IBT Staff Reporter

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi Tuesday called Barack Obama a flicker of hope in the middle of the imperialist darkness, but said he feared the president could be assassinated.

The U.S. government has launched an unprecedented array of actions to salvage the economy and stabilize the financial sector that could put up to $10.903 trillion of taxpayers' money at risk.

There's still bad news ahead for the U.S. economy and the bear market for stocks is not over yet, according to a prominent economist who foretold much of the current turmoil.

North Korea says somewhere up in the sky, a satellite it launched at the weekend is beaming to earth two revolutionary paeans: “Song of General Kim Il-sung” for the founder of the reclusive state and “Song of General Kim Jong-il,” for the son who succeeded him when he died.

A deficit of aluminum in China will be short lived as rumors that smelters are preparing to restart production circulate, Alcoa chief executive Klaus Kleinfeld said on Tuesday.

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc reported a quarterly profit on Tuesday that easily topped Wall Street estimates, as sales were not as bad as feared, helping to send shares of the home furnishings retailer up 13.7 percent in after-hours trading.

Aluminum producer Alcoa Inc reported a second consecutive quarterly loss on Tuesday, as metal prices and the autos industry slumped and global demand fell in the economic downturn.

The Pentagon spent more than $100 million in the past six months to repair damage from cyber attacks and other computer network problems, military leaders said Tuesday.

Strong aftershocks shook central Italy on Tuesday and hampered rescue efforts after the country's worst earthquake in three decades killed at least 228 people and left thousands homeless.

The Japanese government plans to spend a total of 37 trillion yen ($370 billion) to help businesses meet their ends as parts of its additional economic stimulus package, according to a published report.

Three members of a U.S. congressional delegation met on Tuesday with former Cuban leader Fidel Castro in his first known talks with U.S. officials since he underwent surgery in July 2006.

Australian Dollar: The local market remained on tender hooks leading into yesterdays RBA rate decision with analysts seemingly split on the outcome.

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Tuesday on a slight decrease in quarterly sales, and shares of the home furnishings retailer rose 10.9 percent in after hours trading.

Google Inc. rolled out a new way for users to search for content.

Bernard Madoff's $80,000 New York Mets baseball season tickets may be sold -- sort of -- to the highest bidder on eBay.

Blockbuster is struggling to keep up with the high demands of consumers who are turning more and more to its competitor, Netflix, who offers streaming movies online.

Today the Federal Reserve released monthly data on Consumer Credit from February 2009. In February, consumer credit decreased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.5 percent.

Stocks slid on Tuesday, hammered by fears that companies will show they struggled in the first quarter as the recession dragged on as the earnings season kicked off with Alcoa.

Former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori was sentenced to 25 years in prison Tuesday. He was convicted of ordering a military death squad to carry out two massacres that killed 25 people during his 1990-2000 rule. It is the first time for a democratically elected Latin American president was found guilty.

Rio Tinto Ltd. said Tuesday it would cut more than 700 jobs at Australian mines, or about 23 percent, due to a drop in aluminum demand and prices.

General Motors Corp is in intense and earnest preparations for a possible bankruptcy filing, a source familiar with the company's plans told Reuters on Tuesday.

Aluminum giant Alcoa Inc continued to grapple with the economic downturn in the first three months of 2009 as its measures to stem losses bore fruit, reporting a deficit half as small as the previous quarter.

Google Inc helps newspaper websites make money through online advertising and does not misappropriate their content, a lawyer for the search engine said on the company's blog on Tuesday.

Stocks slid on Tuesday, hammered by fears that companies will show they struggled in the first quarter as the recession dragged on as the earnings season prepared to kick off with Alcoa.

Aluminum producer Alcoa Inc reported a second consecutive quarterly loss on Tuesday, due mostly to a drop in demand, especially in the auto industry, and sharply lower prices.

Continental Airlines Inc won the U.S. government's nod on Tuesday for its plans to join the Star Alliance, which allows airlines to cooperate in marketing their routes and pricing to the public.

The chief executive of Goldman Sachs called on Tuesday for reforms to executive pay and a broadening of financial regulation in a contrite speech that was twice interrupted by protesters.

Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori was convicted of human rights crimes Tuesday, the first time a democratically elected Latin American president was found guilty in his own country of rights abuses.

Like nearly 200 million other people around the world, Yahoo Inc co-founder David Filo has a Facebook account.