IBT Staff Reporter

Ford Motor Co introduced an incentive covering payments for up to a year if customers lose their jobs, joining rivals in offering heavy discounts to attract consumers sidelined by a deepening recession.

Fiat's chief executive has flown to Chrysler LLC's home town of Detroit to meet trade unions and creditors after U.S. authorities gave the carmakers 30 days to set up a partnership to save Chrysler.

The world economy will shrink at a far faster pace than originally expected this year, sending unemployment soaring and highlighting the need for extra steps to halt the crisis, the OECD said on Tuesday.

Prices of U.S. single-family homes in January plunged a record 19.0 percent from a year earlier, indicative of a U.S. housing market that is still in the throes of a deep recession, according to a Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller report on Tuesday.

Barclays is in exclusive talks to sell its iShares asset management unit to CVC Partners for about 3 billion pounds ($4.3 billion), a person familiar with the situation said on Tuesday.

China on Tuesday rejected a report suggesting it may be involved in using computer networks to spy on exiled Tibetans and foreign governments, accusing its authors of being possessed by the ghost of the Cold War.

Microsoft Corp has signed up multiple software partners for its upcoming cellphone software marketplace, including Web music service Pandora, game publisher Electronic Arts Inc and social site Facebook.

Fortis NV (FOR.BR: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said it has a viable future as an insurance group on Tuesday after plunging to a 28 billion euro ($37 billion) net loss in 2008 on the state takeover of its troubled banking activities.

The United States is heading for only a tepid recovery next year, and the central bank may need to buy even more assets to combat the growing threat of deflation, the OECD said on Tuesday.

The dollar will remain the world's dominant reserve currency and a strong U.S. currency is critical to pull the world out of crisis, World Bank President Robert Zoellick said on Tuesday.

The World Bank announced a $50 billion program on Tuesday to counter a decline in global trade and Britain called on G20 leaders to supply the oxygen of confidence to save the world economy from recession.

Google Inc is forming a $100 million fund to invest in early-stage start-up firms. The fund will operate as a separate entity and will seek investment opportunities to maximize returns rather than looking for investments that strictly fit with Google's strategic vision.

The U.S. recession may be easing, but the economy has not hit bottom yet and mounting unemployment looks likely to keep demand sluggish for a while. While the economy still appears on a downward path, the slope is not as steep as many had feared.

Some frustrated U.S. taxpayers cheered President Barack Obama's tough steps to shore up the reeling auto industry on Monday but critics called his decision to fire General Motors' chief a heavy-handed power grab.

The European Central Bank is expected to cut its main interest rate to a new record low of 1 percent on Thursday and step up efforts to boost the flow of funds from banks to euro-zone companies and households.

Switzerland's UBS, the world's largest wealth manager, had written down more than $49 billion since mid-2007, and it expects more write downs and job cuts in the first quarter.

The Walt Disney Co. and Google Inc.'s YouTube are close to a deal that would allow Disney content to be distributed through YouTube, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

Online advertising in the U.S. grew 10.6 percent to $23.4 billion last year, according to a report released by the Interactive Advertising Bureau on Monday.

Hewlett-Packard on Monday rolled out an updated line of computer servers featuring Intel's new Nehalem Xeon microprocessor, touting their lower power use and higher performance to capitalize on customers' cost-cutting initiatives.

Canada said on Monday plans set out by the Canadian units of General Motors Corp and Chrysler don't go far enough to make them viable, but it offered C$4 billion ($3.2 billion) in bridge loans to tide the automakers over while they restructure.

Google China has officially launched its free MP3 search engine after sealing deals with four major music labels -- Warner Brothers, Universal Studios, EMI and Sony-- and over 140 indie labels.

UK’s Birmingham City University has announced plans to offer a master’s degree on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and Bebo.

Banks agree that compensation for top executives contributed to the financial crisis and are trying to realign pay based on performance and long-term shareholder interests, an international bank lobby group said on Monday.

The U.S. Department of Energy has unveiled a new feature in a form of a map that allows people to study the amount of money for which each state and city in the country are eligible to use under the Energy efficiency and conservation block grant program.

Western Digital is making its first foray into the Solid State Disk market with its $65 million acquisition of SiliconSystems.

President Barack Obama said on Monday said the U.S. cannot let its auto industry vanish, but didn’t rule out pain ahead for creditors, unions and other group affiliated with General Motors Corp, and Chrysler.

Apple Inc is clearing out its iPhone inventory to unveil new and improved iPhone 3G Pro versions, according to an analyst.

Auto brand Detroit Electric Holdings Ltd will partner with the Malaysian auto manufacturer Proton Holdings Berhad to produce pure electric sedan vehicles in the U.S., U.K. Europe and China markets due in 2010, the companies said Monday.

Incoming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged on Monday to make every effort to achieve peace with Israel's neighbors and the Arab world, but again made no mention of Palestinian aspirations to statehood.