IBT Staff Reporter

World stock markets fell hard on Thursday, with Hong Kong shares losing 2% and London's FTSE100 dropping 0.9% by lunchtime. Indian stock markets have lost more than $20 million per minute so far in 2011, the Economic Times reports, with billionaire Anil Ambani blaming vicious and illegal rumors.

U.S. stocks were lower on Thursday and the Dow was on track to snap an eight-day rally, but hopes for a possible resolution in Egypt to the political unrest that has gripped the country for more than two weeks helped equities pare earlier losses.

Deion Luwynn Sanders, the former National Football League cornerback and Major League Baseball outfielder who currently works as an NFL Network analyst, has listed his two Dallas homes on the market.

A married congressman abruptly quit Congress on Wednesday after revelations that he had sent flirtatious messages and a bare-chested photograph of himself to another woman on a prominent Internet site.

A remote wipe is the only way to protecting your iPhone data if the phone falls into the hands of a thief or is lost, according to research from Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology.

Despite much hype surrounding the Verizon iPhone launch, few customers were spotted purchasing the device this morning.

President Sarkozy advises ministers to holiday in France; any invitations abroad may be accepted only if compatible with foreign policy.

A 1,000-mile undersea fiber-optic cable, trumpeted as a blow against the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba, has been strung from socialist ally Venezuela to the communist-led island, officials said on Wednesday.

President Barack Obama will outline his plan on Thursday for expanding high speed wireless Internet service to 98 percent of Americans while reducing the U.S. deficit by $9.6 billion over the next 10 years.

INQ mobile has created two Android-based phones, both focused on bringing an enriched Facebook experience to mobile.

Corrects to show prior '11 goal was low double-digit growth, not 11-13 pct growth; Error first occurred in UPDATE 2

U.N. nuclear watchdog governors are expected to approve next month a new fuel supply plan meant to help countries develop atomic energy without increasing the risk of weapons proliferation.

North and South Korea traded blame Thursday for the breakdown of military talks as a stalemate emerged over the starting point for negotiations.

India and Pakistan said on Thursday they would resume formal peace talks but issues such as militancy and the disputed Kashmir region are likely to slow any progress towards defusing tensions.

A 12-year-old boy in a school uniform blew himself up at a Pakistani army recruitment centre on Thursday, killing 31 cadets, officials said, in an attack that challenges government assertions that it has weakened militants.

Sudanese security forces briefly held prominent opposition figure Mariam al-Mahdi and other women on Thursday, witnesses said, the latest detentions in a crackdown on anti-government protests.

Egypt must do more to meet protesters' demands for political change, the United States said on Wednesday in a sharp escalation of rhetoric with one of its most important allies in the Middle East.

The Obama administration is closely watching the economic fallout from Egypt's political crisis and believes progress toward democratic reforms would help stem economic instability, a U.S. official said on Wednesday.

U.S.-Egyptian scientist Ahmed Zewail once received a medal from President Hosni Mubarak. Now, he says, it's time for the Egyptian leader to heed the demonstrators clamouring for his departure.

Anglo American's thermal coal unit is keen to expand its operations in South Africa and beyond, but is waiting for price of acquisitions to come down first, the unit's head said late on Wednesday.

A fall in South African thermal coal prices to $113 a tonne this week has started to draw out Indian buyers who have been sidelined since November, Indian traders said on Thursday.

A halt to cocoa-buying in Ivory Coast is leaving beans to rot in farm warehouses, while smuggling through Ghana intensifies and some growers switch to other crops, farmers said on Thursday.

Growth in South Africa's manufacturing output slowed to just 0.2 percent on the year in December and was far below analysts forecasts, showing the vital sector still struggling to recover from a recession in 2009.

Stocks were little changed on Thursday, erasing most losses as investors took the opportunity to buy shares at a cheaper price.

The World Bank and International Monetary Fund are warning poor regions that have so far not been hit by rising food prices, like sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean, to get ready to face them.

Eleven soldiers accused of raping more than 60 women in eastern Congo went on trial at a military court on Thursday.

The United States on Thursday condemned a recent spate of violence in Zimbabwe and blamed President Robert Mugabe's party for the attacks, which are heightening tensions ahead of possible elections this year.

Thomson Reuters Corp said it expects revenue to rise in 2011 after stronger growth in the fourth quarter and more signs that its financial and professional customers are recovering from the recession.

The fate of Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak will be decided in a matter of hours and most probably he will step down, an Egyptian official told Reuters on Thursday.