Washington  - US consumer confidence edged up marginally in March after reaching an all-time low the month before, but housing prices continued to plummet, according to two private surveys released Tuesday.

The New York-based Conference Board said its gauge of consumer confidence rose 0.7 points to 26, pulling back from February's level, which was the lowest since records began, amid a deep recession in the United States.

Last month's level was the lowest since the index was created in 1967 and this month's slight increase marked the first rise since November.

San Francisco - Microsoft on Tuesday announced that it was terminating its Encarta online encyclopedia, as the world's largest software company found it too difficult to compete with the challenge of its collaborative competitor Wikipedia.

Microsoft said it would discontinue all editions of Encarta on October 31, 2009 except for Encarta Japan, which would be discontinued on December 31, 2009.

Encarta was launched in 1993 as a pet project of Microsoft chairman and founder Bill Gates who saw the project as a great way to showcase the power of computers.

Miami  - Novak Djokovic will aim to reverse a run of four consecutive defeats against Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga as the pair meet in the quarter-finals of the Miami Masters.

Third seed and 2007 champion Djokovic controlled Czech Tomas Berdych in an efficient 6-3, 6-2 victory on Tuesday, while Tsonga, seeded 10th, ousted compatriot Gilles Simon 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 6-2 in their fourth-round meeting.

Washington  - The US Supreme Court on Tuesday threw out cigarette maker Philip Morris USA's appeal in a 79.5-million-dollar lawsuit brought a decade ago by a smoker's widow.

The court, in a one-sentence opinion, declined to rule on the legal issues in the case, effectively upholding the award in 1999 by an Oregon jury to Mayola Williams, who was widowed when her husband died of lung cancer.

The award has since ballooned to 145 million dollars with interest.

Washington - The United States is reviewing existing free- trade deals and will take other countries to task for adopting illegal trade barriers, the country's top trade official said Tuesday.

US Trade Representative Ron Kirk said the administration was developing a list of countries and programmes that violate international trade law and is prepared to take offenders before the World Trade Organization or other bilateral forums.

New York  - The Sun-Times Media Group Inc, owner of the Chicago Sun Times and more than 50 other US newspapers, filed for bankruptcy protection Tuesday as it became the latest casualty of the advertising slump that is wreaking havoc throughout the newspaper industry.

The company said it would continue to operate as usual as it tries to stabilize its operations, though it said it was ordering all non- union employees to take a week of unpaid leave in April or May. The company listed assets of 479 million dollars and debts of 801 million dollars.