IBT Staff Reporter

President Barack Obama defended his compromise with Republicans on extending tax cuts for wealthier Americans, saying it was urgent to keep millions of Americans from losing unemployment insurance payments.

The much-hyped year-end bonuses offered by Cravath Swaine & Moore and other U.S. law firms are not all that great as they come with conditions attached.

With a deal announced between the Obama administration and Congressional Republicans to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for everyone, including the nation's most wealthy, and to extend unemployment insurance for millions of out-of-work Americans, at least one organization concerned with the nation's finances is reminding everyone that such bargains are no bargain for the burgeoning national debt.

The amount raised globally from initial public offerings in 2010 is on track to beat any other year on record, according to Ernst & Young, despite waves of market volatility which disrupted many planned listings.

Fusion power may be a step closer as MIT scientists have found a way to contain hot plasma more efficiently.

Toronto-Dominion Bank is in talks to buy lender Chrysler Financial from private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management , a source said on Tuesday.

Google Inc has won a share of a federal government contract that the company hopes will give it a boost over Microsoft Corp as they race to convert government agencies to cloud computing.

Bank of America Corp will pay $137 million to settle a municipal bond bid-rigging probe which is likely to result in more cases being filed in the coming weeks and months.

EarthLink is one of the few remaining companies likely to make an offer to buy privately held One Communications Corp, as a deadline for bids arrives on Tuesday, said four people close to the deal.

Microchip bellwether Texas Instruments Inc narrowed its quarterly earnings and revenue guidance, in line with analysts' expectations, as the industry deals with sluggish end-of-year demand.

Microsoft Corp plans to give users of its new Internet browser the ability to stop certain sites from gathering information from users as the company looks to head off federal online privacy legislation.

Bank of America Corp will pay $137 million to settle allegations by federal and state authorities that it defrauded buyers of municipal bond derivatives.

The euro zone needs a comprehensive solution to the debt crisis rocking the group and must avoid a country-by-country approach, the head of the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday.

Michelle Rhee, the former chancellor of schools in Washington D.C., has ended speculation about her next move, announcing on Monday that she has started a new non-profit organization that will seek reforms in public educational policies at the local, state and national levels.

The first laptops powered by Google Inc's Chrome system will hit store shelves later than expected, as the Internet company works out bugs in a family of Web-centric computers intended to take on Microsoft Corp and Apple Inc.

A Pennsylvania-based law firm has been sued for using non-lawyers to review, sign and file foreclosures that caused people to lose their homes.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is behind bars in London, facing extradition to Sweden where he is charged with rape and sexual molestation in two separate cases.

Comcast Corp has no plans to start charging customers based on how much broadband is consumed by online video and other content, a top executive said on Tuesday.

Stocks eked out a small gain on Tuesday as investors' enthusiasm over a tax cut extension deal was short-circuited by rising bond yields and reports regulators were stepping up an insider-trading probe.

Stocks eked out a small gain on Tuesday as investors' enthusiasm over a tax cut extension deal was short-circuited by rising bond yields and reports regulators were stepping up an insider-trading probe.

- Total Uconsumer credit rose $3.4 billion in October on rising student loans, which offset a decline in revolving credit, including credit cards, Federal Reserve data showed on Tuesday.

The manufacturing and services sectors will grow in 2011, with manufacturing revenue expected to increase by 5.6 percent, the Institute for Supply Management said in a semi-annual forecast released on Tuesday.

It took longer than many thought -- and comedians had a laugh at their expense -- but singer Alicia Keys and her celebrity friends raised $1 million for an AIDS charity and, with it, lived to tweet again.

Volume in stocks surged on Tuesday as more than 11 billion shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE Amex and Nasdaq.

A three-judge bench of the Second District Court of Appeal in Lakeland, Florida, has ruled that pasting of face photos of 11- and 12-year old children over the heads of nude adult women doesn't amount to child pornography.

The Irish government urged parliament on Tuesday to approve a tough 2011 austerity budget which foresees 6 billion euros in savings and must win passage for the country to receive emergency loans from the EU and IMF.

3M Co said on Tuesday it would face headwinds, especially in the developed world, that would prevent sales from hitting internal targets in 2011, a forecast that made its stock the biggest decliner on the Dow.

The FBI has issued a cyber crime alert for a new Barbie doll that comes equipped with a tiny hidden video camera in her chest, saying the toy could be misused to make child porn.

Do those debt relief ads you see on the TV or the offers you get over the phone sound too good to be true?