EGYPT

A synagogue was set on fire in Tunisia overnight and gangs rampaged through schools in the capital on Tuesday, prompting the army to fan out to calm fears of chaos after the revolt that toppled Zine al-Abdine Ben Ali.

At least one million people rallied across Egypt on Tuesday clamouring for President Hosni Mubarak to give up power, piling pressure on a leader who has towered over Middle East politics for 30 years to make way for a new era of democracy in the Arab nation.

U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday as investors shifted focus to strong earnings and manufacturing data and less on the turmoil in the Middle East.

U.S. Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has urged Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to step down and promise that neither he nor his son will run in the presidential election scheduled for later this year. Kerry is the highest-level US politician to call for Mubarak’s removal.

Stocks rose on Tuesday as solid manufacturing data in the United States and Europe helped investors turn their attention away from the turmoil in the Middle East to hopes that a global economic recovery was on track.

As hundreds of thousands of anti-government protesters converge in central Cairo on the eighth day of unrest in Egypt, the U.S. government has instructed all of its non-emergency staff and their families to evacuate the country.

Stocks were poised for a higher open on Tuesday as solid manufacturing data in Europe helped investors refocus attentions from the maelstrom in the Middle East to hopes that a global economic recovery was on track.

The world economy is beset by problems such as high unemployment and rising prices which could fuel trade protectionism and even lead to war within nations, the head of the International Monetary Fund warned on Tuesday.

Indians in the troubled city of Cairo had to pay twice the normal fare for a one-way ticket to Mumbai on India's government-owned Air India flight, despite the fact that life came to a halt in the Egyptian capital with banks and ATMs being shut, said a media report on Tuesday.

BP reignited doubts about its ability to return to growth on Tuesday as below-forecast profit, disappointing production guidance and new oil spill charges overshadowed the oil major's return to dividend payouts.

The Gold Price ticked higher for Dollar investors Tuesday morning in London, but slipped against other currencies as world stock markets rose and government bonds edged back.

Google Inc launched a special service to allow people in Egypt to send Twitter messages by dialing a phone number and leaving a voicemail, as Internet access remains cut off in the country amid anti-government protests.

U.S. stock index futures advanced on Tuesday as investors turned their attention from the geopolitical tremors in the Middle East to data they hope will provide insight into the state of the U.S. economic recovery.

Art lovers around the world can now take virtual tours of 385 art galleries in 17 acclaimed museums of the world thanks to Google's Art Project

The king of Jordan has dissolved his government and appointed a new prime minister, in the wake of protests demanding political reform and economic improvements.

Israel is angry at U.S. President Barack Obama for not supporting Egypt's falling dictator Mubarak and legitimating the people's outcry for democracy and freedom instead. This is seen as a threat to Israel's geopolitical interests in the Middle East.

Protesters assembled in Cairo's Tahir square are considering a march to the presidential palace, Al Jazeera reported from Cairo.

Gold rose in Europe on Tuesday as the dollar index hit a 12-week low and geopolitical tensions centered on Egypt added risk premium to prices, with Asian demand for coins and bars after January's price drop adding support.

Miner Centamin Egypt said its operations were unaffected by the political unrest as momentum continues to build in Egypt, while it forecasts higher production in 2011. Egypt-focused stocks have come under the spotlight as protestors demand an end to the 30-year-rule of President Hosni Mubarak.

Israel has launched a diplomatic offensive as speculation intensified that the U.S. and European allies were ditching Egypt's beleaguered president Hosni Mubarak. Israel fears its decades-old peace with Egypt will crumble if Mubarak is replaced by a populist regime which by all means will be inimical to the Jewish state.

The BSE Sensex fell 1.7 percent on Tuesday to its lowest close since August, extending January's worst monthly slide in more than two years, as inflation worries and hardening interest rates continued to spook investors.