IBT Staff Reporter

Holland Taylor offers no apologies for never settling down, getting married or having children.

That Adele's 21 will rank as the year's top-selling album is no surprise - the English singer-songwriter's hits Rolling in the Deep and Someone Like You dominated playlists in 2011. What is surprising is that 21, released by independent British label XL Recordings, sold more than 5 million copies.

General Electric Co agreed to buy life insurer MetLife Inc's online bank on Tuesday, in a deal that will let GE's capital arm expand its funding base and lessen reliance on wholesale markets.

Pina, Wim Wenders' 3D documentary about dancer-choreographer Pina Bausch, opened to an impressive $88,399 at three New York locations over the weekend, leading the specialty market.

Whale Wars star Capt. Paul Watson and his Sea Shepherds are returning to Animal Planet for another whale defense campaign in June.

AMC has renewed its second highest-rated show for a second season.

Dan Aykroyd has joined Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis in the political comedy Dog Fight, TheWrap has confirmed.

Making a film about an iconic politician like Britain's Margaret Thatcher is akin to walking into a movie minefield, and casting an American -- even one as revered as Meryl Streep -- is asking for more trouble.

People magazine said on Tuesday that a cover apparently featuring Twilight actor Taylor Lautner coming out as a gay man was 100 percent fake.

Is Maria Shriver ready to continue the long tradition of Kennedy women who've forgiven their husbands' extracurricular activities?

If Univision has its way, the future will look a lot like last night: Aided by repeat-heavy slates on the Big 4 networks, the Spanish-language network edged out CBS for the highest overall ratings of the night.

In a bid to boost its digital revenue, the Los Angeles Times has struck a deal with Arkadium, a major online game developer, to add more than two dozen games to that section of its Web site.

Among musicians, flat is a word you don't want to hear. But to the industry, flat is truly music to everyone's ears.

Joe Bodolai -- who wrote for Saturday Night Live for the 1981-1982 season and co-wrote the first draft of the Wayne's World movie with Mike Myers -- has died in an apparent suicide, according to various reports. He was 63.

With his hit Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen wrote a humorous piece of fiction in which the protagonist hung out with the likes of Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Pablo Picasso, Man Ray, F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald and Salvador Dali.

The sudden death in November of rapper Heavy D was due to a pulmonary embolism caused by deep leg vein thrombosis, the Los Angeles Coroner's office said on Tuesday.

Improving labor market conditions lifted U.S. consumer confidence to an eight month high in December, but persistently weak house prices remain an obstacle to faster economic growth.

The U.S. Treasury again shied away from labeling China a currency manipulator on Tuesday, but it rapped the country for not moving fast enough on exchange rate reforms.

The Internal Revenue Service issued new rules to clarify the difference between a business expense that is a repair and tax-deductible and one that is an improvement but not deductible right away.

An appeals court on Tuesday granted an appeal of a controversial ruling that moved consideration of Bank of America Corp's $8.5 billion settlement over mortgage debt to federal court.

Stocks ended flat on Tuesday after fluctuating between small gains and losses in a light-volume session, as investors took a breather following a 5 percent rally last week.

Stocks ended flat on Tuesday after fluctuating between small gains and losses in a light-volume session, as investors took a breather following a 5 percent rally last week.

Macy's Inc , Wal-Mart and others continue to get high marks from Wall Street as the busy season draws to a close, while Sears Holdings Corp proved that it was really not a jolly holiday for all stores.

Brian Keith is busier than ever as the architecture firm he works for rushes to wrap up work on a 300-unit apartment complex in Dallas.

Janet Robinson, who will step down as chief executive of the New York Times Co on December 31, will receive an exit package in excess of $15 million, according to people familiar with the situation.

Stocks rose slightly on Tuesday after strong consumer confidence data, but the gains were seen as transient in a volatile market after a 5 percent rally over the past four trading sessions.

Sen. Ben Nelson, a conservative Democrat from Nebraska, is expected to announce on Tuesday that he will not seek re-election to a third term in the Senate, according to reports from several news outlets.

Stocks fluctuated between small gains and losses in a light-volume session on Tuesday, suggesting a 5 percent rally over the past four trading sessions may have largely run its course.

Sears Holdings Corp will close as many as 120 of its Kmart and namesake big-box stores after sales during the peak holiday period fell sharply, and the retailer also forecast that fourth quarter earnings would fall by more than half, sending its shares plunging some 25 percent.