IBT Staff Reporter

President Barack Obama on Tuesday blamed a combination of human and systemic failures in security for allowing the botched Christmas Day attack aboard a U.S. airliner, in his first big test on homeland security.

Nancy Meyers, the middle-aged men of America thank you.

Broadcom Corp said on Tuesday it will pay $160.5 million in cash to resolve an investor lawsuit accusing it of improperly backdating stock options but the California chip maker did not admit to wrongdoing.

Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) said on Tuesday it has ended a late-stage lung cancer study of its experimental drug figitumumab after an analysis showed it was unlikely to meet the main goal of improving overall survival.

U.S. consumer confidence rose to a three-month high in December, while prices in the hard-hit housing sector stalled in October, breaking a five-month string of gains

An unprecedented 22 percent of U.S. consumers said they did not finish their Christmas shopping this year as fewer discounts kept many wallets closed, according to a survey released on Tuesday.

Two shareholders of NH Hoteles (NHH.MC) announced a pact in the Spanish hotel chain on Tuesday to strengthen the shareholder base and following a similar move by three savings banks shareholders on Monday.

Spanish toll road firm Cintra has agreed to sell 60 percent of its stake in Cintra Chile to the Colombian ISA Group for 209 million euros ($300.7 million), its parent Ferrovial (FER1.MC) said, in a move to cut debt.

Lumber futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange closed lower on Tuesday, with end-of-the-year selling providing the primary pressure, traders said.

Antamina, a leading copper-zinc mine in Peru, said on Tuesday its $1.2 billion expansion plan should be formally approved by shareholders in the coming days.

Iraq's cabinet has requested certain changes in proposed deals with foreign firms to develop nine oilfields, the government spokesman said on Tuesday.

U.S. antitrust regulators approved Australian packaging group Amcor's (AMC.AX) purchase of mining company Rio Tinto's (RIO.AX)(RIO.L) Alcan packaging unit, the Federal Trade Commission said on Tuesday.

The Australian Dollar held above the 88 cents mark yesterday as news out of China indicated that economic forecasts would keep pace with expectations in 2010 and that it would maintain stimulus polices currently in place.

Canadian mining stocks jumped on Tuesday after Corriente Resources Inc (CTQ.TO), which has a copper-gold project in Ecuador, agreed to be taken over by Chinese suitors in their country's latest bid for an international resource developer.

One of the problems with financial mistakes is that they can go unnoticed for a long time before a crisis erupts. For example, one could spend many years undersaving for retirement only to discover at age sixty-five that one has not accumulated enough to afford a comfortable retirement.

Lehman Brothers International can begin distributing billions of dollars of frozen hedge fund assets after reaching agreement with a majority of the affected parties, said PricewaterhouseCoopers on Tuesday.

Google Inc. has announced an Android related press conference for January 5, where the company is rumored to officially unveil its Google Phone

Mary J. Blige will sing and Queen Latifah will take part in an all-star musical number when next week's People's Choice Awards ceremony kicks off the Hollywood awards season.

The groundbreaking sci-fi movie Avatar, Michael Jackson's death and Hollywood's $10 billion-plus box office record rank among the 2009 moments of significance recognized by the American Film Institute.

U.S. consumer confidence rose to a three-month high in December, while prices in the hard-hit housing sector stalled in October, breaking a five-month string of gains.

A 28-year-old college dropout pleaded guilty on Tuesday to charges that he stole tens of millions of payment card numbers by breaking into corporate computer systems.

Perhaps executives toiling in the TV industry should get a pass given all the competitive distractions dwindling their audience, from video games to social networking. And yet, some of their decisions were so memorably boneheaded that we must celebrate these milestone mishaps. Let's start with...

U.S. stocks edged lower in a low-volume session on Tuesday, breaking a six-day string of gains as investors found little reason to push stocks higher as the year's end approached.

A representative of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday opposition leaders were enemies of God who should be executed under the country's sharia law.

The Nigerian charged with trying to blow up a U.S. airliner planned to study Islamic law in Yemen, the Arabian peninsular state which is fighting a local branch of al Qaeda, the Nigerian government said on Tuesday.

Google Inc. has announced an Android related press conference for January 5, where the company is rumored to officially unveil its Google Phone.

The administrator for Lehman Brothers International said on Tuesday that nearly all clients whose assets have been frozen since the investment bank's collapse support a plan to return the money early next year.

The first alleged mistress of Tiger Woods, Rachel Uchitel, was spotted over the weekend parting in Florida, PEOPLE reported.

A heated custody battle has developed between Levi Johnston and Bristol Palin over their one year old son Tripp, court documents revealed.