IBT Staff Reporter

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday that she was growing nervous about the lack of progress at the U.N. Climate Conference in Copenhagen.

Trade in controversial carbon rights under the Kyoto Protocol after 2012 could undermine emissions targets agreed under a new global climate pact, the European Union environment commissioner said on Tuesday.

General Motors Co Chairman and acting Chief Executive Ed Whitacre said on Tuesday luxury car maker Spyker is the only remaining party with which GM is negotiating for the sale of its Saab brand.

The U.S. Federal Reserve's executive compensation reforms are not significantly burdensome for Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs as the two Wall Street giants largely met the new standards even prior to the credit crisis, Sanford C Bernstein said.

Boeing Co is set to make the first test flight of its 787 Dreamliner on Tuesday, almost two and a half years after the new, fuel-efficient plane, which is key to the company's financial future, was supposed to fly.

Forest products maker Weyerhaeuser Co plans to convert into a real estate investment trust and pay a special dividend, a plan that will give it greater financial flexibility as the recession fades.

Japan Airlines Corp said on Tuesday 5,700 retirees were willing to accept proposed cuts to pension payouts, falling just short of the numbers the struggling airline needs to secure approval for reducing its pension burden.

Capital One Financial Corp and Discover Financial Services reported that credit-card charge-offs rose in November -- a sign that consumers remain under stress.

U.S. producer prices jumped a surprising 1.8 percent last month and industrial output rose firmly, leading to inflation jitters in financial markets.

Volvo, the world's second biggest truck maker, said on Tuesday its deliveries fell 37 percent in November on a year ago, and down 7 percent on the previous month, with no signs yet of an upturn.

Up in the Air, starring George Clooney as a man who fires people for a living, earned six Golden Globe nominations on Tuesday, including best drama, as Hollywood's awards season got down to business.

Boeing Co plans to fly its new, carbon-composite 787 Dreamliner on Tuesday. The test flight, more than two years behind schedule, could help restore credibility for the No. 2 plane-maker behind Airbus.

Sales of existing homes in Canada jumped 73 percent in November from a year earlier, just below the record high for the month, in a sign that consumer confidence is recovering as the economy pulls out of recession.

Director Roman Polanski's new movie The Ghost Writer will be in competition at the Berlin film festival in February, organizers said on Tuesday. The French-born Oscar winner is under house arrest in Switzerland after he was held in September to face charges of having unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl in the United States in 1977.

Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner will make its first test flight today, a flight that was originally planned for 2007 but faced a series of delays.

Insurer Genworth Financial Inc, battered by losses from the downturn in the U.S. housing market, said its U.S. mortgage insurance business will not turn an operating profit until mid-2011.

Indian vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra has bought two small Australian firms to build its aerospace capacity so it can compete for large orders from airline manufacturers modernising Indian defence forces.

U.S. producer prices rose more than expected in November, lifted by a surge in energy costs, and recorded the first year-on-year gain since last November, according to a government report on Tuesday.

Privately held smart grid networking company Silver Spring Networks said on Tuesday it had raised $100 million in its latest round of financing and was in no hurry to test the public markets.

U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday after data showed producer prices rose more than expected, igniting fears of inflationary pressures.

President Mahmoud Abbas said on Tuesday the Palestinians would only resume peace talks if Israel fully halted settlement building in the occupied West Bank, but ruled out any return to violence.

James Cameron has had enough of talking about money.

It was on a cold winter's day that he delivered the words that would change my life. He inspected the band of gold studded with diamonds that had recently found a home on my left hand, and looked me

When Peter Sarsgaard looks back on his training, he philosophically says, I really swallowed that pill.

China on Tuesday warned Western countries against taking up the case of a prominent dissident, Liu Xiaobo, who is facing trial for subversion, after the United States and European Union called for his release.

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), one of the emirate's sovereign wealth funds, has bought 10.9 percent of Hyatt Hotel's class A shares, according to U.S. regulatory filings.

A year ago the 27-year-old Jacksonville, Florida entrepreneur launched a website - Iwearyourshirt.com () - where he charged people to wear whatever shirt they sent him. On New Year's Day, he charged $1 and each successive day Sadler's fee went up a buck, so this New Year's Eve he will charge $365.

Philippine authorities started evacuating about 50,000 people from around the country's most active volcano on Tuesday as it spewed burning mud and rocks.

U.S. oil company ExxonMobil said it may sell its 9.4 percent stake in Gassled, the owner of Norway's gas transport system, but has no plans to reduce its activities on the Norwegian shelf.