BUSINESS

Rail transport was paralyzed, hospitals had to rush to use back-up generators, roads became clogged with traffic jams, and water supplies were disrupted, among a multitude of other breakdowns.

The U.S. private sector added more jobs than forecast in July, ADP reported on Wednesday, giving the market some relief after three sluggish months as it awaits Friday's government employment report.

In the wake of multiple reports claiming that Apple would make its sixth generation iPhone, unofficially called the "iPhone 5," public at a special event in September, another report from Asia hit the web Tuesday, suggesting that the delivery schedule and the early shipment of the flagship smartphone might be disrupted due to low yield rates of in-cell touch panels the device is rumored to feature.

India's exports and imports declined for the second consecutive month in June due to the global economic slowdown and a fall in the prices of oil.

Taxpayer money is sent to help save the troubled Japanese utility, but that sum won't be coming back for the foreseeable future.

General Motors Company (NYSE: GM) is expected to report profits down 51.7 percent for the second quarter of 2012 as the company continues to slog through an uphill battle to restructure its loss-making European Opel-Vauxhall unit and to sell through high levels of North American inventory.

Asian stock markets were mixed Wednesday as investors remained cautious ahead of the outcome of the two major central bank meetings.

U.S. stock index futures point to a higher opening Wednesday as investors were hopeful that stimulus measures will be announced in the Federal Reserve?s meeting to declare policy action.

Most of the European markets rose Wednesday amid optimism among investors that the European Central Bank would announce bold stimulus measures to rejuvenate the economy and regain growth momentum.

The Americans only score once, but it's enough to beat a scrappy North Korean squad.

The top after-market NYSE gainers Tuesday were Genworth Financial, Meritage Homes Corp, Laboratory Corp of America Holdings, Radian Group and Halcon Resources Corp. The top after-market NYSE losers were Kraton Performance Polymers, Polypore International, Con-way, Medifast Inc and AmerisourceBergen Corp.

The top after-market Nasdaq gainers Tuesday were Silicon Image Inc, Global-Tech Advanced Innovations Inc, Depomed Inc, Merge Healthcare Inc and Papa John's International Inc.The top after-market Nasdaq losers were Career Education Corporation, McGrath RentCorp, Digital River Inc, True Religion Apparel and Horizon Technology Finance Corporation.

Palaniappan Chidambaram, who as finance minister oversaw India's strongest growth surge in the past two decades, returned to the post on Tuesday but faces a sharp economic slowdown, worsening public finances and falling exports this time around.

Most of the Asian markets fell Wednesday amid increasing concerns over the slowdown in economic growth in China as the country's manufacturing activity grew at a slower pace in July compared to that in the previous month.

Asian shares fell Wednesday after four days of gains, as expectations of stimulus action this week by the U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank fade, and following signs of deepening Asian economic stress.

A top U.S. housing regulator refused on Tuesday to offer principal reductions for mortgages held by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, highlighting a sharp difference in views over the best way to aid the beleagured real estate market.

The numbers released by the White House Friday on a Friday report of the future direction of the U.S. economy look optimistic when compared to economist predictions also included in the report.

Carmelo Anthony scored for the U.S.

In spite of low expectations for profit, market-watchers are actually increasingly bullish on AIG, believing the most important thing to watch when the company reports quarterly results Thursday will be its plans to buy back stock from its largest shareholder, the U.S. government.

The Pittsburgh native set an Olympic record with a time of 1:53.61.

The struggling tablet-only newspaper the Daily is planning to fire 50 of its 170 employees. The opinion and sports departments will be hardest hit.

For-profit colleges, which are squandering their resources at the expense of students' outcomes, are bilking the government and the public, a two-year investigation led by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, concluded.

Google is upgrading video chat by merging it with Google+ Hangouts. Now users can video chat simultaneously with up to nine people, share Youtube videos, share pictures and screens and collaborate on Google documents.

The jobless rate in the U.S. has stubbornly remained above 8 percent for more than three years, and the labor market likely saw little improvement in July, economists say in anticipation of the July nonfarm payrolls report due Friday.

The global marketing chief for General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) was ousted because of an expensive, poorly negotiated deal with Manchester United, the world's most popular soccer club, according to a report.

Ever since Google unveiled its new Jelly Bean operating system, the mobile industry has been buzzing about the new ?buttery? OS. The release date could be coming soon, as the search engine giant has just posted factory images of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean for its line of Nexus devices. These are the first smartphones and tablets to get the new operating system.

After sinking more than half a billion dollars into the talk-show titan's namesake cable channel, Discovery Communications on Tuesday reported that the Oprah Winfrey Network is on track for profitability in the second half of 2013. The prediction is a sharp turnaround from just a few months ago.

Democrats and Republicans in Congress reached a deal on Tuesday to fund federal government activities through next March and eliminate any threat of agency shutdowns that could upset voters ahead of the November 6 presidential and congressional elections.

India is still a Third World country and needs to spend mightily on infrastructure to become the superpower it aspires to.