IBT Staff Reporter

South Africa's finances are sound but the risk of high indebtedness by both the government and individuals lurks if no action is taken now, Deputy Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene said.

Scores of Libyan army vehicles crossed the desert frontier into Niger in what may be a bid by Muammar Gaddafi to seek refuge in a friendly African state, military sources from France and Niger told Reuters on Tuesday.

Teenagers hung out on street corners and on the steps of boarded-up buildings in impoverished downtown Newburgh one blisteringly hot August day this year.

Amazon will price its tablet at $249 according to a report.

Fewer American adults are smoking cigarettes, and those who still smoke have cut back on the number of cigarettes they smoke, but the rate of decline has begun to slow, health experts said on Tuesday.

Tony Hayward, who stepped down as BP boss in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, will imminently seal his return to the oil industry, by buying into Turkey's Genel Enerji, in a deal valuing the target at around $4 billion, a source close to the matter said on Tuesday.

A Florida teenager faces felony charges for allegedly masquerading as a physician assistant at a local hospital.

Increases in the frequency and severity of natural disasters, in addition to the fact reinsurers are trading below book value, have made investors unwilling to inject capital into struggling reinsurers in the event of another loss-making event, Standard & Poor's (S&P) said on Tuesday.

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen and aspirin may increase a woman's risk of miscarriage, researchers found in a new study published Tuesday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Solyndra LLC, a solar panel maker that received $535 million in federal loan guarantees, filed for bankruptcy, the third U.S. solar firm to succumb to pressure from Chinese rivals in recent weeks.

A brush fire ignited by a fatal small-plane crash near the mountain town of Tehachapi, north of Los Angeles, forced hundreds of homes to be evacuated on Monday and left some 8,600 acres charred by nightfall in its second day.

A gunman shot at least seven people outside an IHOP restaurant in Carson City, Nev., on Tuesday morning. Nevada has the fifth most gun deaths per capita in the U.S.

JPMorgan Chase & Co, the second largest U.S. bank by assets, led a broader decline in bank share prices, as investors feared lenders face a growing list of lawsuits due to problem mortgages.

According to a report, GameStop will be supplying its stores with iOS devices in the near future.

Wall Street stocks tumbled for a third session on Tuesday on rising concerns about the euro zone's debt crisis and the outlook for the global economy.

Traditionally recession-proof, U.S. industrial distributors such as WW Grainger Inc and Fastenal Co are looking to make deals and expand their product range to take advantage of the market slowdown.

Six astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) that was scheduled to launch in late September will continue to be delayed after a failed launch in Russia ended in a crash.

The pursuit of austerity measures and deficit cuts is pushing the world economy toward disaster in a misguided attempt to please global financial markets, the annual report of the United Nations economic thinktank UNCTAD said on Tuesday.

Shaw Group said it will sell its 20 percent stake in nuclear power plant company Westinghouse Electric Co to Japan's Toshiba Corp to eliminate nearly $1.7 billion of debt and strengthen its balance sheet.

Tony Hayward, who stepped down as BP boss in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, will imminently seal his return to the oil industry, by buying into Turkey's Genel Enerji, in a deal valuing the target at around $4 billion, a source close to the matter said on Tuesday.

Sony hires a new security chief in the wake of the PSN hacking scandal.

Wall Street stocks tumbled on Tuesday on rising concerns the euro zone's debt crisis could hurt the global economy.

The pace of expansion in the services sector unexpectedly accelerated in August, snapping a three-month streak of slower growth, according to an industry report released on Tuesday.

Regulator Ofcom said the auction of Britain's next-generation 4G mobile phone spectrum could be pushed back at least three months to the second quarter of 2012, as it grapples with complex technical and legal issues.

A shareholder in Research In Motion said on Tuesday it wants the BlackBerry maker to consider selling itself or spinning off its patent portfolio.

Los Angeles' porn production will resume after a false positive result on an HIV test of an actor last week brought the adult film-making to a screeching halt.

The Swiss National Bank shocked markets on Tuesday by setting an exchange rate cap on the soaring franc to stave off a recession, discouraging investors anxious about flagging global growth from using the currency as a safe haven.

An Alaska Airlines passenger bit a crew member at the taxiing gate of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

Amazon.com Inc is stepping up social media efforts after the largest Internet retailer partially missed one of the hottest technology trends of recent years.