IBT Staff Reporter

U.S. stock index futures advanced on Tuesday as investors turned their attention from the geopolitical tremors in the Middle East to data they hope will provide insight into the state of the U.S. economic recovery.

Art lovers around the world can now take virtual tours of 385 art galleries in 17 acclaimed museums of the world thanks to Google's Art Project

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has rejected Orexigen Therapeutics Inc.'s weight-loss drug Contrave on concerns over heart safety issues. Following the announcement, shares of the California-based company plunged nearly 72 percent in Tuesday's pre-market trade to $2.52.

Google aims to bring the world's great art galleries into the home with a new website that offers virtual tours using Street View technology, the ability to build private collections and ultra-high resolution images.

United Parcel Service, the world's largest package delivery company, reported a quarterly profit that beat estimates and forecast record-high profits in 2011, sending its shares up nearly 3 percent on Tuesday in premarket trading.

Pfizer Inc cut its sales forecast for 2012, the first full year its $10 billion-a-year Lipitor cholesterol fighter faces cheaper U.S. generics, but slashed its research budget to keep its profit view intact that year.

Israel is angry at U.S. President Barack Obama for not supporting Egypt's falling dictator Mubarak and legitimating the people's outcry for democracy and freedom instead. This is seen as a threat to Israel's geopolitical interests in the Middle East.

Three big tech companies, HP, Intel and IBM, put their money into funding start-ups as part of a White House campaign.

Florida-based Brainchild, a maker of hand-held learning devices, has rolled out Android tablet Kineo, designed for schools to suit a teacher’s needs for individualized instruction.

Girls playing games with parents are better behaved and more grounded than boys

Gold rose in Europe on Tuesday as the dollar index hit a 12-week low and geopolitical tensions centered on Egypt added risk premium to prices, with Asian demand for coins and bars after January's price drop adding support.

Miner Centamin Egypt said its operations were unaffected by the political unrest as momentum continues to build in Egypt, while it forecasts higher production in 2011. Egypt-focused stocks have come under the spotlight as protestors demand an end to the 30-year-rule of President Hosni Mubarak.

U.S. retailers are poised to show only a modest rise in January sales as record snow in many parts of the United States kept shoppers away from malls and crimped demand for early spring merchandise.

Mahindra & Mahindra inched closer to establish its presence in southeast Asia, with an executive saying the company will make full payment by Feb. 7 for South Korea's Ssangyong Motor buy.

The BSE Sensex fell 1.7 percent on Tuesday to its lowest close since August, extending January's worst monthly slide in more than two years, as inflation worries and hardening interest rates continued to spook investors.

NASA Historian talks about how public perception of NASA and space exploration has changed since the Challenger and Columbia disasters.

The world economy is beset by problems such as high unemployment and rising prices which could fuel trade protectionism and even lead to war within nations, the head of the International Monetary Fund warned on Tuesday.

The number of Americans with diabetes have increased to nearly 26 million as more people are developing the disease and many who have it are living longer, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The number of empty houses in the U.S. is close to 20 million, Census shows

Charlie refuses to go to a rehab facility and wants to undergo treatment at home

Authored by award-winning journalists David Leigh and Luke Harding, the book titled WIKILEAKS: Inside Julian Assange's War on Secrecy was published on Monday by Guardian Books.

The world economy is beset by problems such as high unemployment and rising prices which could fuel trade protectionism and even lead to war within nations, the head of the International Monetary Fund warned on Tuesday.

German chipmaker Infineon and British chip designer ARM Holding expect semiconductor demand to remain robust after a strong quarter, signaling stability for the notoriously volatile sector.

Asian automakers, led by outperformer Hyundai Motor, got off to a strong start for 2011 with robust January sales as they gear up for the sector's broad recovery.

Investors shifted focus from worrying about Middle East turmoil to concentrate on fundamentals on Tuesday, lifting global stocks against a background of improved economic data and corporate results.

Social networking site Facebook plans to launch a third party commenting platform that could position the site as an engine behind the comments system on many high-profile blogs and digital publications.

Costs for Asian and European manufacturers jumped in January as firms ramped up production, surveys showed on Tuesday, the latest evidence of growing pressure on global inflation from food and fuel prices.

BP Plc failed to dispel doubts about its future on Tuesday as its long-awaited return to a dividend payout was tainted by weaker than expected profits and a new charge for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

After a San Francisco Bay Area South Carolina, Seattle and Tennessee resident received the deliveries of all electric Leaf, Nissan Motors on Tuesday carried out its first Leaf delivery in the Hawaii region.