Italy is in recession, final data confirmed today. Italy's economy shrank 0.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011, following a 0.2 percent decline in gross domestic product in the third quarter.
Euro zone finance ministers gave their final approval to a second bailout for Greece and turned their fire on Spain, demanding it aim for a tougher deficit target this year in order to get back on target in 2013.
Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim is financing an internet TV network that will include an interview show with former television host Larry King, according to network's website.
Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said that the death penalty could be sought over the massacre of 16 villagers in Afghanistan, which US officials said they believe was the work of a rogue US soldier.
There's no shortage of demand for Apple's new iPad. According to reports by USA Today, pre-orders for the popular tablet have sold out.
Art researchers and scientists said that a high-tech project using tiny video probes has uncovered evidence that a fresco by Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci lost for five centuries may still exist behind a wall of Florence's city hall.
France's Nicolas Sarkozy angrily denied receiving money from deposed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to fund his first presidential run in 2007, as one news website reported earlier in the day.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to act within the "next few days" on UN-Arab League proposals to bring peace to the country where pro-democracy protests deteriorated into bloody turmoil.
Defensive names rallied in an otherwise flat day for Wall Street, as traders paused to digest recent gains and looked ahead to a Federal Reserve monetary policy statement. Meanwhile, European equities edged lower.
Yahoo Inc sued Facebook Inc over 10 patents that include methods and systems for advertising on the Web, according to a copy of the lawsuit.