IBT Staff Reporter

Stocks rose sharply on Tuesday as financials led a broad run-up from 12-year lows after reassurance from Citigroup about its performance, while investors turned hopeful about efforts to stem the economic slide.

The Dalai Lama said on Tuesday more and more Chinese were beginning to see a problem with Beijing's rule over Tibet, lamenting how the homeland he fled 50 years ago had become a hell on earth.

Boeing Co is still working toward the first delivery of its delayed 787 Dreamliner in the first quarter of 2010, and its customer financing for new orders is sufficient into next year, the planemaker said on Tuesday.

President Robert Mugabe joined mourning for Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's wife Tuesday and called on Zimbabweans to end violence and support his old rival in rebuilding the shattered country.

United Technologies Corp cut its 2009 profit target by about 13 percent and said it would eliminate 11,600 jobs as it no longer anticipates an economic recovery this year.

Roche said again on Tuesday that it deemed its $93 per share offer for U.S. biotech group Genentech as fair, after a source familiar with the situation had said the two sides were in talks for a deal at a higher price.

A United Nations investigator urged U.S. allies from Britain to Pakistan on Tuesday to fully investigate whether they helped in secret renditions that led to the illegal torture or disappearance of terror suspects.

Citigroup Inc was profitable in the first two months of 2009 and is confident about its capital strength, Chief Executive Vikram Pandit said, easing concerns about the troubled bank's survival prospects.

United Technologies Corp cut its 2009 profit target by about 13 percent and said it would eliminate 11,600 jobs as it no longer anticipates an economic recovery this year.

Bernard Madoff, expected to plead guilty this week to charges of running Wall Street's biggest fraud, will appear in court on Tuesday for a judge to assess a potential conflict of interest for his lead attorney.

The International Monetary Fund warned on Tuesday that the world economy will likely contract this year in a Great Recession and African leaders said the financial crisis could undo hard-won social-economic gains.

Merrill Lynch & Co paid Latin American investment banker Alexandre Bettamio, whom it poached from UBS AG, at least $7 million in guaranteed bonuses for 2008, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Companies ranging from Eastman Kodak to Unisys are at risk of defaulting on their debt in the eyes of credit ratings agency Moody's Investors Service, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Apple Inc. is rumored to launch a netbook computer with a touch screen monitor as early as the second half of this year in time for back-to-school sales, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

Eli Broad, a former director and shareholder of AIG who joined other investors last year to hatch a plan to reclaim the insurer from federal ownership, said he has thrown in the towel.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Tuesday regulators must find a way to safeguard the entire financial system and not just its parts to prevent future crises like the one currently engulfing economies around the globe.

Oil rose above $47 a barrel on Tuesday after reports Saudi Arabia was largely maintaining its supply curbs to Asia and Europe and as analysts expected a drop in U.S. crude inventories.

Prominent banking analyst Meredith Whitney warned that credit cards are the next credit crunch, as contracting credit lines will lower consumer spending and hurt the U.S. economy.

DAR ES SALAAM - The International Monetary Fund warned on Tuesday that the world economy will likely contract this year in a Great Recession and African leaders said the financial crisis could undo hard-won social-economic gains.

Stock futures rose on Tuesday as reassuring comments from Citigroup about the bank's performance fueled a run-up in financials and investors became hopeful about Washington's efforts to revive the economy.

The Walt Disney Co said on Monday that it planned to cut carbon emissions from fuels by half by 2012, and ultimately to achieve net zero direct greenhouse gas emissions at its office and retail complexes, theme parks and cruise lines.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Monday that she supported a higher ethanol-to-gasoline blend rate as a way to reduce reliance on petroleum imports.

India is launching its own version of Google Earth for urban planning, officials said, amid worries that it could be misused after the Mumbai attacks probe showed militants had studied Google images of targets.

Western governments have overstated the role the Internet plays in the recruitment of militants, and measures to block extremist material are crude, expensive and counterproductive, a report said on Tuesday.

Citigroup Inc was profitable in the first two months of 2009 and is confident about its capital strength after tough internal stress tests, Chief Executive Vikram Pandit told staff in an open letter.

U.S. officials are examining what fresh steps they may need to take to stabilize Citigroup Inc if its problems mount, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Citigroup was profitable in the first two months of 2009 and is confident about its capital strength after tough internal stress tests, according to a memo from Chief Executive Vikram Pandit obtained by Reuters.

The International Monetary Fund on Monday warned that the world economy will likely contract this year in a Great Recession and African leaders said the financial crisis could undo hard-won social-economic gains.

Prominent banking analyst Meredith Whitney warned that credit cards are the next credit crunch, as contracting credit lines will lower consumer spending and hurt the U.S. economy.