IBT Staff Reporter

Oxygen may have been present on Earth 300 million years before it was breathed into the atmosphere, scientists concluded from a new research.Researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology discovered evidence that small aerobic organisms could have evolved to survive on extremely low levels of the gas in undersea "oxygen oases," keeping a low profile in the oceans before its debut in the atmosphere.

The leaders of France and Germany met for high-pressure talks on Tuesday to discuss what further measures they can take to shore up investor confidence in the euro zone following a dramatic market sell-off last week.

U.S. industrial output recorded its best gain in seven months in July as the auto sector bounced back from supply disruptions wrought by Japan's devastating earthquake in March.

In the midst of the economic slowdown, half the assets managed by the world's largest fund managers are now pension fund assets.

A spokeswoman for the Communications Workers of America, (CWA) representing 35,000 of a total 45,000 strikers, said the union "does not condone illegal action of any kind," as the nine-day-old strike continues to flare a number of emotions among union workers.

Smartphone maker HTC Corp sued Apple Inc, seeking to halt U.S. imports and sales of Macintosh computers, iPads, iPods, iPhones and other devices because of alleged patent infringements.

Kanye West and Jay Z?s CD, ?Watch the Throne,? isn?t the mega hit that was hoped for. Universal Music/DefJam angered record stores (what?s left of em) and download services like amazon.com because it gave ITunes a four day jump on downloads last week. The results, according to hitsdailydouble.com, was sales of 290,000.

Allegedly, some iPhone models are under testing phase with LTE while AT&T is installing 4G LTE equipment in a major Apple store, both pointing towards the birth of an LTE-enabled iPhone in the near future.

Taylor Armstrong, the estranged wife of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills' Russell Armstrong, told E! News that "She requests privacy at this time so that she may comfort her young daughter" through a rep. Russell Armstrong, 47 appears to have committed suicide by hanging.

Smartphone maker HTC Corp sued Apple Inc, seeking to halt U.S. imports and sales of Macintosh computers, iPads, iPods, iPhones and other devices because of alleged patent infringements.

Researchers in Singapore re-engineered a harmless strain of bacteria to fight another common, drug-resistant microbe called Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which spreads in hospitals and is deadly to patients with weak immune systems, according to findings published in the journal Molecular Systems Biology on Tuesday.

The excuse that Rupert Murdoch gave to Parliament that he knew nothing of the phone-hacking by his newspapers is 'increasingly hard to credit.'

Fitch Ratings on Tuesday confirmed the United States' top-notch credit rating and, in blatant disagreement with rival Standard & Poor's, gave a vote of confidence to Washington's deficit-reduction efforts.

Sony cut the price of the PS3 to make a move against Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii says analysts.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc said same-store sales at its U.S. discount chain rose in July, as a renewed emphasis on offering low prices on a wide assortment of goods started to stem more than two years of quarterly sales declines.

Monday evening marked the latest confrontation of San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) with the hacker collective Anonymous, which ended in partially closing stations due to a crowd of some 150 protesters at Civil Center Station.

While U.S. and European financial institutions brace for another economic slowdown, Canadian firms are noticing the familiar scent of opportunity.

Wall Street stocks fell on Tuesday after a meeting of the heads of France and Germany failed to quell market fears about euro zone leaders' ability to contain the region's sovereign debt woes.

Phone hacking was widely known about at Rupert Murdoch's News of the World, according to a reporter blamed as the sole culprit, contradicting repeated denials by senior executives and dragging Britain's prime minister back into the scandal.

Google's move to buy Motorola Mobility was all about patents and defending the growing success of Android analysts say.

French and German leaders proposed a tax on financial transactions and closer joint governance of economic policy to stop the debt crisis in Europe, but did not propose increasing the euro zone bailout fund or selling euro zone bonds, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Tuesday.

A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday upheld a method developed by the trustee liquidating Bernard Madoff's firm for determining how to calculate investor losses, handing a defeat to so-called net winners.

The U.S. Army released its monthly press report on suicide statistics with July's count at a record high. Currently 151 soldiers have been reported by the Army as having committed suicide this year.

Sentiments from tweets are used to predict movements in the Dow.

The fourth installment in the "Austin Powers" franchise is coming closer to becoming a reality. The first film in the Powers franchise arrived in 1997 with "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery" and followed with "The Spy Who Shagged Me" in 1999 and "Austin Powers in Goldmember" in 2002.

TLC announced on Monday that it has cancelled "Kate Plus 8." "We've had a great run!" Gosselin wrote on Twitter. "Six years of whirlwind fun-filled adventures thanks to TLC and our many, many supportive and diehard fans."

Google Inc's biggest deal ever, acquiring Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc for $12.5 billion, is an attempt to buy insurance against increasingly aggressive legal attacks from rivals such as Apple Inc.

The largest gold fund players including hedge fund titan John Paulson stuck with their bullion bets in the second quarter, opting not to follow George Soros who further reduced his gold ETF holdings.

A candlelight vigil took place in remembrance Elvis Presley's death, as thousands participated at his estate in Graceland near Memphis, Tenn. to honor the King who died on Aug. 16, 1977.