IBT Staff Reporter

China's state-run news agency demanded on Tuesday that Internet companies, regulators and police do more to cleanse websites of toxic rumors, adding to signs that the ruling Communist Party wants to tame the explosion of freewheeling microblogs.

Asian stocks rose on Tuesday and European shares looked set to extend gains as strong U.S. consumer spending data soothed some fears that the economy was slipping back into a recession.

Stock index futures pointed to a weaker open for equities on Wall Street on Tuesday after steep gains in the previous session, with futures for the S&P 500, for the Dow Jones and for the Nasdaq 100 down 0.2 to 0.3 percent.

Regular consumption of chocolate may slash the risk of developing heart disease by a third, according to a research published in the British Medical Journal and presented at the European Society of Cardiology's conference in Paris Monday.

Global stocks rose to their highest levels in nearly two weeks Tuesday, while safe haven assets like the Swiss franc and German Bunds were subdued, encouraged by signs that the U.S. economy may avoid recession.

Apple’s iPad currently stands undefeated in the tablet market with HP giving up its TouchPad, Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 stuck in a patent issue, Motorola Xoom and RIM Playbook crawling to catch up. Can the e-commerce giant Amazon pose a threat to iPad by launching its own tablet at a lower price?

Barcelona began their defence of the Spanish league title with a typically dominating 5-0 win against Villarreal at the Nou Camp.

Matthew Fox, star of the TV show Lost, was handcuffed by the police in Cleveland when he punched a female party-bus driver who had refused to let him board the private bus, said the police.

The buzz-heavy 2011 Video Music Awards scored the biggest audience in MTV's history, MTV said Monday.

Ashton Kutcher has found his source of heartache. Or at least his Two and a Half Men character, Walden Schmidt, has.

Lest anyone believe that SAG and AFTRA have lost interest in their latest merger go-around, the two labor groups put out an announcement Monday, touting the fact that their respective merger task forces had gotten together over the weekend for a videoconference bi-coastal chit-chat, despite severe storm conditions in New York.

Fox News scored a legal victory Monday, with U.S. District Court judge deciding in the network's favor in a suit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of Fox reporter Catherine Herridge.

Legal commentator Nancy Grace, Cher's daughter Chaz Bono and basketball player Ron Artest are among the celebrities taking part in the new season of Dancing with the Stars, the network behind the show said on Monday.

Singer Janet Jackson said on Monday she would not attend her brother Michael Jackson's tribute concert because it coincides with the trial of the singer's doctor.

Australia's competition regulator voiced objections on Tuesday to the terms of the proposed split of dominant phone company Telstra Corp, threatening to delay an historic reform designed to wire up the entire nation to high-speed broadband.

Australia's competition regulator voiced objections on Tuesday to the proposed split of dominant phone company Telstra Corp, threatening to delay an historic reform designed to wire up the entire nation to high-speed broadband.

The buzz-heavy 2011 Video Music Awards scored the biggest audience in MTV's history, MTV said on Monday.

Michael Jackson's dermatologist will not testify in the trial of Dr. Conrad Murray, a judge ruled on Monday, in a blow to defense plans to portray the singer as a drug addict who may have given himself the substance that caused his death.

Maruti Suzuki, India's top car maker, on Monday has halted production at one of its plants in Haryana after it dismissed some workers and asked all others to sign a good conduct bond, a company spokesman said.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc will ask a bankruptcy judge on Tuesday to let creditors vote on its $65 billion payout plan, a key step toward ending the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history.

The rupee should strengthen for a second day on Tuesday tracking regional sharemarkets that rose on the back of a slew of positive news across the euro zone and the United States.

Singer Janet Jackson said Monday she would not attend her brother Michael Jackson's tribute concert because it coincides with the trial of the singer's doctor.

Gold regained strength on Tuesday as bargain hunting resurfaced after prices dropped more than 2 percent in the previous session, but higher equities and easing worries about recession in the United States could limit gains.

India's economy probably grew an annual 7.6 percent in the quarter through June, slowing from the previous quarter's 7.8 percent growth, the median forecast from a poll of 28 economists showed

Innkeepers USA Trust sued Cerberus Capital Management LP and Chatham Lodging Trust over their decision to call off their $1.12 billion purchase out of bankruptcy of 64 of its hotels.

Hong Kong-listed shares of China Construction Bank Corp, the world's No.2 lender, rose more than 4 percent on Tuesday after news that Bank of America Corp will sell about half of its stake in the Chinese lender.

Hong Kong-listed shares of China Construction Bank Corp, the world's No.2 lender, rose more than 4 percent on Tuesday after news that Bank of America Corp will sell about half of its stake in the Chinese lender.

A compact, suitcase-size nuclear power plant could one day generate electricity for manned or unmanned bases on the moon, Mars, or other planets, a U.S. research team says.

The FDIC and more than three dozen other investors on Monday lodged objections to Bank of America Corp's $8.5 billion settlement of claims over losses on mortgage-backed securities, joining a growing list of investors and regulators that are challenging the accord.