IBT Staff Reporter

Korea’s central bank raised a key interest rate by 0.25 percent to 5 percent on Thursday, the highest level in six years.

Dubai-based Istithmar is set to buy Jones Apparel Group Inc.'s Barneys New York for $942.3 million after Japanese casual-clothing retailer Fast Retailing Co. Ltd. on Thursday pulled out of the bidding war. The retreat by Fast Retailing ended a month-long tug-of-war over the luxury department store chain, although the operator of the Uniqlo stores has no intention of slowing down its overseas expansion drive.

Police arrested a teenager suspected of posting his own translation of the latest Harry Potter novel on the Internet weeks before the official French release, the book's publishers said on Wednesday.

President Robert Mugabe's government has warned it will arrest white Zimbabwean farmers resisting evictions from new land targeted for black farmers, state media reported on Wednesday.

The Ministry of Tourism has 417 employees and big plans: 'We need three or four times as many hotels as we have now,' says Nimrud Youkhana, the minister, 'and we need to get more airlines to fly here.'

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Wednesday carried pledges of energy investment to Uruguay, the latest stop on his South American tour aimed at bolstering his regional influence.

China has banned two factories from exporting toys after a high-profile recall of Mattel products including Big Bird and Elmo because of fears about lead in paint.

A lower percentage of Latin American workers living in the United States is sending money to family members back home, a report showed on Wednesday.

Farmers in Britain resumed sending animals to slaughter on Thursday after a ban on the movement of livestock to prevent an outbreak of foot and mouth disease from spreading was lifted in most of the country.

Pakistan's beleaguered President Pervez Musharraf has no plans to impose emergency rule, contrary to widespread reports that he was about to announce the authoritarian measure, the president of the ruling party said on Thursday.

The low-yielding yen jumped against the dollar and euro on Thursday as investors trimmed exposure to carry trades after BNP Paribas said three of its funds were hit by problems in the U.S. subprime mortgage sector.

Oil edged below $72 a barrel on Thursday as concerns over a slowing U.S. economy overshadowed an unexpectedly steep drop in fuel stocks in the world's top consumer.

Rescue officials and soldiers were rushing food to central Vietnam on Thursday asthousands needed urgent aid.

Homeowners who fall behind on mortgage payments say lenders have grown slightly more flexible in scheduling late payments but are less accommodating than they ought to be, according to a study released on Wednesday.

Belgian-Dutch financial services group Fortis reported a 16 percent year-on-year rise in second-quarter net profit on Thursday, beating analysts' expectations due to strong banking results.

France's biggest listed bank, BNP Paribas, froze 1.6 billion euros ($2.2 billion) worth of funds on Thursday, citing U.S. subprime mortgage sector problems. The news sent shivers through nervous financial markets. It came as Germany's Bundesbank met to discuss a rescue package for lender IKB, which has been hit by the subprime crisis too.

Nokia unveiled two new mobile phones this week, the 7500 and 7900 'Prism' branded handsets that feature a diamond-cut design, sharp angled lines, geometric patterns and graphic light-refracting colors.

Lenovo, the world's third-largest personal computer maker it will begin offering the Linux-based operating system on some of its notebook computers, joining other computer companies adopting open-source systems.

Sharp Corp. is suing its larger competitor, Samsung Electronics, alleging that the company's products infringe on its own liquid crystal display technologies.

Stocks rose for a third session on Wednesday, a day after the Federal Reserve reassured investors about the economy and technology bellwether Cisco Systems Inc. raised its revenue outlook.

Virgin America Inc., the low-cost airline partly backed and fully branded by British entrepreneur Richard Branson, launched on Wednesday with a splash of publicity -- but found its first flight delayed by a midsummer New York storm.

World oil markets are well supplied and there is no reason for OPEC to increase production despite a recent surge in prices, Venezuela's oil minister said on Wednesday.

The Federal Home Loan Banks of Chicago and Dallas announced on Wednesday that they have begun preliminary talks about a possible merger as both banks face challenges turning a profit.

President George W. Bush said on Wednesday that the U.S. economy was solid and well-positioned to deal with the stress from continuing financial market volatility.

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp on Wednesday said fourth-quarter profit rose 4.5 percent on higher advertising sales and affiliate revenue from the Fox News Channel and on more new subscribers at the Sky Italia satellite TV service.

The world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart, has inked a 50-50 joint venture with Bharti Enterprises for a wholesale cash-and-carry business in India that will roll out ten to fifteen such outlets over the next seven years.

Emerging economies will edge past the developed countries in terms of economic growth by 2050, the Ernst and Young European Attractiveness Survey 2007 has revealed.

India's largest private air carrier Jet Airways has begun operating flights to the United States as well as the continental Europe, promising its passengers a taste of 'premium class services.'

Flooding in New York's subway lines ground the morning commute to a halt on Wednesday, angering New Yorkers who are facing rail and utility fee hikes to support an aging infrastructure.