IBT Staff Reporter

EU antitrust chief Neelie Kroes on Tuesday rejected an accusation she was pursuing a vendetta against U.S. software giant Microsoft Corp.

Independent News & Media PLC, which publishes 175 newspapers and magazines worldwide, reported a 30 percent drop in first half profit Tuesday

Nordic and Baltic stock exchange operator OMX AB said Tuesday it will buy the Icelandic bourse in a deal worth about 250 million kronor.

The yen rallied sharply from two-week lows against the euro on Tuesday after a European official said markets may need time to digest policymakers' message that a stronger yen versus the euro is desirable.

The strength of house price inflation has surprised the Bank of England, according to Monetary Policy Committee member Kate Barker.

Russia's Gazprom said on Tuesday it had suspended assets swap talks with Royal Dutch/Shell because of uncertainty over Shell's Sakhalin 2 oil and gas project

The Department for Transport (DfT) announced shortlists for three new rail franchises on Tuesday, part of a rejigging of the train network that could see fewer companies involved in operating services.

A new era began on Monday for the UK's most successful investment fund, as trading resumed in Fidelity Special Situations after the fund was split in two.

There is little respite for hard pressed with profits policyholders, with Royal London announcing a cut to bonus rates.

Royal Mail on Tuesday launched a new service allowing customers to buy and print their postage online, marking the latest innovation to a stamp based postal service which harks back to 1840 and the Penny Black.

The ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment for Germany dropped by 16.6 points in September, it was announced today.

Harry Potter publisher Bloomsbury Publishing said on Tuesday current trading was meeting expectations, as it met forecasts with a 3.4 percent rise in first half profit.

The FTSE 100 index was flat on Tuesday as markets awaited Wednesday's Federal Reserve's decision on interest rates, and with British Energy a standout loser on fears over repairs to two of its nuclear generators.

Toshiba Corp. said on Tuesday it would replace about 340,000 laptop computer batteries worldwide, the third recall of faulty batteries made by Sony Corp. in less than 40 days.

Construction firm John Laing Plc said on Tuesday it had agreed to a takeover bid from fund manager Henderson Equity Partners valuing Laing around 886.9 million pounds.

The Kenyan government has said that two Indian telecommunications firms had shown interest in bidding for the second national telecom operator (SNO) licence.

Technological changes and personal privacy have been at odds ever since modern notions of privacy emerged more than a century ago. Numerous mechanical devices threaten to make good the prediction that 'what is whispered in the closet shall be proclaimed from the housetops', wrote two Boston lawyers in 1890 in a seminal paper that articulated the modern right to be left alone that is the basis of U.S. privacy law.

Africa must develop its rural towns and give local authorities more power in order to ease a strain on cities which are creaking under heavy growth, officials and international planners said on Monday.

World economic growth may be cresting after the strongest showing in three decades, making it imperative that countries revive global, market-opening talks to tap the benefit of expanded trade, the head of the IMF said on Tuesday.

Zimbabwe's citizens struggled to pay sharply higher prices for basic foodstuffs on Monday after official data showed inflation hit a new record in August. Prices surged further over the weekend after news on Friday that Zimbabwe's annual inflation, the highest in the world, rose to 1,204.6 percent last month.

Increased Chinese involvement in Africa should be welcomed, former Mozambique President Joaquim Chissano said on Monday, dismissing accusations that Chinese policies can encourage human rights abuses.

U.S. coal firm Peabody Energy Corp. raised its bid for Australia's Excel Coal Ltd. by nearly 12 percent to A$2 billion ($1.5 billion), but speculation about a rival offer pushed Excel shares above Peabody's new offer price.

Namibia's main mobile phone operator, Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTC), 34-percent owned by Portugal Telecom, plans to launch third generation services and Siemens will build the network.

Global economic integration could come apart if rich countries continue to hoard its benefits from the developing world, economist and Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz said in an interview.

While the prospect is considered all but impossible, a surprise interest rate increase from the Federal Reserve this week would likely trigger a calamitous sell-off in the short end of the Treasury bond market.

U.S. and Chinese standards groups are collaborating to launch a standards Web site designed to boost trade between the two countries.

Sony and digital music database provider Gracenote said on Monday customers should update software to prevent hackers from breaking into their personal computers.

EMC, the information management and storage company, announced the completion of another acquisition on Monday, adding Massachusetts-based Network Intelligence to its fold.

Today Burren Energy the independent oil and gas exploration and production company, announced in a statement its interim results for the six months ended June 2006.