IBT Staff Reporter

Roger Federer fired up the Australian Open with a blistering start to his title defense on Monday, bringing some welcome warmth to an unseasonably cool Melbourne Park on opening day.

One of the most unpredictable NFL seasons in years is no closer to providing a clear favorite after another extraordinary round of playoffs saw the New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons both eliminated.

Rafa Nadal begins his quest on Tuesday to become the first man to possess all four major crowns simultaneously since 1969 against Brazil's Marcos Daniel at the Australian Open.

A former Swiss private banker says he plans to hand over data on hundreds of offshore bank account holders to the WikiLeaks website at a London news conference on Monday.

Apple's CEO Steve Jobs has announced that he is going on medical leave, in an email to the iPad maker's employees, giving weight to a proposal for a CEO succession plan being pushed by some shareholders.

Ford has topped the list of search queries in the entire automotive brand category in the U.S. over the last 30 days, followed by BMW, Audi and Nissan, according to a report by Google's North American auto team.

The collapse of the Tunisian government in the face of unrest could mean an opportunity for technology companies that had previously shied away from the country.

Chinese President Hu Jintao urged an end to a zero sum Cold War relationship with the United States and proposed new cooperation, but resisted U.S. arguments about why China should let its currency strengthen.

Investors remain preoccupied by the threat of further monetary tightening in China, writes Marc Ground at Standard Bank in London today. This is weighing on precious metal prices, encouraged further by a stronger Dollar off the back of lingering Eurozone debt concerns.

Stock index futures extended their fall on Monday, pulled lower by Apple Inc after the company's CEO Steve Jobs said the company's board had granted him leave to concentrate on his health.

Doctors treating Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' upgraded her condition to serious from critical on Sunday because she is no longer on a ventilator.

Real Madrid lost ground in pursuit of La Liga leaders Barcelona on Sunday, when they were held to a shock 1-1 draw away at bottom-of-the-table side Almeria, as Barca thrashed Malaga 4-1. In the Italian Serie A, AC Milan missed out on the opportunity to go six points clear at the top after they were held to a 1-1 draw at Leece.

RIM released its PlayBook 4G tablet at the CES 2011 to counter the barrage of Android and Windows tablets. However, RIM had a muted response to Android smartphone onslaught.

The world's top cellphone maker, Nokia, is ending its bundling of free music downloads with cellphones in 27 countries, where it has gained little traction since its 2008 launch.

Germany's fifth-biggest solar power park emerges as a smudge on the horizon long before you reach it on the outskirts of the small, sleepy village of Eberswalde, an hour's drive north of Berlin. In the far distance, you can see it, Peter Kobbe says, pointing through heavy December snowfall as he steers his Citroen van along an icy road.

The euro slipped against the dollar on Monday while global stocks dipped as hopes of swift action from policymakers to boost the euro zone's rescue fund faded ahead of a meeting of finance ministers.

Pentagon is not completely opposed to social media, as seen by its latest announcement stating that the Department intends to fully utilize these communication tools.

A new Executive MBA program from IE Business School and Brown University promises to impart a strong liberal arts perspective to help groom innovative managers for the future.

Wondering why everyone on Twitter and Facebook are feeling blue today? Well, it is the third Monday of the year or the first month of January, which makes January 17, 2011 the 'blue monday', supposedly the most depressing day of the year.

Airbus sprinted past Boeing to win the annual orders race in 2010 after a last-minute airline buying spree highlighted a recovery in emerging markets and the low-fare sector, the planemaker said on Monday.

Hitting the beach is one of the great traditions of Australian summer. Now, a mobile phone app lets swimmers know not only the best weather and surf conditions but also which beaches are the nearest - and safest.

The weekend's fixtures in the English Premier League saw Manchester United and Spurs play out an entertaining goalless draw, while the Merseyside Derby ended 2-2. On Saturday, Chelsea returned to winning ways, Manchester City won a thriller against Wolves and Arsenal dumped further misery on Avram Grant's West Ham United.

U.S. bank stocks are flying high, and this week's earnings could give investors more reason to be optimistic about the sector.

Attacks on computer systems now have the potential to cause global catastrophe, but only in combination with another disaster, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said in a report on Monday.

Shares in BP rose 2.0 percent on Monday following the share swap and arctic exploration deal that the London-based oil major signed with Russia's largest oil producer Rosneft late on Friday.

Hot smartphone models, the iPhone 4 and Samsung's Galaxy S, are forecast to have helped their makers race further ahead of rivals in the holiday sales season at the end of 2010.

It is the season of awards, after just having put away the trophies for the Critics’ choice, the competitors gathered at the HPFA’s 68th Golden Globe Award Ceremony at the Beverly Hilton Hotel to find out who wins this time. The unexpected did not happen much.

Apple's next edition of iPhone and iPad are due to feature the new ARM Cortex A8 processor with SGX543 architecture.

Every year the organizers of the Golden Globes ply the cream of Hollywood with free food and alcohol at their awards show.