IBT Staff Reporter

U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday, a day after the Dow hit a 13-month high, after data showed an improving economy, but at a slower rate than expected.

Ford Motor Co will launch a new car model in India every 12-15 months over the next five years, with its new Figo small car is set to drive a tripling of sales in 2010, its India head said on Tuesday.

Asimco Technologies, an automotive components maker founded by Wall Street veteran Jack Perkowski in Beijing 15 years ago, is up for sale in a deal that could fetch over $200 million, people involved in the potential deal said on Tuesday.

General Motors has paid back a loan from Germany and slightly lowered its target for job cuts at struggling European unit Opel.

Up to 134 million U.S. consumers could venture out to shop for holiday gifts this weekend, although many are testing the waters for bargains before they commit, according to a new report.

Norway, Costa Rica and the Maldives are struggling with high costs and technological hurdles to stay in the world's most exclusive club for fighting climate change -- seeking to cut net greenhouse gas emissions to zero.

Toyota Motor Corp said on Tuesday it had received about 14,000 orders for the new SAI hybrid sedan to go on sale in Japan on December 7, or roughly five times its monthly sales target of 3,000 units.

China and isolated North Korea should deepen military ties, the Chinese defence minister said on Tuesday, saying international turbulence had never damaged the bond between the two communist neighbours.

The Conservatives said on Tuesday they will pay households to recycle rubbish, set up a green investment bank and cut government emissions by 10 percent in a year if they win next year's election.

U.S. home prices rose for the fifth straight month and posted the second quarterly increase, but the pace of appreciation in September slowed and was less than expected, according to Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller indexes on Tuesday.

A rush to cash in on incentives to develop renewable energy projects in Bulgaria could end up in so much new supply it could cause blackouts on the national grid, the operator told Reuters on Tuesday.

Australia's government gained bipartisan backing on Tuesday for its revised carbon-trade plan, avoiding an early election and boosting compensation to big carbon emitters, coal companies and electricity generators.

An Israeli prisoner exchange with Hamas has not yet been agreed and might not happen, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday, after a senior cabinet colleague predicted a breakthrough within weeks.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is looking into reports in Britain of the likely spread of a drug-resistant strain of swine flu, the U.N. agency said on Tuesday.

Norway opened on Tuesday the world's first osmotic power plant, which produces emissions-free electricity by mixing fresh water and sea water through a special membrane.

Vivienne Cox, former CEO of BP's alternative energy division, has been appointed chairman of Climate Change Capital, the clean energy fund said on Tuesday.

Novartis will officially open the first next-generation flu vaccine plant in the United States on Tuesday, but it will be years before it makes its first vaccine.

Iran could consider sending its low-enriched uranium abroad, the Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday, signaling a possible softening of its opposition to a plan aimed at easing Western concern over its nuclear ambitions.

Some Canadian provinces have stopped using a particular batch of the H1N1 flu vaccine after six people experienced severe allergic reactions, the country's health agency said on Monday.

More than two million Muslims gather this week for the annual haj pilgrimage to Islam's holy city of Mecca, where Saudi authorities hope to minimize spread of the H1N1 virus and prevent any political demonstration.

A Chicago insurance man pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges that he peeped into television sports reporter Erin Andrews' hotel room when she was nude, took video of her and tried to sell the footage.

Scottish singer Susan Boyle, who shot to fame after her audition for Britain's Got Talent was aired in April, appears set to have the biggest album in Britain this year, music retailer HMV said on Monday.

Hormel Foods Corp posted a 53 percent jump in quarterly profit, aided by lower hog prices and stronger sales of its namesake chili, and said earnings should rise in the current fiscal year.

High-cost urban U.S. hospitals may face debt rating downgrades if large cuts to Medicare funding are implemented as part of U.S. health care reform, Moody's Investors Service said on Monday.

Iraq will be unable to hold a national election in January as planned, a poll official said on Tuesday, heaping more uncertainty on a vote meant to cement democracy and pave the way for a partial U.S. troop withdrawal.

A powerful earthquake of magnitude 6.8 struck northeast of the South Pacific island nation of Tonga on Tuesday, the United States Geological Survey said, but a destructive tsunami was not expected.

Sixteen-year-old model meets penniless future rock star almost eight years her senior and is instantly smitten, they eventually marry, have two children, and live happily ever after.

The Philippines placed two southern provinces and a city under emergency rule on Tuesday after gunmen killed 46 people in a brutal election-related massacre that has shocked the country.

Support within the administration has grown for continuing a counterinsurgency strategy with a greater focus on protecting major Afghan population centers along with agricultural areas and transportation routes.