IBT Staff Reporter

Spain's Alberto Contador won this year's Tour de France on Sunday, his second win in cycling's premier event by more than four minutes, ahead of Luxembourg's Andy Schleck and beating out seven-time winner Lance Armstrong of the U.S. who was making a comeback three and a half years after retiring.

The average price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States fell again over the last two weeks, but prices seem to be bottoming out, an industry analyst said.

A brash Kuwaiti financier facing a fraud suit by U.S. authorities was found dead Sunday in an apparent suicide that sent shockwaves through the Gulf Arab financial sector.

MasterCard shares might be a better bargain than Visa Inc , according to a report in Barron's.

Citigroup Inc shares could more than double by 2012, financial weekly Barron's said in its July 27 edition, citing the company's global footprint and earnings power.

The nice thing about a deep recession is that it doesn't take much of a rebound to make the official data look healthy even if the economy is not.

Wall Street may take a breather this week after an earnings-driven rally lifted the major U.S. stock indexes to their highest levels in months.

Wall Street may take a breather this week after an earnings-driven rally lifted the major U.S. stock indexes to their highest levels in months.

RHJ International, a bidder for carmaker Opel, is not ruling out selling Opel back to U.S. parent General Motors after returning it to health, RHJ's chief executive told a German newspaper on Sunday.

Sweden's Ericsson has won an auction for the wireless assets of bankrupt Nortel Networks Corp, paying $1.13 billion for the crown jewels of the one-time Canadian telecom star.

U.S. authorities are targeting client visits by Swiss-based bankers from UBS in their efforts to identify U.S. citizens with accounts at the bank who may have evaded tax, a Swiss newspaper said on Sunday.

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NASA has interrupted its setup of the newly refurbished Hubble Space Telescope to capture the sharpest visible light images yet of a 'scar' discovered last week on the planet caused by the impact of a comet or an asteroid.

Curiosity has triggered horror film lovers - who can't wait to see it - to seek online for the twist at the end of the creepy thriller Orphan which is in theaters this weekend.

Kuwait's Al-Raya Investment Co said on Saturday it has committed no violations after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued its CEO financier Hazem Khalid Al-Braikan over suspicious stock trades.

The 21st and last stage of the 2009 Tour de France is a 102 mile race from Montereau-Fault-Yonne to the Champs-Elysees to end the three week competition that kicked off in Monaco.

Phone maker Ericsson AB has won the auction for part of bankrupt Nortel Networks Corp's wireless unit with a bid of $1.13 billion in cash, the companies said today.

Kuwait's Al Raya Investment said on Saturday it has committed no violations after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued its CEO financier Hazem Khalid Al-Braikan over suspicious stock trades.

High speed trading for stocks is under pressure from a senior Senator who has called on the top U.S. securities regulator to ban a certain type of orders which he says gives and advantage to some traders over others.

American cyclist Lance Armstrong who made his comeback after retiring from the sport for three and a half years held third place overall after the 20th stage of the Tour de France which will crown its winner tomorrow.

Global health officials stepped up efforts to prepare for quick vaccination against the H1N1 pandemic virus, saying on Friday it appeared now to be affecting older age groups spared earlier in the pandemic.

Mitsubishi Motors Corp is expected to report a group operating loss of around 20 billion yen for the April-June quarter, marking a second straight quarterly loss, the Nikkei business daily said.

Rich countries should immediately mobilize billions of dollars in development aid to the poorest nations to win their trust in the run-up to global climate talks in Copenhagen, a draft EU report says.

Porsche's owner families have agreed with a key Volkswagen shareholder that controversial clauses of a law protecting Volkswagen from hostile takeovers would be absorbed into the by-laws of Europe's biggest carmaker itself, a German magazine said on Saturday.

Since Michael Jackson's sudden death on June 25, the rumor mill over details of his bizarre personal life has ground away nearly non-stop, and on Friday, one company said it was turning his hair into diamonds. That one is true.

Sarah Palin, the former Republican U.S. vice presidential candidate, will step down as Alaska's governor on Sunday with her political future clouded by ethics probes, legal bills and dwindling popularity.

A car bomb in the western Iraqi city of Falluja killed five people and wounded 21 others on Saturday, an Interior Ministry source said.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's lawyer denied the premier hid archaeological ruins at his Sardinian villa and said tapes purporting to show him boasting to a call girl were fake, newspapers said on Saturday.

Thirteen of 16 people killed in a plane accident in northeastern Iran on Friday were crew and the three others were passengers, Iran's state television reported on Saturday.