IBT Staff Reporter

Nestle ruled itself out of a bid war over Cadbury and Kraft sweetened its $16.4 billion offer, but the U.S. food firm's biggest shareholder Warren Buffett warned it not to overpay.

Producer Finola Dwyer can thank Orlando Bloom for the success of An Education -- no matter that the actor isn't in the film.

The legal wrangling over the troubled crime drama Black Water Transit has taken another turn, with the film's backer quietly settling a $3.1 million lawsuit brought by a producer on the eve of trial.

For the first time since 2002, U.S. consumers spent more to see Hollywood movies in theaters last year than buy them on DVD and Blu-ray discs, industry figures showed on Monday, and that trend is expected to continue.

It might be necessary to coin a new term to describe Kara DioGuardi: Rather than a multihyphenate, she's a mega-hyphenate.

Just like clockwork, since its 2000 debut, No Name Face, rock band Lifehouse has cranked out a studio album every two to two-and-a-half years, and each has peaked in the top 15 of the U.S. pop chart.

Empire State of Mind has been a chart-topping hit for Jay-Z and Alicia Keys, spending five weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100. The No. 1 anthem is also responsible for reigniting the singing aspirations of songwriter/producer Angela Hunte, who penned and produced Empire with writing partner Jane't Jnay Sewell-Ulepic. It all started with a bad case of homesickness.

The rise of video-sharing websites such as YouTube and Dailymotion is proving to be a headache for some of France's biggest companies as their image comes under fire from satirical online videos.

Stocks opened little changed on Tuesday as investors awaited key economic data for new signs of economic recovery, a day after the Dow and the S&P 500 closed at 15-month highs.

Home prices in Manhattan fell in the double digits in the fourth quarter, but the markdown pushed buyers into the market, according to several reports released on Tuesday by New York City's biggest brokerages.

Japan's aged finance minister is to quit due to poor health after weeks of exhausting wrangling over the budget, the Nikkei news agency said on Tuesday, a fresh blow for Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama as he struggles with a frail economy and huge public debt.

Stock index futures pointed to a flat open on Tuesday as investors awaited key economic data for new signs of recovery one day after the Dow and the S&P rallied to their highest closes in more than 15 months.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc said it voted against Kraft Food Inc's proposal to authorize the issuance of up to 370 million shares to help the food maker buy Cadbury , but could reverse to a yes vote, depending on the final offer's details.

The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has finally been vaccinated against H1N1 flu, a virus expected to infect more people in coming months, the U.N. agency said on Tuesday.

A European Union warship rescued a Pakistan-flagged fishing vessel Somali pirates had seized last month and used to hijack another ship, EU naval force Navfor said in a statement.

Iran's interior minister warned opposition activists on Tuesday they risk execution as enemies of God if they continue anti-government demonstrations, and the foreign ministry said arrested foreigners face punishment.

The recovery in financial markets last year helped bring significant improvement to the financial health of U.S. pension funds, potentially adding $180 billion to companies' balance sheets, a survey showed on Tuesday.

Stock index futures were flat on Tuesday as investors awaited key economic data for fresh signs of an economic recovery a day after the Dow and the S&P rallied to their highest closes in more than 15 months.

Privately held Skype has forged deals with consumer electronics makers LG Electronics and Panasonic in a bid to move its Internet video service beyond the desktop computer to the living room TV.

Iceland's president said on Tuesday he would not sign into law a bill to repay more than $5 billion lost by savers in Britain and the Netherlands when the island's banks collapsed, creating fresh political turmoil for the crisis-hit country. President Olafur Grimsson's rejection of the bill is seen putting aid from international lenders, as well as aspirations to join the European Union, in ser...

The mayor of a small Philippine town, the main suspect in the November massacre of 57 people in the country's troubled south, pleaded not guilty to murder charges on Tuesday.

The American embassy in Yemen reopened on Tuesday after a raid near Sanaa that killed two al Qaeda militants addressed specific security concerns that had forced U.S. and European missions to close, the embassy said.

While Apple Inc's long-rumored tablet device has piqued interest among enthusiasts and industry analysts for several years, by Tuesday a pair of the top business news outlets, the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg, had reported that the device will be unveiled in January and is set to ship by March.

Britain said it wanted Iceland to rapidly resolve the issue of compensation for the failure of Icelandic bank Icesave, after the North Atlantic island's President Omar Grimsson refused on Tuesday to sign a bill authorising this.

Now that the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives have passed their versions of healthcare reform, the two chambers must work out their differences before legislation can be delivered to President Barack Obama for his signature.

A final push to deliver a sweeping U.S. healthcare overhaul to President Barack Obama begins this week as House of Representatives Democratic leaders prepare for difficult negotiations with the Senate.

Nestle ruled itself out of a bid war over Cadbury and Kraft sweetened its $16.4 billion offer with a bigger cash portion, raising expectations the U.S. food group will win its prize.

Stock index futures were flat on Tuesday as investors awaited key economic data for fresh signs of an economic recovery a day after the Dow and the S&P rallied to their highest closes in more than 15 months.

U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday plans to unveil reforms aimed at thwarting future attacks like the attempted Christmas Day airliner bombing, as he seeks to limit political fallout from the incident.