IBT Staff Reporter

The head of Fannie Mae and his firm's government overseer on Tuesday defended the use of millions in taxpayer dollars to pay legal bills for former executives accused of fraud.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Tuesday the United States needs to shore up its massive pension program without slashing Social Security benefits or subjecting them to the whims of the stock market.

It is 50 years since the last U.S.-backed invasion of Cuba but the island's communist leaders believe another one has begun -- not on the shores of the Bay of Pigs as in 1961, but in the virtual world of the Internet.

Google tried hard to win Nokia over to its Android mobile platform before Nokia decided to throw its lot in with Microsoft, Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said.

Deutsche Boerse faces a long, hard struggle to get approvals from a host of regulators for its $10.2-billion takeover of NYSE Euronext to form the world's largest exchange operator.

As part of a post 9/11 training and preparedness military mission, F-16 jets, a coast guard helicopter and civil patrol aircraft will be flying over the Washington D.C. area from midnight to 2 a.m on Wednesday, officials said on Tuesday.

The United States hopes the Group of 20 meeting in Paris this weekend will begin coming to grips with how to handle rapid flows of capital that stoke inflation and cause currency rate disruptions, a Treasury official said on Tuesday.

Wide differences between rich and poor countries may frustrate France's hope of taking a bold step toward stabilizing the global economy at a Group of 20 finance ministers meeting this week.

EBay Inc said on Tuesday that its mobile shopping application would be pre-loaded onto smartphones sold by Telefonica's 02 unit in the United Kingdom.

Nvidia has given Wall Street one of its best comeback stories in years and has been rewarded with a hefty share rally, but some investors now question how long its new lead in mobile chips will last.

Tottenham Hotspur stunned AC Milan at the San Siro with a memorable 1-0 victory, thanks to Peter Crouch's 80th minute goal in the first-leg of the Champions League last-16 round, while Raul scored his 71st goal to earn Schalke a 1-1 draw at Valencia.

Sanofi-Aventis SA has agreed in principle to acquire Genzyme Corp for $19.2 billion in cash plus future payments based on the performance of an experimental Genzyme drug, according to two sources with knowledge of the talks.

Dell Inc's quarterly earnings and margins blew past Wall Street's expectations as component costs slid and corporations replaced aging technology, propelling its shares 6 percent higher.

The head of Fannie Mae and his firm's government overseer on Tuesday defended the use of millions of taxpayer dollars to pay legal bills for former executives accused of fraud.

BHP Billiton , the world's biggest miner, bowed to investors with plans to hand back $10 billion and pour money into expansions rather than chase ambitious takeovers, after nearly doubling its first-half profit to a record.

China, Syria and others face a dictator's dilemma over Internet control and risk being left behind as the rest of the world embraces new technologies, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday.

It was revealed Monday that Taylor Swift's song Enchanted off her latest album Speak Now was directed to Owl City frontman Adam Young. It may have taken him a while, but Young responded to Swift's song on Valentine's Day. .

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Tuesday the United States needs to put its massive pension program on a sounder footing but vowed to reject efforts to slash Social Security benefits and subject them to the whims of the stock market.

Dell Inc's quarterly earnings and margins blew past Wall Street expectations as component costs slid and corporations replaced aging technology, propelling its shares 6 percent higher.

Wall Street ended lower on Tuesday, weighed by energy and technology shares after a batch of lackluster economic data.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Tuesday the country needs to put its massive pension program on a sounder footing but rejected plans that would slash pension benefits and subject them to the whims of the stock market.

Lara Logan, CBS chief foreign affairs correspondent, was sexually assaulted and beaten in Egypt the network said in a statement.

Dell Inc's quarterly earnings and margins blew past Wall Street's expectations as component costs slid and corporations replaced aging technology, propelling its shares 6 percent higher.

President Barack Obama on awarded the Medal of Freedom - the highest civilian honor the U.S. government can give - to 15 recipients.

BHP Billiton , the world's biggest miner, bowed to investors with plans to hand back $10 billion through an expanded share buyback after nearly doubling its first-half profit to a record on booming iron ore and copper prices.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Tuesday the United States needs to shore up its massive pension program without slashing Social Security benefits or subjecting them to the whims of the stock market.

Deutsche Boerse agreed to buy NYSE Euronext for $10.2 billion in a politically charged deal that would create the world's largest exchange operator and put it under German control.

South African police fired rubber bullets, live rounds and tear gas on Tuesday at demonstrators protesting against the government's delivery of basic housing and education.

Anyone wondering how veteran President Hosni Mubarak lost touch with Egyptian reality needs look no further than this Red Sea resort, where he took refuge after his overthrow last week by a popular uprising.