IBT Staff Reporter

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.

The Department of Health and Human Services is handing out end of the year bonuses. Unlike the big cash awards that investment firms give their best performers at year’s end, these bonuses are meant to help the poor and disadvantaged.

The snowstorm in the Northeastern U.S. that dropped several inches of snow was the result of a combination of an unusually cool Pacific Ocean and smaller than normal pressure differences between the North and South Atlantic.

Ally Financial Inc, the lender formerly known as GMAC, on Monday said it agreed to pay $462 million to Fannie Mae to avoid having to repurchase poorly underwritten mortgages sold to the housing finance giant.

The telecom service provider makes a documentary about the dangers of texting and driving.

Microchip designer Advanced Micro Devices said it would have a non-cash gain in the fiscal first quarter of 2011 related to the dilution of its equity interest in GlobalFoundries.

Bailed-out insurer American International Group took another step toward winding down its U.S. government support on Monday by securing $4.3 billion of bank credit lines, and company shares surged.

Amazon says tablets aren't cutting into sales of the Kindle.

U.S. stocks closed little changed and the dollar lost ground to the euro in thin trade on Monday, buffeted by China's Christmas Day interest rate hike and a blizzard that pounded the northeastern United States.

The top apps for keeping your New Year's resolution.

Wall Street erased earlier losses and ended little changed on Monday as investors shrugged off a surprise weekend interest rate hike from China's central bank.

Key patent lawsuits that punctuated the smartphone industry in 2010.