IBT Staff Reporter

UK-based oil explorer Heritage Oil agreed to merge with Genel Energy International, a unit of Turkey's Cukurova Group CUKRO.UL, to create an oil producer focused on Iraqi Kurdistan worth around $5.5 billion.

Saudi mobile telephone firm Etihad Etisalat 7020.SE said on Tuesday it had awarded Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) a $100 million deal to expand the WiMax network of its subsidiary Bayanat al-Oula.

Technology shares led Nasdaq higher on Tuesday after Texas Instruments raised its outlook, but other indexes were lower after plans by big banks to repay government bailout funds failed to stir investors.

British drug delivery expert SkyePharma said on Tuesday it was likely U.S. authorities would need more data on its flagship product, Flutiform, thereby delaying its approval.

Porsche SE is in exclusive talks to sell a stake to the Gulf state of Qatar, in a deal that could cut the German automotive holding's debt and strengthen its position for a merger with Volkswagen.

In 1943, at the height of World War Two, Britain had little left in the bank but still spent 50 percent of gross domestic product on defense. To win the war, there was little other choice.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Monday that cloudiness, showers and thunderstorms over the southwestern Caribbean Sea were associated with a surface trough, but there was less than a 30 percent chance the system would develop into a tropical cyclone over the next 48 hours.

Sitting on a mat at home between taking orders for arms on his two mobile phones, Osman Bare gives thanks for the riches flowing from Somalia's war.

Oil snapped a two-day slide on Tuesday, climbing above $69 as the U.S. dollar retreated.

Global revenue in the chip foundry market is expected to post a sequential rise in the second quarter after three quarters of declines, but 2009 will remain challenging for foundries, market search firm iSuppli said.

The Pakistani army came to the help of a pro-government militia fighting Taliban in a northwestern district on Tuesday as the United States said Pakistan was gaining in its offensive against the militants.

India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reached out to Pakistan on Tuesday after months of tension following the Mumbai attacks, saying India would meet its neighbor more than half way if it cracked down on militants.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso declared his candidacy for a second five-year term on Tuesday after electoral gains for his center-right allies strengthened his bid.

Saudi Arabia, which has led Arab attempts to hold back Iranian influence in the Middle East, has reacted triumphantly to the victory of its pro-U.S. allies in Lebanon's elections this week.

U.S. envoy George Mitchell said on Tuesday that Washington was seeking swift renewal of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and promised Israel its alliance with the United States would remain strong despite differences.

The Dow industrials turned negative on Tuesday while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq pared gains on concerns that banks' repayment of government bailout money may hurt the economic recovery.

Congressional Republicans are close to offering financial regulation reforms that would rein in the Federal Reserve and expand the bankruptcy code, according to a draft staff document obtained by Reuters.

German retail group Arcandor AG threw in the towel on Tuesday, filing for insolvency after the Berlin government rejected its request for emergency state aid.

Relatives of two U.S. journalists sentenced to 12 years hard labor in North Korea called on the reclusive state to show compassion, while Pyongyang threatened to use nuclear weapons to defend itself.

A court in army-ruled Myanmar has upheld a ban on two defense witnesses in the widely-condemned trial of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, one of her lawyers said on Tuesday.

Air France has said all its flights using long-haul Airbus jets will be equipped immediately with new speed sensors after last week's disaster over the Atlantic, a pilots' union said on Tuesday.

U.S. consumer confidence rose in June, mirroring the strong gains the stock market has made since early March, a survey released on Tuesday said.

Stocks were set to open higher on Tuesday after Texas Instruments raised its quarterly outlook, underpinning other technology stocks, while rising oil prices boosted energy shares.

Breastfeeding may protect women with multiple sclerosis against relapses of their disease, possibly by delaying a return to normal monthly cycles, U.S. researchers reported on Monday.

Environmental activists called on Monday for deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions and for developed nations to pay $160 billion a year to help the poor as part of a radical new U.N. climate treaty.

Cargill said Monday it had sold greenhouse gas emission offsets related to its beef-processing plant in the Canadian province of Alberta, marking the first time the grain company has sold the environmental credits.

New York could create as many as 50,000 jobs by converting 45 percent of its electricity needs to renewable energy sources by 2015, Governor David Paterson said on Monday as he unveiled plans to reduce the state's reliance on Wall Street.

The European Commission will allow a range of advanced renewable energy technologies to compete for funding that had originally been proposed for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) pilot plants, a new document shows.

China must press ahead with new ways to cut greenhouse gas emissions for the world to have hope of containing global warming, a U.S. energy official said, urging cooperation to end distrust between the two biggest emitters.