IBT Staff Reporter

Box office watchers expect widely-anticipated sci-fi movie Avatar to make more than $75 million at U.S. and Canadian theaters this coming weekend following its debut on Friday.

The Screen Actors Guild on Thursday unveiled nominations for its widely watched film awards, giving key nods to three films including Up in the Air and capping a busy week of honors from industry groups.

Ravaged by dwindling music sales and rampant piracy, major music companies are bulking up expertise in an area of the business they used to ignore: T-shirts, baseball caps and other artist merchandise.

Jennifer Jones, the American leading lady who won an Oscar for playing Saint Bernadette in the 1943 movie The Song of Bernadette, died at her home in Malibu on Thursday at age 90.

Los Angeles prosecutors charged a Pennsylvania man on Thursday with stalking actors Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck, after police said he showed up at their daughter's school despite a court stay-away order.

Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, takes her first stab at film producing with The Young Victoria, which chronicles Queen Victoria' youthful ascension to the throne and her romance with Prince Albert.

Jay-Z and Alicia Keys led the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for a fifth week on Thursday with Empire State of Mind.

Brazilian steelmaker CSN has bid 3.86 billion euro ($5.56 billion) cash for Portuguese cement maker Cimpor, targeting new markets like Africa and eyeing a sport-led domestic construction boom.

Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante has confirmed he quit the chart-topping funk-rock band for a second time, claiming that my musical interests have led me in a different direction.

Oscar winning-director James Cameron's sci-fi epic, Avatar, opens in cinemas today amidst high expectations. The movie has already been hailed as the future of filmmaking and the stunning fantasy world Cameron has created more than lives up to the hype, according to impressed critics.

Taiwan and China, political rivals for six decades, will discuss a free trade pact at formal talks next week amid protests planned by the island's opposition parties wary of deeper engagement with Beijing.

Government supporters rallied across Iran on Friday to protest against an opposition insult to the Islamic Republic's revered founder, with some calling for pro-reform leader Mirhossein Mousavi to be executed.

The United States plans to transfer six Yemenis held at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba back to their home country in coming days, a move that could lead to repatriating dozens more, The Washington Post reported in its Friday edition.

Google is in talks to acquire Yelp Inc, an Internet local search and review provider, according to published reports.

General Motors Co will wind down operations at Saab, its money-losing Swedish unit, after a last-ditch attempt to sell it to small Dutch luxury carmaker Spyker Cars failed, the automaker said on Friday.

U.N. peacekeepers' vessels and Lebanese navy boats searched on Friday for more survivors from a cargo ship carrying more than 80 people and livestock that sank in the Mediterranean off Lebanon.

Japan Airlines Corp is likely to choose Delta Air Lines as its overseas partner, ending its ties with American Airlines and the Oneworld alliance, Japan's Asahi newspaper reported on Friday.

Blackstone is planning to sell a stake in travel services provider Travelport sized at $2 billion equivalent, a source close to the deal said, part of an emerging trend of private equity sales.

The tally at the end of the afternoon on Thursday had gold prices showing a $40.40 loss with the metal quoted at $1093.80 per ounce, a price level not seen since before Thanksgiving

A suicide bomber killed up to 10 people in Pakistan on Friday, while a suspected U.S. drone killed six militants, as rising political tension threatened to distract the government from its war against the Taliban.

Upbeat results from technology bellwethers Oracle and Research In Motion lifted U.S. stocks on Friday, while rising oil prices boosted energy shares.

U.S. President Barack Obama addressed on Friday morning to delegates in Copenhagen on the final day of the UN climate conference.

Elin Nordegren, the embattled wife of philanderer Tiger Woods, has reportedly met with Hollywood divorce attorney, Sorrell Trope.

World leaders tried to rescue a global climate agreement on Friday but the failure of leading greenhouse gas emitters China and the United States to come up with new proposals blocked chances of an ambitious deal.

Google is in talks to acquire Yelp Inc, an Internet local search and review provider, according to published reports.

General Motors will wind down operations at its loss-making Swedish unit Saab after an attempt to sell it to small Dutch luxury carmaker Spyker Cars failed.

The wife of Tiger Woods, Elin Nordegren, is reportedly meeting with high profile divorce attorney, Sorrell Trope.

Improving the energy efficiency of Britain's buildings is crucial for meeting the country's carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions targets by 2050, a report by the government-backed Carbon Trust found on Friday.

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Friday after upbeat results from technology bellwethers Oracle and Research In Motion.