IBT Staff Reporter

Top music companies are suing the makers of the popular Internet file-sharing program Limewire for copyright infringement.

Alien Technology Corp., maker of radio frequency identification (RFID) circuits, said on Friday that it will not proceed with the anticipated initial public offering of common stock.

Central Banks around the world are tightening credit due to economic growth that could spin out of control. Skeptics say they could be going too far, while other say the banks aren't going far enough.

Faced with the possibility of losing India's leading CDMA mobile operator, wireless technology company Qualcomm could soften its negotiating stance and reduce royalty rates it charges even as it hints that fresh negotiations with other providers around the world are in the offing.

A consortium led by AMD launched their Personal Internet Computing (PIC) device on Friday in schools in Uganda in accordance with the group's 50X15 Initiative, which plans to bring Internet access to 50 percent of the world's population by 2015.

Toyota released its fiscal first quarter earnings report for 2006 on Thursday, announcing a rise in net profit due to increased demand for its fuel efficient vehicles in the U.S. market.

Arcelor and Mittal Steel Company named its first CEO, Roland Junck to lead the company.

A recent report by PricewaterhouseCoopers showed that investment in African mining exploration in 2005 had amounted to $5.1-billion which is equivalent to around 17 percent of all global exploration.

Nigeria's government must open up talks with community leaders and double the amount of oil revenues the country provides to its 46 states in order to end militant attacks in its delta region, according to a report.

Northwest Airlines applauded the U.S. Congress for its approval of pension reform legislation on Thursday, saying it would save the pension benefits of 73,000 current and former Northwest employees.

Japan has decided to protect Japanese beef as its intellectual property by patenting the Japanese cow genes and monitoring semen stock distribution with bar-codes. The agriculture ministry says that it found there is no international law to prohibit the stock from flowing out to foreign countries for hybridization and reverse import.

South Africa's largest money lender, Absa Group Ltd announced on Thursday that full-year earnings might be lower than 2005's performance, in spite of reported strong first half-year earnings.

Ford Motor Co., announced a recall of 1.2 million vehicles including trucks and Sport Utility Vans (SUV) which had the cruise control feature over concerns that they could catch fire.

Delays in expanding Richards Bay Coal Terminal to become the biggest coal exporter worldwide have put South Africa's economy at a loss, Kumba Resources CEO Dr. Con Fauconnier said on Wednesday.

The number of subscribers to Internet-Protocol based television (IPTV) is expected to soar by 2010, according to one market research firm.

Royal Philips Electronics announced today that it would sell its majority stake in its semi-conductor division to a private equity consortium.

Microsoft blogging and social networking service, Windows Live Spaces, was beset with technical problems immediately following its launch on Tuesday.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. released its 2006 second quarter earnings report blaming a drop in net profit on higher raw material cost, weakness in the North American tire market, and a restructuring charge.

Sun Microsystems issued a memo yesterday to employees, notifying them of nearly 2000 impending job cuts.

U.S. shipments of digital cameras grew 17 percent in the second quarter, fueled by gift-giving for graduating students and Father's Day, with Canon Inc. retaining its No. 1 rank in market share, according to an industry report.

SanDisk Corp. and Toshiba said on Friday that are partnering to build a new flash memory plant in Japan, helping them serve increasing demand and positioning them to compete against larger rivals.

Anglo American Plc, the world's third-largest miner, will hand back an extra $5 billion to investors after meeting forecasts with a 44 percent rise in first-half earnings on Friday, lifting its shares 5 percent.

Zimbabwe's central bank has announced that three zeroes will be removed from every bank note in an attempt to help consumers deal with hyperinflation of almost 1,200 percent.

Business activity in the U.S. services sector in July and new orders at U.S. factories in June were surprisingly weak, two reports showed on Thursday, signaling that economic growth was decelerating.

U.S. employers added a smaller-than-expected 113,000 new jobs in July and the unemployment rate jumped unexpectedly to 4.8 percent, Labor Department data showed on Friday.

Hiring slowed in July as employers added just 113,000 new jobs, propelling the unemployment rate to a five-month high of 4.8 percent and providing fresh evidence that companies are growing cautious amid high energy prices. Wages grew solidly.

Africa's booming telecommunications industry has left Zimbabwe trailing behind, as the declining economy has hindered the country's main operators' ability to expand their networks, said a leading industry official on Wednesday.

Africa's trade with China has grown considerably with exports rising by 72 percent in 2005. The figure surpassed exports to Europe which only amounted to 30 percent, said Standard Chartered Bank on Wednesday.

Nigerian Foreign Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has resigned only days after being replaced as head of the country's economic reform team, the government reported on Thursday.