IBT Staff Reporter

Peter Jackson, the director of the Lord of the Rings triology, has settled litigation with New Line Cinema and will produce prequels to the film.

US Stocks rose on Tuesday and stock market across the Asia-Pacific region were trading higher after investors found comfort in the European Central Bank’s $500 billion loan injection to revive demand in struggling areas of the credit market.

Housing construction in November for single-family activity fell to the lowest in more than 16 years.

U.S. consumer electronics leader Best Buy Co reported a better-than-expected 52 percent jump in third-quarter profit on Tuesday on strong sales of laptops and video games, and raised its full-year earnings forecast.

Palm Inc, the maker of Treo cell phones, forecast lower-than-expected revenue amid tough competition from Research in Motion Ltd's Blackberry and Apple Inc's iPhone, sending its shares tumbling 12 percent on Tuesday.

The Federal Communications Commission approved new rules that will unleash a flood of media consolidation across 20 biggest U.S. cities, in spite of objections from consumer groups and threats from some U.S. senators.

U.S. Stocks rose Tuesday as investors economic worries were consoled with the European Central Bank's $500 billion injection along with profit gains at Goldman Sachs and Best Buy.

Lenders will have to confirm that a borrower can afford a mortgage before making a loan under protections proposed by the Federal Reserve on Tuesday, following defaults and losses on U.S. subprime mortgages this year.

Gold rallied on Tuesday to close about $800 an ounce on speculation that turmoil in credit markets will force the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates, further boosting the appeal of the precious metal.

The Yen fell on Tuesday after the European Central Bank injected more than $500 billion to the banking system, boosting the carry trade.

Apple is in the middle of talks with Japanese mobile carriers, leaving consumers in eager anticipation for the iPhone launch in the country, news reports said on Tuesday.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc said on Tuesday fourth-quarter earnings rose 2 percent, beating expectations and capping a record year, but its shares fell after the investment bank cautioned that markets will remain challenging in the near future.

Closely following Microsoft with it's year-end security roll out, Apple Inc. followed suit on late Monday afternoon by issuing a bunch of fixes for its Mac OS X operating system and the test version of its Safari browser.

Bad news for financial markets isn't over yet and joint central bank action to ease the credit crunch may not be enough to stop a big slowdown in the world economy, Bank of England Governor Mervyn King said on Tuesday.

U.S. lenders would have to determine that a borrower can afford a mortgage before making the loan under a Federal Reserve staff proposal on new regulations released on Tuesday.

Johnny Depp, take a bow. The Pirates of the Caribbean star who turns menacing in his new role as murderous barber Sweeney Todd, has been named the best celebrity autograph signer for the third year running.

Former Baywatch star and Playboy model Pamela Anderson has apparently reconciled with her third husband just three days after filing for divorce to end their two-month marriage.

Late-night TV comedians Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien said on Monday they will resume taping their shows on January 2, and cross picket lines if necessary, after nearly two months off the air in support of striking film and television writers.

A Canadian man who said he sold his 15-year-old son's prized video game, a Christmas gift, on eBay after catching him smoking marijuana has sparked an online debate on who is wrong -- father or son.

Nintendo Co Ltd is having trouble planning for the coming months because of shortages of its Wii video game console, and the company is also seeing signs of higher-than-expected demand for its DS handheld device, a top U.S. executive said on Monday.

Apple Inc is playing Japan's top mobile operator NTT DoCoMo Inc against No. 3 carrier Softbank Corp on selling the iPhone in Japan, meeting executives from both companies, sources said on Tuesday.

Toshiba Corp said on Tuesday it would join a group led by International Business Machines Corp to develop system chips using 32-nanometre circuitry, as chip makers increasingly team up to cut development costs.

Pakistan's Election Commission has upheld an election ban on former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his lawyer said on Tuesday, barring a main rival of President Pervez Musharraf from the January polls.

Home building projects started in November fell by 3.7 percent as the pace of single-family home construction was the slowest in more than 16 years, a government report on Tuesday showed. The Commerce Department said housing starts fell to an annual rate of 1.187 million units, slightly better than the 1.180 million unit pace Wall Street economists were expecting.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Iraqi leaders on Tuesday to speed up national reconciliation on a trip overshadowed by an incursion by several hundred Turkish troops into northern Iraq.

The British government deepened its involvement in Northern Rock on Tuesday, offering to guarantee more of the stricken mortgage bank's liabilities as it battles to find a private-sector buyer. Facing growing speculation it could be forced to nationalize the country's fifth-largest mortgage lender, the government extended its guarantees to include virtually all Northern Rock's se...

In November, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson has made an announcement that the company, along with Apple, will release a new, faster iPhone next year, though the comments were never confirmed by Apple.

Apple Inc.'s popular iPhone has been dubbed by many as the gadget to get for 2007, and new research shows that consumers have the same sentiment. The firm sold as many as 24-25 million iPods during the first two months of its December quarter, according to one research analyst.

Adobe Systems beat expectations on Monday as its fourth quarter profit jumped 21 percent and its a forecast were ahead of analysts estimates on increased demand for its Creative Suite programs.