IBT Staff Reporter

Americans owe more in student debt than in credit cards and rival the default rate in home mortgages

Arsenal hammered Chelsea 3-1 with a commanding performance to go second in the table behind Manchester United in Monday's late game in the English Premier League (EPL).

Ford Motors said on Monday that it will add an Auto Start-Stop system that shuts off the engine when a vehicle comes to a stop. This feature is currently found in Ford Fusion Hybrid and Ford Escape Hybrid and some Ford cars in Europe - will soon be added to conventional cars, crossovers and SUVs in North America.

Nasdaq-listed iGate, owned by former marketing head of Infosys Phaneesh Murthy, agreed to buy Patni Computer Systems for $1 billion in shares.

Industrial production in Japan rose for the first time in six months, indicating that a strong demand in Asia could help the economy recover next year.

New data from Pew Internet Research shows 26 percent of Americans used their cell phones to get political during the mid-term elections.

Hitachi Ltd is in talks with Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co about a tie-up in small liquid-crystal display panels, the president of the Japanese industrial conglomerate said on Tuesday.

The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange plans two new technology stock indexes as part of efforts to transform itself into a high-tech center and lure overseas investment, Chief Executive Ester Levanon said on Monday.

U.S. retail sales rose in the week before Christmas as shoppers hurried to finish their gift-buying, putting holiday sales on track to hit the high end of estimates, according to data released on Tuesday by the International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs.

The European Central Bank failed to attract the 73.5 billion euros from banks on Tuesday needed to offset its seven-month run of euro zone government bond purchases, instead managing to draw just over 60 billion.

Germany will create a new cyber-warfare defense center next year to fight off espionage attacks, the German interior ministry said.

Amazon.com announced that its third generation Kindle e-reader is now the bestselling product in its history, surpassing Harry Potter 7.

The rare earth controversy heats up yet again after China cut its rare earth export quotas by 11 percent for 2011, according to a statement by the Ministry of Commerce.

U.S. stocks were set for a modestly higher open on Tuesday ahead of an expected lift in a measure of U.S. consumer confidence, indicating the economic recovery remained on track to sustain the year-end rally.

Airports in New York reopened on Tuesday after the city saw the heaviest December snowfall in nearly six decades, causing severe disruption to travel services.

A new start up company was launched last week to help entertainment, media, retail and manufacturing brands to find, filter, organize and display relevant social content to the right audience in real-time.

Alcatel Lucent SA has agreed to pay more than $137 million to settle U.S. charges that it paid millions of dollars in bribes to foreign officials to win business in Latin America and Asia, U.S. authorities said on Monday.

U.S. stock index futures climbed on Tuesday ahead of an expected higher reading on U.S. consumer confidence, as Japanese production rose, indicating the global economic recovery was on track and adding fuel to a year-end rally.

The average price of U.S. gasoline rose above $3 a gallon over the past week, reaching its highest level since October 2008, the Energy Department said on Monday.

Dai-ichi Life Insurance Co will take full control of Tower Australia Group Ltd for $1.2 billion in cash, the latest in overseas acquisitions by Japanese insurers keen to move away from a stagnant home market.

Hitachi Ltd and partner General Electric may struggle to hit a long-term orders target for nuclear power plants due to signs of waning demand in the United States, the president of Hitachi said.

Stock index futures pointed to a slightly higher open on Wall Street on Tuesday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.2 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.08 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.02 percent at 1000 GMT (5 a.m. ET).

Japanese factory output rose for the first time in six months in November and manufacturers expect to boost production in coming months, suggesting that firm demand in Asia will help the economy resume a recovery early next year.

Amazon.com Inc said sales of its Kindle e-reader were strong over the holiday season amid competition from devices such as Apple Inc's iPad, a computer tablet that also has e-reader capabilities.

China's central bank took aim at inflation once again on Monday by saying it will control lending and money growth in the world's second-biggest economy to head off price pressures and asset bubbles.

Shares in Japan and China eased on Tuesday as concerns that further Chinese monetary tightening will cool the engine of world economic growth overshadowed Japanese data that pointed to improving demand.

Joe Miller, the Republican nominee for Alaska's U.S. Senate seat, says he will not oppose state certification for the November election because he wants his state to be represented in Washington. Nonetheless, he is keeping a federal suit alive.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano believes her department's more thorough pat downs at airports provide more safety for travelers and that she has no plans to change the policy.

It is essential for China to maintain a trade surplus and expand its share of global trade, a senior official said in comments reported on Tuesday that appeared to cut against the government's pledge to seek more balanced trade ties.