IBT Staff Reporter

Once again, the writers, editors, and community at BootsnAll have collected up our best recommendations for destinations we think are worth considering for any independent traveler. Lists like this seem to be everywhere these days, which is another reason we try to make ours special by

Stocks added to gains on Tuesday after a bigger-than-expected jump in November existing home sales reassured investors the housing market was stabilizing.

Borrowing the dollar cheaply to fund purchases of higher-yielding assets was a no-brainer in 2009, thanks to the Federal Reserve's repeated assurances that U.S. interest rates would stay low for an extended period.

Yahoo Inc. is having a mandatory world-wide shutdown of its offices for one week, between Dec. 25th and January 1, in a bid to cut costs, The Wall Street Journal reports.

OPEC agreed on Tuesday to keep supply curbs unchanged but faces an uphill battle to crack down on those in its ranks failing to comply with quota restrictions if it wants to drain bulging global fuel inventories.

Whether you’re living in a condominium or are just looking at buying one in the future, one of the biggest considerations to make when living in a condo is where you’re going to put all of your belongings so that they don’t take over your home.

Rostelecom (ROS.N) (RTKM.MM), Russia's largest long distance call operator, said on Tuesday its nine-month net profit fell 72.5 percent due to a disposal gain a year ago and rising costs.

Economy Growth Estimate Drops; Popular Home Buyer Tax Credit; State Street's Italian Investment

The proposed merger of two live music giants, Live Nation Inc (LYV.N) and Ticketmaster Inc (TKTM.O), was given a huge boost on Tuesday when a British regulatory body dropped its objections and approved the deal.

The head of NATO said on Tuesday there would be no deadline for the exit of allied troops from Afghanistan, as fears grow among Afghans that foreign forces will leave before their own troops are able to guarantee security.

Hewlett-Packard Co. denied claims that its webcams are racist after a YouTube video - which showed a black man and a white woman testing out HP's webcam face-tracking software and get different results - went viral.

The economy grew at a much slower pace than previously thought in the third quarter, restrained by weak business investment and a slightly more aggressive liquidation of inventories, data showed on Tuesday.

The U.K.'s competition regulator reversed its initial findings on the merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation, saying it considered new evidence and arguments to conclude that the combined company will not result in a substantial lessening of competition in the markets for live music ticket retailing, promotion or venues.

China CNR Corp (601299.SS), one of the country's two big train makers, has priced its A-share initial public offering at 5.56 yuan a share, the top of an indicated range, raising 13.9 billion yuan ($2.04 billion).

State Street has agreed to buy the securities services activities of Intesa Sanpaolo for about 1.75 billion euros ($2.50 billion), boosting the Italian bank's key capital ratio by near a fifth of its target.

Fiat may offer to raise car production in Italy 50 percent when it holds preliminary talks with the government on Tuesday, in return for tax breaks on some car sales and possible help in reducing labour costs.

OPEC agreed on Tuesday to keep supply curbs unchanged but faces an uphill battle to improve compliance with self-imposed quota restrictions if it wants to drain bulging global fuel inventories.

Britney Spears hit back at the gossips on Monday, publishing a list of the top 75 most ridiculous or offensive stories written about her in 2009 -- including one claiming her family was once so poor they ate squirrels.

President Barack Obama on Monday heralded a U.S. Senate vote that moved a bill on his signature healthcare reform closer to passage and congratulated lawmakers for defying special interests.

In the rush to fund a U.S. healthcare overhaul, Botox injections to smooth wrinkles will not be taxed, but visiting a tanning salon will be.

An autopsy on the body of actress Brittany Murphy was completed on Monday, but authorities said the exact cause of death will not be known until toxicology tests are finished in four to six weeks.

Baby aspirin taken for high-risk pregnancy complications does not appear to harm brain development among very premature children assessed when 5 years old, according to a French study. It may actually have some benefit, the study hints.

Aviation and medicine both require professionals to hold peoples' lives in their hands. Now, study findings hint that hospitals may improve patient safety by drawing on aviation-type safety initiatives.

The economy grew at a much slower pace than previously thought in the third quarter, restrained by weak business investment and a slightly more aggressive liquidation of inventories, data showed on Tuesday.

The economy grew at a much slower pace than previously thought in the third quarter, restrained by weak business investment and a slightly more aggressive liquidation of inventories, data showed on Tuesday.

If you've ever thought that you literally feel other people's pain, you may be right. A brain-imaging study suggests that some people have true physical reactions to others' injuries.

Stock index futures eased from earlier highs but still pointed to a higher open on Tuesday after data showed the economy grew in the third quarter, but at a much slower pace than first thought.

Dietary phytoestrogens -- plant substances that have weak estrogen-like activity -- have little impact on the risks of developing hormone-sensitive cancers like breast and prostate cancer or colorectal cancers, new research suggests.

Dr. Julie Gerberding, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was named president of Merck & Co Inc's vaccine division, the company said on Monday.