IBT Staff Reporter

Arafa Holding, Egypt's biggest garment exporter, has closed its factories in Tenth of Ramadan City till February 17 due to labour strikes, the firm said in a statement on Tuesday.

Tanzania has extended nationwide power rationing after a prolonged drought led to a 230 megawatt (MW) deficit on the national grid, a senior official said on Tuesday.

Starbucks Corp will provide ground coffee for use with Courtesy Products' CV1 one-cup brewers in as many as 500,000 upscale hotel rooms in the United States beginning this autumn, the company said on Tuesday.

Growth in sales at U.S. retailers slowed in January, partly due to harsh winter weather across much of the country, but the trend remained supportive of an acceleration in the economy.

Market breadth weakened and a prominent investor retreated from bullish positions as a vulnerable U.S. stock market slipped off 2-1/2-year highs on Tuesday.

ING will sell most of its real estate management operations for about $1 billion to U.S.-based property broker CB Richard Ellis Group, helping the Dutch bancassurer to pay down state aid.

South Africa's rand softened against the dollar on Tuesday with the market showing little inclination to resist central bank moves since the start of the year to weaken the currency.

Zimbabwean police have seized cars belonging to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's official escort and arrested his drivers for possessing beacon lights usually found on police vehicles, their lawyer said on Tuesday.

According to a report from CNET Verizon doesn't see Nokia handsets sporting the Windows Phone OS as necessary -- which could put a dent in Nokia's plans for expansion in the U.S.

Apple Inc is launching a long-awaited subscription service for magazines, newspapers, videos and music -- a move that could dent the fortunes of successful services such as Netflix and Hulu.

Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC unveiled on Tuesday two social networking phone models, with a focus on Facebook access, and introduced its first tablet computer to a crowded marketplace.

The former rock star teamed up with a Beverly Hills auction house to sell a wide range of personal property to fans and collectors. A large share of the proceeds from the auction will go to charity.

Coca-Cola Co said on Tuesday that its flagship cola recipe is still secret after nearly 125 years, denying a story by a public radio show that it has uncovered the formula.

Banks may cut their services to the poorest Americans as a result of new U.S. financial regulations, including federal caps on debit card processing fees, Citigroup Inc Chief Executive Vikram Pandit said on Tuesday.

The London Stock Exchange failed to stop trading Tuesday as scheduled -- one day after completing a major system upgrade -- causing confusion among its clients, who blamed a technical problem. The LSE, which ends normal trading at 1630 GMT before starting its closing auction, conceded on its website that normal trading did not cease until 42 seconds after the official close at 1630.

New features relying on increased user information would only come with your permission the Google CEO said.

Sirius XM Radio Inc, home to programs by Howard Stern and NFL football, reported a net loss for the fourth quarter and forecast weaker-than-expected revenue for next year, sending its shares down 5.5 percent.

Investors will scrutinize Dell Inc's quarterly earnings for signs that healthy business spending and lower component costs are shoring up margins, a top priority for the world's No. 2 personal computer maker.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid D-NV said on Tuesday that his aims with the 2012 budget are to bring down the deficit while keeping our economy moving in the right direction.

Germany's Deutsche Boerse and transatlantic NYSE Euronext have announced a merger to create the world's largest bourse, pushing aside potential political and regulatory obstacles.

Samsung Electronics hopes to attract new consumers to its brand with cheap, low-end phones that are not necessarily focused on making profit for the group, a senior executive said.

Chinese telecoms hardware and network makers are biting off bigger chunks of African business and are likely to overthrow hitherto dominant European vendors in a region with mouthwateringly low penetration rates.

Home improvement retailer Home Depot said it is hiring about 60,000 seasonal workers for a series of spring sales, a level that a spokeswoman said was comparable to last year's.

Wide differences between rich and developing countries may frustrate France's hope of taking a bold step toward stabilizing the global economy at a Group of 20 finance ministers meeting this week.

In the highly politicized U.S. battle over pensions and health care, leading Republican lawmakers will take the first crack at the long-term financial problems at least by next late next month, according to Rep. Eric Cantor R-VA.

Bank of America (BofA) has selected a battery of top-end law firms to represent their legal interests but being on the legal panel comes at a price.

Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft's gross annual revenue has slipped 6 percent in 2010 despite profit per partner (PPP) being slightly up compared to prior year.

A federal appeals court has upheld the conviction of a Florida doctor who was sentenced to 25 years in prison for providing material support and offering treatment to wounded Al Qaeda militants.

A Maine judge has upheld a jury verdict that awarded $7.3 million in damages to a businessman who has accused a law firm of causing him emotional distress.