IBT Staff Reporter

Vatican talks with a controversial Catholic splinter group are nearing an end without any accord on reintegrating the ultra-traditionalists, including a bishop whose denial of the Holocaust has embarrassed Pope Benedict.

U.S. drone strikes killed at least 11 people on Monday in tribal regions along Pakistan's western border, local officials said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday acknowledged a bitter defeat in a state election in Hamburg, which could reverberate in six more votes this year and in her response to the euro zone crisis.

A suicide bomber killed at least 30 people in a government office in northern Afghanistan on Monday, officials said, with violence spiralling across the country even before an expected spring offensive.

Pakistan said on Monday it was taking steps to keep a U.S. consulate worker, imprisoned in a local jail for shooting two Pakistanis, safe from harm in a case that has unleashed a diplomatic storm.

South African papermaker Mondi posted a fourfold surge in annual profit, helped by recovering demand for paper and packaging, and said it would hike prices to cushion the impact of rising costs.

Truworths, South Africa's biggest listed clothing retailer, posted a 19 percent rise in first-half profit as lower interest rates boost consumer spending and said it was considering M&A or buying back shares.

Nigerian Central Bank Governor Lamido Sanusi said on Monday he did not believe that the naira was over-valued and criticised advice from the IMF, which last week recommended greater exchange rate flexibility.

Australia's Paladin Energy Ltd said on Monday it had resumed production at its uranium mine in Malawi after a four-day shut-down caused by a fuel shortage.

South Africa's rand was little changed from last week's closing levels against the dollar on Monday, with central bank intervention helping stem gains in the currency despite support from stronger commodity prices.

Petroleum distributor Shell Mauritius Ltd said on Monday that parent Royal Dutch Shell planned to sell three quarters of its stake in the company to two joint venture partners.

Dell is bringing cloud-based services to the health care sector.

Stratex International Plc plans to start drilling for gold and silver in the second quarter of this year in northern Ethiopia, the London-listed gold exploration firm said on Monday.

Sudan has appointed private sector businessmen to help manage its state oil firm Sudapet, which owns stakes in all of Sudan's oil blocks, to improve the company's efficiency and widen its scope, the oil minister said.

South African truckers ended their week-long strike on Monday after accepting an above inflation salary increase of 9 percent, union officials and employers said.

Egypt's public prosecutor on Monday moved to freeze the foreign assets of Hosni Mubarak, the first sign that the deposed president would be held to account by the rulers to whom he handed power 10 days ago.

Zimbabwe has arrested dozens of activists on charges of plotting protests against long-serving President Robert Mugabe similar to those that toppled the leaders of Egypt and Tunisia, police said on Monday.

Libyan warplanes were bombing indiscriminately across Tripoli on Monday, a resident of the Libyan capital told al Jazeera television in a live broadcast.

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's four-decade-old rule appeared in increasing jeopardy on Monday when days of anti-government protests reached the capital for the first time and security forces killed dozens of people.

U.S. officials have revealed that an American detained in Pakistan after killing two men worked for the U.S. spy agency as a contractor, and not as a diplomat as previously said, according to reports.

The British Daily Mail is reporting that Britney Spears is facing a multi-million dollar lawsuit accused of ripping-off song lyrics for her new single, Hold It Against Me.

A combination satellite and ground-based system could interfere with GPS signals, causing problems for the military and airlines.

Leonardo DiCaprio is taking on the role of Jay Gatsby, a mysterious millionaire in the book by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Next Monday is just a week away, but the next big step in the battle over the 2011 budget has been taking shape ahead of the Senate's reconvenes on February 28.

Kobe Bryant is taking Los Angeles by storm. The L.A. Lakers star was the first athlete to receive is own hand and footprint ceremony at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood.

The Silver Price rose $1.49 per ounce from Friday's London Fix – a gain of 4.7% to new 31-year highs, and silver's fifth largest one-day move of the last 30 years in Dollars and cents. The market is starting to look towards the record high of $1430 for gold against the backdrop of silver making fresh highs.

A purported threat from the hacker group Anonymous against the Westboro Baptist Church has them trading barbs and threats.

Silver touched its highest USD price in 31 years and palladium a 10-year peak. Gold prices rose above $1,400 an ounce on Monday for the first time in nearly seven weeks as violence flared in north Africa and the Middle East, boosting interest in the precious metal as a haven from risk.

The Smithsonian American Art Museum will feature the evolution of video games as an art form.