The following were the top stories in The New York Times business pages on Tuesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. * While investors in the United States have so far ridden out the tumult in the Middle East, analysts said that they would have a harder time shrugging off the upheaval as it spread throughout the Middle East and North Africa. A spike in oil prices on Monday was particularly worrisome, they said, because it could snuff out the nascent worldwide economic recovery. * Japan's economy may be a mess, but investors say the country may become the best-performing market. And while corporate earnings are far from booming, total net profit at Japan's publicly listed companies has more than doubled this fiscal year, according to a Nikkei tally. * Emboldened by a Republican majority in the House of Representatives, manufacturers of toys and other children's products are making a last-ditch effort to quash new safety regulations that they say are unfair or too onerous.
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