IBT Staff Reporter

A new EU fiscal treaty is set to include an escape clause that allows the suspension of a balanced-budget rule during a period of economic downturn or other exceptional event, according to a draft of the document obtained by Reuters on Wednesday.

Stock index futures pointed to a slightly higher opening on Wall Street with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.1 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.1 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures flat at 1020 GMT.

U.S. wholesale baker Hostess Brands Inc filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Manhattan on Wednesday, just months after emerging from a similar process last year, after failing to reach an agreement with workers on pension and health benefits.

Universal is has found another project for Bridesmaids director Paul Feig.

Lindsay Lohan might not have ended up playing XXX actress Linda Lovelace -- but she just might end up portraying another iconic screen presence.

Paramount Pictures has acquired worldwide distribution rights to the James Cameron-produced Cirque du Soleil 3D feature film, the studio announced Tuesday.

New Line has lined up Beth McCarthy Miller, best known for directing Saturday Night Live, to direct its Melissa McCarthy project, TheWrap has confirmed.

Filmmakers Woody Allen, David Fincher, Martin Scorsese, Alexander Payne and France's Michel Hazanavicius were nominated for Directors Guild film awards Monday -- a honor that is often a key indicator of Oscar success.

The New York state's financial regulator is probing several large banks, including Bank of America Corp and Citigroup Inc, on whether they overcharged customers on force-place insurance, a source familiar with the matter said.

Sony Corp's videogaming business, led by its just-launched handheld Vita, will prove pivotal in returning the company to profitability, Kazuo Hirai, the executive pegged to succeed Howard Stringer as president, said on Tuesday.

If the first week in January 2012 tells us anything about the investment year ahead, it's to be skeptical about black and white thinking.

Apple Inc, famous for giving CES the cold shoulder year after year, will field a larger presence at the world's largest trade show than many observers imagine.

Twitter lashed out at changes Google Inc unveiled for its search engine on Tuesday, describing the changes as bad for consumers and for Web publishers.

Intel announced multi-year pacts with Motorola Mobility and Lenovo to develop smartphones and tablets, and said the first Google Android phones using the top chipmaker's processors would go on sale this year.

China has detained four people and punished eight for a series of data breaches last month that severely undermined trust in the country's internet security, the official People's Daily reported on Wednesday.

T-Mobile USA is finalizing a new business plan which may include a sale of its wireless towers to help pay for a network upgrade as it looks to rebuild its business after its failed effort to sell itself to AT&T Inc, top executives of the Deutsche Telekom unit said.

Founders of private equity firm Carlyle Group have had a great payday as a result of the firm's record performance in 2011 and are set to gain even more as it prepares for an initial public offering, a regulatory filing on Tuesday showed.

Intel Corp and Motorola Mobility Inc have agreed to enter into a partnership in which the mobile phone maker would use Intel's Atom processors in its products.

T-Mobile USA is working on finalizing a new business plan to try and stem consumer losses, rebuild its brand and win over wholesale customers after its failed sale to AT&T Inc, the chief executive of the Deutsche Telekom unit said.

Popular health information website WebMD Health Corp took itself off the auction block and warned investors of lower 2012 profits as its advertisers in the drug industry pull back on spending.

A group of Republican lawmakers in California touted a bill on Tuesday that would prevent the sale of state bonds to help finance a planned statewide high-speed rail system.

People who suffer from psoriasis may want to pay extra attention to heart risks, since they may be at a greater risk for blocked arteries than those who don't have the skin disease -- although the risk increase is not that high, according to a U.S. study.

Rapper Snoop Dogg was arrested over the weekend after border control agents found what they said was a small amount of marijuana on his tour bus.

With frontman David Lee Roth back on board, American rock group Van Halen released Monday their first single and video with the flamboyant frontman in 27 years.

The bankruptcy trustee for MF Global Holdings Ltd said that entity's creditors deserve to rank higher in the pecking order for repayment on some claims than customers of its brokerage unit.

Companies and law enforcement agencies nervous about a huge expansion in Internet domains - adding to .com, .net and others - will have many ways to protect trademarks and identify website owners, the head of the organization that organizes the Internet said on Tuesday.

Former Securities and Exchange Commission attorney Spencer Barasch is expected to settle Department of Justice civil charges that he inappropriately represented alleged Ponzi schemer Allen Stanford, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Samsung Electronics Co, the world's No.2 handset maker, will focus more on improving profits than boosting handset volume shipments, its chief executive Choi Gee-sung told Reuters on Tuesday.

Blackstone Group LP, the world's largest private equity asset manager whose industry in the United States is in the political crosshairs, is seeking to prevent people from registering negative internet domains by acquiring them first.