UNITED STATES

Video-rental chain Blockbuster Inc said on Tuesday for the first time it may need to file for bankruptcy protection after years of struggling to lessen its debt load.

For the first time, Facebook replaced Google as the most visited Web site in the U.S. for a full week.

Wall Street's biggest banks could be broken up by the Congress in the coming year in an eventual reckoning over the financial meltdown of 2008, Liar's Poker author Michael Lewis said on Tuesday.

Communications regulators submitted to Congress a national broadband plan that aims to expand access, increase Internet speeds and shift airwaves to mobile services.

Stocks rose to a fresh 17-month high on Tuesday after the Federal Reserve held benchmark rates near zero and maintained its pledge to keep them low for an extended period.

Carlos Castejon greets us wearing a cowboy hat, a red flannel shirt, jeans and cowboy boots. For him, it's just another day at Finca el Cisne, his 2,000-acre ranch outside of Copan Ruinas, Honduras. But for us, it will be a day filled with tasting local produce, horseback riding and learning about how coffee beans are grown and harvested.

U.S. housing starts fell last month as winter storms disrupted construction, and another drop in building permits suggested the weakness would linger.

After two rocky years and a severe global financial crisis, General Electric Co expects its profit and dividend to rise in 2011, the largest U.S. conglomerate's chief financial officer said.

The U.S. stock market held on to gains in the afternoon session as the Federal Reserve pledged to keep the federal funds rate low for an extended period, calming fears the Fed Reserve would take a more hawkish stance.

Members of Congress on Tuesday threatened Beijing with duties on some of its exports if it fails to revalue its currency, pressuring the Obama administration to label China a currency manipulator.

Kraft Foods came under heavy fire from UK parliamentarians on Tuesday for raising false hopes about the future of a Cadbury plant as it battled to win control of the British chocolatier.

International oil majors have mostly lost interest in investing in Venezuela, Royal Dutch Shell Plc said on Tuesday.

Health authorities warn revellers ahead of St Patrick's Day celebration, of the risk posed by mixing energy drinks with alcohol, and the recent phenomenon of wide-awake drunks.

U.S. housing starts fell last month as winter storms disrupted construction and another drop in building permits suggested the weakness would linger.

U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday after Standard & Poor's affirmed its ratings on debt-troubled Greece and as semiconductor shares gained on an Intel Corp product announcement.

World No. 1 golfer Tiger Woods, who withdrew from the game late last year after a damaging adultery scandal, announced on Tuesday he would make his comeback to professional golf at the U.S. Masters in early April.

International calls for China to allow its yuan currency to appreciate take no account of the importance of the country's stability for the region and for the world, a U.N. agency report said on Tuesday.

Egypt has begun enforcing a ban on international calls made through mobile internet connections, the head of the telcoms regulator told Reuters on Tuesday, potentially boosting voice revenues at landline monopoly Telecom Egypt.

Stocks rose on Tuesday after Standard & Poor's affirmed its ratings on debt-troubled Greece and as semiconductor shares gained on an Intel Corp product announcement.

The Federal Communications Commission wants speed up the U.S. average from the current 4Mbps to 100Mbps, and plans to have broadband in every U.S. home by 2020.

U.S. regulators released a blueprint for upgrading Internet access for all Americans, with Internet speeds up to 25 times the current average, expanded coverage and more airwaves for mobile services.