IBT Staff Reporter

The Connecticut state treasurer told beleaguered Bank of America Corp Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis on Tuesday she will be voting against his re-election at the bank's upcoming shareholder meeting.

Two U.S. manufacturing bellwethers, Caterpillar and United Technologies, said on Tuesday that falling global demand for big-ticket products battered their first-quarter results.

Sri Lanka's Tamil rebels said in a statement Tuesday that 1,000 civilians died in a government raid, however the military denied this accusation.

The New York Times Co reported a quarterly loss on Tuesday because of a 27 percent drop in advertising revenue and poor performance at The Boston Globe, which might close this year.

Chemical maker DuPont posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit, but trimmed its full-year outlook and said it would cut more jobs as weak economic conditions continued to constrict demand.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Tuesday said difficulty in setting a value on banks' toxic assets was a continuing hindrance to their ability to lend and borrow.

European Union states headed for a collision course with the bloc's parliament on Tuesday as a spat over how to tackle illegal downloads threatened a wider telecom reform.

Caterpillar Inc , the world's largest maker of construction and mining equipment, reported its first quarterly loss in 17 years on Tuesday, pulled into the red by more than half a billion dollars in charges from its wave of recession-triggered layoffs.

Citigroup Inc Chief Executive Vikram Pandit said he expects the No. 3 U.S. bank to rebound from its current woes and pledged that it would repay every dollar it owes to the U.S. government. Pandit commented on the bank's prospects on Tuesday at the annual shareholders' meeting.

Computer spies have repeatedly breached the Pentagon's costliest weapons program, the $300 billion Joint Strike Fighter project, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

Stocks rose on Tuesday as a profit from United Technologies Corp topped expectations and lifted the Dow, and better-than-expected results from technology companies offset concerns about corporate profits and even cloudier outlooks.

Global write-downs of toxic debt among banks and other financial institutions in the United States, Europe and Japan could reach $4.1 trillion, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday.

Merck & Co reported disappointing sales and earnings on Tuesday due to the global economic slowdown and plunging sales of its Gardasil vaccine, and announced a setback for its experimental migraine drug, sending its shares down 7 percent.

On Tuesday the Treasury Department said $109.6 billion are reaming in the in resources remain in the government's $700 billion financial rescue fund.

Delta Air Lines said it still expected a profit for the year despite reporting a first-quarter net loss of $794 million, helping to push up its shares by 12.5 percent in early trading on Tuesday.

France's Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner criticized the United States Tuesday for boycotting a United Nations conference where Iran's president launched a verbal attack on Israel.

Two of the biggest U.S. custodial banks, Bank of New York Mellon Corp and Northern Trust Corp , reported disappointing earnings as declines in client assets depressed fees, sending their shares sharply lower.

The moderator of an Internet forum in the Gulf Arab state of Oman said on Tuesday he was sentenced to one month in jail and fined 200 rials ($519) for publishing a cabinet directive on the Web.

UAL Corp, parent of United Airlines, posted a narrowed quarterly net loss on Tuesday, but its revenue was hit hard by economic recession that drained travel demand.

China will show off its resurgent naval strength this week at a parade marking 60 years since the founding of its navy, presenting its fleet of warships and nuclear submarines as a force for peace, not aggression.

India's gold imports are set to grow by a quarter in April from a year ago, the first rise since August, and demand should strengthen ahead of festivals later in the year, the head of metals trading firm MMTC Ltd said on Tuesday.

China this week marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of its navy with a parade in the seas off the northern port city of Qingdao.

Madagascar's government banned public demonstrations on Tuesday to maintain security after two people died when armed forces broke up a protest backing ousted leader Marc Ravalomanana a day earlier.

Turkish police on Tuesday detained 37 people with suspected links to al Qaeda, state-run Anatolian news agency said.

Rare talks between North and South Koreas fizzled on Tuesday with the rivals unable to even agree on a venue for the meeting, which had already been clouded by Pyongyang's threat to restart its nuclear arms plant.

Piracy incidents nearly doubled across the globe in the first quarter of 2009 almost entirely due to an upsurge in attacks by gangs off the Somali coast, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said on Tuesday.

South Africa's ruling ANC leader Jacob Zuma called for a massive turnout at an election on Wednesday to give his ruling party a decisive mandate in its toughest test since the end of apartheid.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has lost support for his handling of the economy, two polls showed on Tuesday, the eve of what is expected to be one of the bleakest budgets in decades.

Penguin Group has become the first international publisher to sign an English electronic book distribution deal in China after seeing significant growth in the United States, the head of the group said on Tuesday.