IBT Staff Reporter

Rock band Weezer has canceled its December concerts, following a crash of the lead singer's tour bus in upstate New York.

A nude photograph of film director Roman Polanski and his wife Sharon Tate, taken shortly before she was brutally murdered, sold for $11,250 at an auction on Monday, with the director's recent arrest fuelling interest.

LUKOIL, Russia's second largest oil producer, missed forecasts with a 40 percent tumble in third-quarter profit as oil prices fell and the rouble depreciated against the dollar.

Brazil's currency, the real (BRBY), weakened 1.3 percent to 1.751 per the dollar. The greenback, considered a safe-haven currency in times of turmoil, strengthened against a basket of major currencies .DXY.

Singer Billy Joel and his daughter, Alexa Ray Joel, are staying together at an undisclosed location following her release from a New York hospital over the weekend, a spokeswoman said on Monday.

The Bank of Canada held its key interest rate on Tuesday at 0.25 percent, as expected, and maintained its outlook on the economic recovery despite unexpectedly weak third-quarter growth.

Bank of America Corp's Chief Risk Officer Greg Curl is under scrutiny by New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo's office in connection with the probe of the bank's merger with Merrill Lynch, the New York Times reported.

Wells Fargo & Co , one of the few major banks that has yet to return bailout funds to the U.S. government, still plans to return its $25 billion as soon as practical, but Chief Executive John Stumpf at a conference on Tuesday did not give any more details.

Wall Street was set to open lower on Tuesday after 3M Co's outlook for the current year came in below analysts' forecast and McDonald's Corp reported a second straight month of declines in domestic sales.

Fitch Ratings cut Greece's debt rating to BBB+ from A- with a negative outlook, the first time in 10 years a major ratings agency has put Greece below an A grade, citing fiscal deterioration in the euro zone's weakest member.

After lending her image to fashion designers for more than two decades, supermodel Claudia Schiffer says she is now ready to create her own fashion business, which could include cashmere wares and handbags.

Antidepressants may go well beyond just easing the symptoms of depression; they may also make people less neurotic, U.S. researchers said Monday.

An evening gown slit discreetly from the neck to the navel worn by Turkey's former first lady Mevhibe Inonu is on show in an Istanbul exhibition, tracing how her style helped define the image of the young Turkish Republic.

United Airlines looked set on Tuesday to place a $10 billion-plus order for mid-sized wide-bodied jets that includes 25 A350 planes from European planemaker Airbus , industry sources said.

One of the most systematic looks yet at the swine flu pandemic confirms that it is at worst only a little more serious than an average flu season and could well be a good deal milder, researchers said on Monday.

Samsung Electronics hopes to boost its position in smartphones by opening up its software, but analysts doubt it can challenge Apple as the platforms favored by application developers.

Fewer people are getting cancer and death rates continue to fall, according to the latest report on cancer in the United States, released on Monday.

Lonely, stressed-out rats were far more likely to develop breast tumors than rats living in a social group, a finding that suggests loneliness can have a profound effect on health, researchers said on Monday.

The number of deaths from the H1N1 swine flu virus has hit 100 in Japan, Kyodo news agency reported on Sunday, as the pandemic continues to spread around the world.

Larry Brubaker suffered a massive stroke in March and was hospitalized for nearly a month before being moved to an acute rehabilitation facility, then to a nursing home and finally to his own home near Sunbury, Pennsylvania.

The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 created the $700 billion bailout (plus $100 billion in add-ons) Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), a wealth transfer scheme so brazen as to leave one breathless. Another Fed bubble had popped; losses in the real estate mortgage meltdown were real; they had already taken place. The only real question was who would be made to eat those losses: the investment banking community that earned millions in fees each year in the debacle and their offspr...

Housing starts in Canada rose by a weaker-than-expected 0.7 percent in November but hit their highest level of the year on an increase in construction of single-family homes.

Measuring body mass index or waist size in overweight people can accurately predict the risk of heart disease, Dutch scientists said on Monday.

Hunger is spreading while the number of homeless families is increasing as a result of the recession and other factors, according to a report on Tuesday.

China Mobile and Research in Motion will offer BlackBerry handsets and Internet service to consumers as well as smaller firms in China, the two firms said on Tuesday.

McDonald's Corp said sales at established U.S. restaurants fell 0.6 percent in November, the latest sign that the fast-food sector that had performed well through most of the recession is weakening.

Wells Fargo (WFC) CEO John Stumpf said on Tuesday that he expects to see opportunities for growth auto, commercial and small business loans next year.

Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Tuesday as declining oil prices pressured energy shares and 3M Co's outlook for the current year came in below analysts' forecast.

State-controlled Dubai World is discussing a new date with banks for $3.5 billion in debt falling due on Dec. 14, but with no deal yet announced, spooked investors sold Dubai shares down to 21-week lows.