IBT Staff Reporter

Tokyo Electric Power Co will invest more than 300 billion yen ($3.3 billion) in acquiring a stake in liquefied natural gas development in Australia, the Nikkei business daily reported on Sunday.

Capote filmmaker Bennett Miller is in negotiations to direct Moneyball, a baseball drama starring Brad Pitt as Billy Beane, the general manager of the Oakland A's who rewrote the unwritten rulebook of baseball.

Paris is a great city in many ways. In other ways it can be terrible. One of the ways in which Paris is absolutely horrific is its traffic. Observing this seemingly organized chaos from the sidewalk café can

Japan's Tokyo Electric Power Co said on Saturday it has signed a Heads of Agreement with U.S. major Chevron to procure 4.1 million tonnes per year of liquefied natural gas from Australia's Wheatstone project. Under the agreement, TEPCO, Japan's top utility, will acquire 15 percent of Chevron's equity stake in Wheatstone field license and an 11.25 percent stake in Wheatstone gas processing facility.

New Line has picked up a pitch from Darren Lemke, the writer behind the studio's Bryan Singer-directed project Jack the Giant Killer, that reimagines the classic tale of The Nutcracker and the Mouse King as an action-adventure movie.

Republican firebrand Sarah Palin invaded the city she loves to hate on Saturday and rubbed shoulders with the herd of journalists she usually holds in disdain.

New Orleans' multi-tasking funk outfit Galactic is set to return February 9 with its sixth studio album, entitled Ya-Ka-May.

Seven children were killed and 42 wounded in a Shi'ite district of Baghdad Monday when a bomb exploded outside a school, police said.

Officials of CME Group Inc expressed optimism on Friday about the success of a new physically deliverable U.S. sour crude oil futures that launches next week, but said it would take years to become a benchmark, if it ever does.

Oil prices fell below $75 a barrel on Monday as a rising dollar sent investors fleeing from risk and global markets began to speculate on a specific future date when the United States would raise its interest rates.

Stocks rose on Monday as a broker upgrade for three credit card companies offset jitters that interest rates might rise sooner than expected and as investors awaited comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

Flags flew at half mast and entertainment programs were canceled across Russia on Monday as the country mourned 112 victims of a weekend nightclub inferno and dozens more fought for their lives in hospitals.

About nine women have emerged on Tiger Wood's affair record in the last week, including waitresses, a club hostess, a marketing manager, a British TV presenter and a porn star.

The number of rigs drilling for natural gas in the United States was unchanged this week at 748 following a big gain last week, according to a report on Friday by oil services firm Baker Hughes in Houston.

Iranian police clashed in Tehran Monday with opposition demonstrators seeking to renew their challenge to the government six months after a disputed presidential election, witnesses said.

Brazilian oil upstart OGX said on Friday it had found a 50 meter column of hydrocarbons with net pay of 15 meters from a well it is drilling in the BM-C-41 block in the Campos basin.

MetLife Inc , the largest publicly traded U.S. life insurer, issued profit forecasts for the fourth quarter and 2010 that could beat average Wall Street expectations.

The head of the U.N.'s panel of climate scientists on Monday strongly defended findings that humans are warming the planet, after critics said that leaked emails from a British university had undermined evidence.

No Break Ups for Big Banks; Baillout Cheaper; Pressing Finance Reform

The biggest climate talks in history opened on Monday with a stark U.N. warning of the risk of desertification and rising seas and an assurance by hosts Denmark that a deal to combat climate change was within reach.

Music-lovers watching their favorite acts at live concerts are increasingly becoming targets for gangs of mobile phone thieves, British police said on Monday.

Natixis raised ATP Oil & Gas Corp to buy from hold and increased its price target, saying Telemark project in Gulf of Mexico is expected to more than double the company's 2009 average production rate.

British confectioner Cadbury said on Monday it would post a formal response to Kraft's $16 billion takeover offer on Dec. 14.

U.S. and British funds are interested in Italian utility A2A's asset disposal plan as well as direct investments, a spokesman said on Monday.

Dubai ring-fenced prized assets such as Emirates airline from the $26 billion debt restructuring of Dubai World, denting fragile investor sentiment and raising questions on slated assets.

Native Americans in Alaska are more likely to be hospitalized with swine flu than whites in the state and the lack of running water in some areas may be a factor, researchers have found.

U.S. drug regulators asked on Friday for manufacturers of prescription pain medications to provide more specifics on an industry plan to curb growing abuse of morphine, methadone, oxycodone and other opioid drugs.

Alexa Ray Joel, 23, the daughter of singer Billy Joel was released from a hospital and is at her father's house following an overdose, People Maazine reported..

Digital China, a Hong Kong-listed information technology company, is to distribute Research In Motion's Blackberry handsets, accelerating RIM's effort to expand into mainland China.