Korean heir apparent Kim Jong-un.

Microsoft Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) launched at SXSW gets a positive start with early reviews hailing the internet browser designed to counter Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox.

Oil prices ended little changed on Monday on thin volatile trade as dealers eyed increased Japanese fuel imports after a devastating earthquake and wider Middle East unrest.

Japanese shares plunged more than 14 percent on Tuesday as fresh explosions rocked a damaged nuclear plant and triggered a rise in radiation levels, sending investors fleeing from riskier assets such as equities and commodities across Asia.