IBT Staff Reporter

Australasian Resources Ltd (Australasian) has terminated its project agreement with China's 4th largest steelmaker, Shougang Corporation (Shougang), Australasian said on Thursday, adding that it has begun talks with other interested parties.

Former CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite, whose authoritative delivery of news events from the John F. Kennedy assassination to the Apollo moon landing and Vietnam War, made him the most trusted man in America, died on Friday at age 92.

A 23-foot long 'Weinermobile' in the shape of an Oscar Mayer hot dog crashed into a Wisconsin home on Friday creating a sound which one 11-year old witness described as a gunshot, although no injuries were reported, according to a report.

CIT Group, the U.S. lender caught in a liquidity crunch which may lead to a bankruptcy filing as soon as Monday, had planned for government assistance as a first and second resort, a senior Obama administration official said, according the Wall Street Journal.

American cyclist Lance Armstrong lost the third overall position in the Tour de France on Saturday during stage 14 of the race as George Hincapie also from the U.S. entered among the first three.

Porsche SE's controlling families will agree on Thursday to accept an offer by Volkswagen to buy its sports car business Porsche AG for roughly 8 billion euros ($11.28 billion), Der Spiegel reported on Saturday.

A group of 52 British school children and their teachers have been quarantined in Beijing after four pupils were admitted to hospital infected with the H1N1 flu virus, Britain's Foreign Office said Saturday.

Three Republican senators said Friday they will back President Barack Obama's choice of Sonia Sotomayor to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, setting the stage for a likely easy confirmation.

Paul McCartney performed at Citi Field in New York City Friday night pleasing his fans with songs from his days with the Beatles, his next band Wings, and solo albums.

Somali pirates fired in the air in jubilation after receiving a $1.8 million (1.1 million pounds) ransom in exchange for the release of a German-owned vessel and its 11-member crew, pirate sources and officials said on Saturday.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met survivors of the Mumbai attacks, talked climate change with Indian industrialists and was serenaded by village women as she visited India's financial capital on Saturday.

Henry Allingham, the world's oldest man and one of the last survivors of World War One, has died at the age of 113, his care home said on Saturday.

Iranian hardliners hit back at former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani on Saturday for criticizing the conduct of last month's election and its aftermath, highlighting deepening establishment divisions.

The oldest man in the world, Henry Allingham, died at the age 113 during his sleep at St. Duntstan's care home in Ovingdean, England, his care home said Saturday, according to CNN.

Chinese police shot dead 12 Uighur rioters in Xinjiang this month, regional governor Nuer Baikeli said on Saturday, in a rare government admission of deaths inflicted by security forces.

CIT Group Inc is in talks with a group of bondholders for $2 billion to $3 billion in rescue financing as it tries hard to avoid bankruptcy, a source close to the company said late on Friday.

Former CBS anchorman, Walter Cronkite died Friday night in his Manhattan home following a long illness.

Porsche SE's controlling families will agree on Thursday to accept an offer by Volkswagen to buy its sports car business Porsche AG for roughly 8 billion euros ($11.28 billion), Der Spiegel reported on Saturday.

A U.S. securities industry lobbying group said on Friday it supports a proposal by the Obama administration to hold brokers to a higher standard for protecting clients' interests when giving investment advice.

Big defense contractors could be poised to shed jobs as the Pentagon cuts traditional weapons spending, while smaller, niche companies may ramp up their hiring as the United States expands resources to protect ground troops and computer networks.

The United States is ready to hold talks with North Korea if the conditions are right but will also press U.N. sanctions to punish Pyongyang for its nuclear and missile tests, a senior envoy for Asia said on Saturday.

President Barack Obama appealed to Americans on Saturday to back his ambitious revamp of the U.S. health care system, seeking to regain momentum amid growing worries among lawmakers over how to pay for it.

Emirates Telecommunications Corp ETEL.AD (Etisalat) made a second-quarter net profit of 2.41 billion dirhams ($656.1 million), according to Reuters calculations, down 19 percent from the year-earlier period.

Tata Consultancy Services, India's top software services firm by sales, on Saturday said it was aiming to grow its back office services revenue to $3 billion in five years.

Several large investment firms are creating new lending companies that plan to go public to raise billions of dollars to take advantage of the distress in the commercial real estate market, and more are on the horizon.

Globe Specialty Metals Inc, a New York-based producer of silicon metal and silicon-based alloys, will price its estimated $112 million initial public offering on July 29, and begin trading on Nasdaq the following day, one of the IPO's underwriters said on Friday.

Insurer UnitedHealth Group Inc is in talks to buy the U.S. Northeast operations of rival Health Net Inc, sources familiar with the situation said on Friday.

Golden Gate Capital won an auction for Eddie Bauer Holdings Inc with a $286 million cash bid and agreed to keep open most of its 370 stores, the bankrupt outdoor apparel retailer said on Friday.

Brazilian mining company Vale, the world's top iron ore miner, said on Friday it is not seeking to buy fertilizer assets following rumors it was planning a bid for U.S.-based fertilizer company Mosaic.