IBT Staff Reporter

The European Parliament elected ex-Polish Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek as its president on Tuesday, making him the first leader from a former Soviet bloc country to hold one of the top European Union posts.

Facebook netted a $6.5 billion valuation for its common shares on Monday, further underscoring the fast-growing Internet social networking site's high rank among technology and media industry heavyweights.

Judge Sonia Sotomayor on Tuesday attempted to clarify her remark that has sparked controversy that her speeches and rulings show a racial bias; in her remark she said that a wise Latina woman could reach a better decision than a white male.

Johnson & Johnson posted a 5 percent drop in second-quarter earnings, but profit and revenue beat analyst forecasts helped by surprisingly resilient pharmaceutical and consumer product sales.

We feel as if we were here to watch a football match. There is a palpable electric feel in the air and expectancy is high.

Stocks fell on Tuesday, weighed by data pointing to weak consumer demand and by profit-taking in banks after a run-up in anticipation of strong results from Goldman Sachs Group .

Lenders to British care home operator Four Seasons Health Care have reached agreement on a debt resuctructuring deal, delaying plans to put the company up for sale.

Fortress Investment Group LLC (FIG.N) is in talks to refinance a $1.6 billion loan to Florida East Coast Industries, in which it owns both equity and debt, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

The recession has more than halved the formation of new households.

Speech-recognition technology supplier Nuance Communications Inc said it acquired Jott Networks, a voice-to-text transcription service provider, to firm up the voice services portfolio of its mobile division.

Swindler Bernard Madoff was temporarily moved to a prison in Atlanta from New York and was in transit to yet another facility on Tuesday, a U.S. official said.

New apartments put up for sale in Tokyo this year are likely be a quarter less than previously forecast and hit a 17-year low as developers struggle to make sales, a research firm said on Tuesday.

Western Gas Partners LP said it agreed to buy certain midstream assets in Utah's Uintah basin from its largest customer and parent company Anadarko Petroleum Corp for about $107 million -- financed primarily with debt.

Wuhan, Chongqing and Chengdu aren't exactly names that roll off the tongue for foreign investors in China's real estate, but these cities may offer more bang for the buck than their more-famous coastal cousins or capital Beijing.

Japanese drug and health goods maker Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical Co said on Tuesday it would buy Miami-based Noven Pharmaceuticals Inc for $430 million to expand in the United States.

Second-ranked steelmaker Nippon Steel Corp said it would resume operations at the world's biggest blast furnace as it ramps up production in response to a gradual recovery in demand, surprising some in the market.

Shares of lender CIT Group Inc jumped Tuesday on expectations that regulators will support the company, which is struggling with a liquidity crisis.

Austrian Airlines would need fresh capital of more than 1 billion euros ($1.4 billion) if a planned takeover by German airline Lufthansa failed, Austrian Airlines' Chairman said on Tuesday.

Russia's Sberbank, a partner in the Magna-led bid for Germany's Opel, said a July 15 deadline to seal a deal for the carmaker was not firm.

President Barack Obama is mulling new ways to delay foreclosure for jobless homeowners who are unable to keep up with monthly payments, an administration official said on Monday.

Sun Microsystems Inc, the computer server maker being acquired by Oracle Corp, issued a revenue forecast that fell short of Wall Street estimates.

Energy Resources of Australia Ltd, majority owned by mining group Rio Tinto, has posted a 44 percent rise in second-quarter uranium oxide output, but an analyst said it was lower than expected.

Goldman Sachs' strong second-quarter earnings were a result of basic blocking and tackling for the firm, the Wall Street bank's chief financial officer said on Tuesday.

Brazil's second-largest homebuilder, Gafisa SA, said on Monday it canceled plans to sell stock in a public offering, citing general market conditions.

Sun Microsystems Inc , the computer server maker that is being acquired by Oracle Corp , said on Tuesday it sees quarterly revenue falling short of Wall Street estimates, and a net loss.

Sales at U.S. retailers rose a stronger-than-expected 0.6 percent in June, boosted by a big jump in auto sales, Commerce Department data showed on Tuesday.

Volkswagen's second-biggest shareholder, the state of Lower Saxony, pushed to break the deadlock in merger talks with Porsche, saying it is looking for a clarity over the matter this week.

A so-called blank-check company said it has acquired two Nevada community banks in what it called the largest such recapitalization of a banking company in U.S. history.

British Airways Chief Executive Willie Walsh has reiterated that he is not prepared to accept a less than 53 percent split of a proposed combination of BA and Iberia.