IBT Staff Reporter

The new supermarket was slated as the shape of retail to come in globalizing India. Now shutters covered its windows, staff meandered outside and customers picked final bargains before its closure.

U.S. private equity firm TPG is still interested in bidding for loss-making airline Alitalia and is waiting to see what conditions management would put on the sale, a source close to TPG said on Friday.

New orders for long-lasting U.S.-made manufactured goods surged a much bigger-than-expected 5.9 percent in July, the biggest gain since September, and a business investment gauge posted the first gain in three months, a Commerce Department report showed on Friday.

Three Asian banks' heavy exposure to the limping U.S. home loan sector reinforced global credit wobbles on Friday but Germany, France and Italy saw no signs of new problems.

After three months of feeling lethargic with bouts of blurred vision, 65-year-old Jim Einsweiler walked into a clinic in his local Walgreens pharmacy, mostly, he said, to appease his wife.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will push for tougher global action against climate change on a tour of China and Japan next week which will also have business interests high on the agenda, officials said on Thursday.

Climate change and biofuels pose fresh challenges in the fight against poverty, which requires more than ever cooperation among scientists, the new head of an international body for agricultural research said.

Smog is menacing Japanese cities for the first time in 30 years and cropping up in rural areas for the first time ever, alarming the government and prompting experts to point the finger at neighboring China.

The United States will press China to do more to ensure the safety of its exports at a regional summit meeting next month in Sydney, U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said on Wednesday.

South Korea said on Friday it would end its effective ban on U.S. beef imports, once worth about $850 million annually, which should ease tensions in a trade dispute.

Brazil wants to see an open race to head the International Monetary Fund, Finance Minister Guido Mantega was quoted on Friday by Russia's RIA-Novosti news agency as saying.

Russia has signed a deal to sell 98 Ilyushin civilian aircraft to Venezuela, Russian newspapers reported on Friday.

European shares fell by midday on Friday, breaking a tentative five-day recovery and tracking weakness in Asia as credit worries returned to the forefront to take financial stocks lower.

Oil drifted below $70 a barrel on Friday after Mexico's Gulf oil rigs suffered only minor damage from Hurricane Dean and in response to fears of a U.S. economic slowdown.

The presidential election is 14 months away and with as many as 17 candidates now running, U.S. television and radio broadcasters are elated at the prospect of billions more in advertising dollars.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co said on Friday that Nokia's replacement of mobile phone batteries made by the Japanese electronics maker is likely to cost it 10-20 billion yen ($86-$172 million).

Gap Inc on Thursday posted a 19 percent rise in quarterly earnings despite sluggish sales at stores open more than a year, helped by cost-cutting, and announced plans for a $1.5 billion share buyback program.

Shares in Bank of China and its subsidiary BOC Hong Kong slid on Friday amid worries that higher-than-expected exposure to sub-prime mortgages would eat into their earnings.

Officials launch a campaign to fix problem products that have damaged confidence in the 'made in China' label.

H.J. Heinz Co posted a higher quarterly profit on Friday and said it expects full-year profits to be near the top of its forecast range, helped by new products, the weak dollar and stepped-up marketing.

U.S. stocks were poised to open little changed on Friday as investors nervously awaited fresh data, including new home sales for July, for clues on the health of the economy. On Thursday, the head of the biggest U.S. mortgage company, Countrywide, said the persistent U.S. housing market downturn could lead to a recession.

European power companies are making billions of euros in excess profits in the fight against global warming as consumers pay for it, economists say.

Home Depot is close to accepting about $1.2 billion less for the sale of its wholesale distribution business to three private equity firms, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

Asian stocks fell on Friday on concern that problems in the U.S. housing and credit markets could push the world's biggest economy into recession, while the yen steadied against the dollar and euro.

Limelight Networks Inc said on Thursday it had expanded an online media distribution deal with Microsoft Corp, sending the shares of the digital content delivery company up as much as 20 percent.

European Union veterinary experts agreed on Thursday to let all of Britain, except part of the county of Surrey, resume exports of live animals, meat and dairy products to other EU countries, the EU executive said.

India's biggest communist party said on Thursday it did not want to pull the government down over a nuclear deal with the United States, but added that this depended on the pact not being pursued.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc said on Thursday it was taking more steps to make sure its toys are safe after Mattel Inc's recall this month of millions of Chinese-made toys.

A worsening credit crunch and its broad impact on financial markets has some dealmakers predicting that leveraged buyouts are on hold for the rest of the year and perhaps well into 2008.