IBT Staff Reporter

Avatar, the much expected film from director James Cameron, grossed $3.54 million at the box office on midnight shows, according to 20th Century Fox today.

U.S. President Barack Obama reached a climate agreement on Friday with leaders from India, South Africa and China that will be a historic step forward in combating global warming, a U.S. official said.

Major U.S. airlines have mounted a legal challenge to European Union regulations that would cap allowable jetliner emissions and force carriers to pay up for exceeding limits.

I continue to get questions about stem cell companies. This pleases me because it indicates that you, my readers, really do understand how important regenerative medicine is. I feared I was spending too much time on the subject, but will update you today on the latest.

WASHINGTON - U.S. house prices rose in the third quarter, ending a two-year downward trend, and the housing market was now slightly undervalued, an independent survey showed on Friday.

Despite “cash for clunkers” grabbing headlines earlier this year, the biggest used-car dealer in the U.S. reported strong earnings growth in the last three months.

Eastman Kodak Co has won a preliminary fight with Samsung Electronics, which the camera giant had accused of infringing its digital camera patents.

According to reports from the Cincinnati Bengals website, Chris Henry's funeral is tentatively set for next Tuesday, December 22 in Gretna, La., near New Orleans.

General Motors Co Chief Executive Officer Ed Whitacre said on Friday that GM has paid $1 billion to the U.S. Treasury and $192 million to the governments of Canada and Canadian province Ontario.

U.S. copper futures ended with sharp losses on Thursday as a stronger tone in the dollar sparked a bearish drag across the broader complex, and analysts said the shift in momentum could pull prices of the red metal back down toward $3.00 a lb.

The former Jon & Kate plus 8 couple are now officially divorced after the judge signed the final papers this morning according to reports from TMZ.

The trustee for bankrupt U.S. mortgage lender Thornburg Mortgage Inc gained court approval on Friday to auction the company's $11 billion mortgage servicing portfolio early next year.

EU competition authorities approved on Friday German builder Bilfinger Berger AG's takeover of Austrian firm MCE AG after the companies offered remedies to ease competition concerns. Bilfinger, Germany's second-largest builder, will sell its subsidiary MCE Energietechnik GmbH and transfer a large MCE high pressure pipe project from another MCE subsidiary to the Divestment Business, the European Commission said.

Ford Motor Co is on track to improve its balance sheet as the auto industry rebounds from a severe downturn and the U.S. economy stages a slow recovery next year, executives said on Friday.

Belgian film and printer company Agfa-Gevaert said it has signed a deal worth up to $500 million to have its hospital imaging systems distributed in China, seen as a critical emerging market for healthcare.

Faced with ever-worsening drug cartel violence, Mexican President Felipe Calderon is turning to elite navy troops to help reignite his floundering army-led drug war.

Iraq on Friday demanded that Iran immediately withdraw its soldiers from a disputed oilfield on the two countries' border, but Tehran denied any incursion.

Democratic hopes for passing a broad healthcare overhaul in the Senate took a hit on Thursday when a crucial party holdout, Ben Nelson, rejected a compromise on abortion funding aimed at winning his vote.

A $636 billion military spending bill that would fund wars in Iraq and Afghanistan cleared a procedural hurdle in the U.S. Senate early on Friday.

U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev failed to clinch a landmark pact cutting Cold War stocks of nuclear arms on Friday but pledged to keep working for a deal in the New Year.

As President Barack Obama labored behind closed doors to break a deadlock over efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions, Republicans from the U.S. Congress were outside those meetings urging him not to bother.

European companies have scooped up the majority of U.S. stimulus money set aside for wind power projects, drawing on their expertise and global reach to tap into Washington's effort to grow the base of renewable energy sources.

Interstate Hotels & Resorts (IHR.N) said it agreed to be bought by Hotel Acquisition Company LLC in an all-cash deal valued at $307 million, sending its shares up as much as 76 percent.

Brazil's CSN (CSNA3.SA) (SID.N) offered on Friday to buy Portuguese cement producer Cimpor (CPR.LS) for 3.86 billion euros ($5.6 billion) as the steelmaker slowly diversifies from its core business outside its home base.

European Union carbon emissions futures steadied on Friday, as investors awaited an outcome from a U.N. climate summit in Copenhagen.

Romanian oil group Petrom (SNPP.BX), which is 51 percent-owned by Austria's OMV, plans a share issue which might be worth 1 billion euros ($1.44 billion), a government source said on Friday.

Independent oil and gas company Legacy Reserves LP said it agreed to buy some properties in Wyoming from St. Mary Land & Exploration Co for $130 million in cash.

A quick ferry ride from Helsinki lies Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. The city has two faces. Move away from the city center and you see neighborhoods of grey concrete

Russia approved on Friday a 15 percent increase in 2010 domestic gas prices, which will exceed a 12.3 percent rise in transportation fees and give a boost to independent gas producers, analysts say.