IBT Staff Reporter

China defended on Tuesday the use of a new screening software that will block pornography, violent content and other unhealthy content which will be installed on all computers starting from July 1.

Talbots Inc posted a much narrower-than-expected loss on Tuesday, a day after the women's apparel retailer decided to sell its J.Jill division to Golden Gate, and said it would cut corporate headcount across all locations by about 20 percent.

U.S. money manager BlackRock is near to buying Barclays Global Investors for between $12 billion and $13 billion to create a global asset manager twice the size of its nearest rival, people familiar with the matter said.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Tuesday he would soon revamp the country's regulatory system to prevent a repeat of excessive risk-taking that has tipped it into a severe recession.

U.S. officials on Tuesday gave 10 of the nation's biggest banks approval to pay back a combined $68 billion of taxpayer money pumped into them to combat the credit crisis.

The U.S. Treasury approved 10 banks to buy back $68 billion of government shares on Tuesday, a first crucial step for banks to be set free from government restrictions.

The 10-year Treasury, the benchmark rate which mortgage rates are priced off, have risen significantly over the past month - from under 3 percent and now closely approaching 4 percent. Mortgage rates will follow similar patterns and could soon top 5.5 percent on a conforming 30-year fixed rate on average.

Apple Inc halved the price of its entry-level iPhone to $99 on Monday to widen the trendy device's mass-market appeal, as global competition heats up after Palm Inc launched the Pre.

VisaNet, the Brazilian unit of credit card network Visa Inc, said on Tuesday its initial public offering may reach 7.2 billion reais ($3.66 billion), the biggest stock sale in the country in almost a year.

UK-based oil explorer Heritage Oil agreed to merge with Genel Energy International, a unit of Turkey's Cukurova Group CUKRO.UL, to create an oil producer focused on Iraqi Kurdistan worth around $5.5 billion.

Saudi mobile telephone firm Etihad Etisalat 7020.SE said on Tuesday it had awarded Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) a $100 million deal to expand the WiMax network of its subsidiary Bayanat al-Oula.

Technology shares led Nasdaq higher on Tuesday after Texas Instruments raised its outlook, but other indexes were lower after plans by big banks to repay government bailout funds failed to stir investors.

British drug delivery expert SkyePharma said on Tuesday it was likely U.S. authorities would need more data on its flagship product, Flutiform, thereby delaying its approval.

Porsche SE is in exclusive talks to sell a stake to the Gulf state of Qatar, in a deal that could cut the German automotive holding's debt and strengthen its position for a merger with Volkswagen.

In 1943, at the height of World War Two, Britain had little left in the bank but still spent 50 percent of gross domestic product on defense. To win the war, there was little other choice.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Monday that cloudiness, showers and thunderstorms over the southwestern Caribbean Sea were associated with a surface trough, but there was less than a 30 percent chance the system would develop into a tropical cyclone over the next 48 hours.

Sitting on a mat at home between taking orders for arms on his two mobile phones, Osman Bare gives thanks for the riches flowing from Somalia's war.

Oil snapped a two-day slide on Tuesday, climbing above $69 as the U.S. dollar retreated.

Global revenue in the chip foundry market is expected to post a sequential rise in the second quarter after three quarters of declines, but 2009 will remain challenging for foundries, market search firm iSuppli said.

The Pakistani army came to the help of a pro-government militia fighting Taliban in a northwestern district on Tuesday as the United States said Pakistan was gaining in its offensive against the militants.

India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reached out to Pakistan on Tuesday after months of tension following the Mumbai attacks, saying India would meet its neighbor more than half way if it cracked down on militants.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso declared his candidacy for a second five-year term on Tuesday after electoral gains for his center-right allies strengthened his bid.

Saudi Arabia, which has led Arab attempts to hold back Iranian influence in the Middle East, has reacted triumphantly to the victory of its pro-U.S. allies in Lebanon's elections this week.

U.S. envoy George Mitchell said on Tuesday that Washington was seeking swift renewal of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and promised Israel its alliance with the United States would remain strong despite differences.

The Dow industrials turned negative on Tuesday while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq pared gains on concerns that banks' repayment of government bailout money may hurt the economic recovery.

Congressional Republicans are close to offering financial regulation reforms that would rein in the Federal Reserve and expand the bankruptcy code, according to a draft staff document obtained by Reuters.

German retail group Arcandor AG threw in the towel on Tuesday, filing for insolvency after the Berlin government rejected its request for emergency state aid.

Relatives of two U.S. journalists sentenced to 12 years hard labor in North Korea called on the reclusive state to show compassion, while Pyongyang threatened to use nuclear weapons to defend itself.

A court in army-ruled Myanmar has upheld a ban on two defense witnesses in the widely-condemned trial of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, one of her lawyers said on Tuesday.