IBT Staff Reporter

Nairobi's Africities summit is the fourth for local governments in the continent. The first, in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivore in 1998, saw the emergence of the African municipal movement on the regional and international scene.

As the International Monetary Fund embarks on a second round of reforms to give developing countries more say in the institution, the World Bank signalled on Wednesday that it was ready to go the same route.

Woolworths Group on Wednesday posted a wider adjusted first half loss as its same store sales slid, but said it expects a better second half.

Shortfall in Nigeria's crude oil output is currently put at about 872,000 barrels per day, owing largely to an increase in the cycle of violence - hostage taking, arson leading to damage of oil production facilities in the Niger Delta, is expected to last for the next six months.

Defense giant Boeing Co. has won a $2.1 billion contract to help the Department of Homeland Security beef up security along more than 7,500 miles of U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada, The Washington Post reported.

Tanga Cement Company, says its future expansion will be expensive because of the extended power rationing and growing competition from imports from Uganda and Kenya.

Africa'S deepening engagement with Asia's two economic giants-China and India-holds enormous potential for economic growth in Africa, according to a new report by the World Bank, released September 9.

Air Mauritius is tightening its belt. As its annual report revealed it last week, the profits of the local airline have decreased by half. Even worse: there is not much hope that this situation will improve in the near future.

Massmart Holdings Ltd, the third largest distributor of consumer goods in Africa and the leading retailer of general merchandise, liquor and home improvement equipment will invest more than $91 million in Tanzania in the next 10 years.

An agreement to boost the voting power of emerging nations in the International Monetary Fund is just the start of a difficult process, the IMF's head said on Wednesday, as the World Bank signaled it was ready to go the same route.

Honda's Chinese unit, Guangzhou Honda Automobile Co., and Guangzhou Automobile Group Co. of China began operation of their new factory on Tuesday.

The head of the India's state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) said on Tuesday that the company was in talks with parties in Egypt, Qatar and Australia to import at least five million tons of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) annually.

The Dubai Stock index slipped further on Tuesday, falling to its lowest level this month, as Gulf investors booked profits and positioned themselves for the third quarter results season.

Clothing label, Juicy Couture said on Monday it is expanding by distributing its products to Asian countries as part of a partnership with Lane Crawford Joyce Group, an Asian international brand group.

The Chicago Board of Trade, a large derivative exchanges board announced on Monday a deal with Reuters Group plc to provide access to CBOT markets via Reuters.

AT&T, the largest telecom company in the US, signed a multi-year teleconferencing service contract on Tuesday with Metavante, a banking and financial.

First Reserve Corporation, a private - equity firm specializing in the energy industry obtained on Tuesday a 50 percent interest in Blue Source LLC, a greenhouse gas (ghg) emission reducing firm.

Former US trade representatives have urged the Department of Transportation to accept United Airlines' proposal to connect Washington D.C. and Beijing through direct commercial flights for the first time.

Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson entered into the online music store market on Tuesday by introducing M-BUZZ, a service aimed at promoting new and up-and-coming artists.

Warner Brothers music is attempting to create a disc capable of storing standard compact-disc formats, as well as emerging DVD formats, according to a patent researchers filed.

A patent application has been filed for a disc that would play two competing high-definition DVD formats which, if successful, could help appease a battle that has divided Hollywood and confounded consumers.

Hewlett-Packard Co. on Tuesday said it received a 10-year contract from the U.S. Army to provide personal computers and other computer peripherals.

A new computer virus is spreading through AOL's Instant Messenger system (AIM), spreading malicious code more sophisticated than anything seen before, security researchers said.

The Thai baht staged its largest one-day fall in three years on Tuesday after Thai armed forces said they had taken control of Bangkok, which led to a broad-based decline in a number of Asian currencies.

Yahoo Inc. said on Tuesday that it has teamed up with musician Jesse McCartney to release the artists new album online in two major digital music formats.

Rexam, the leading beverage can maker today announced Leslie Van de Walle as Chief Executive. Van de Walle will succeed Lars Emilson.

The Game Developers Conference will take the reigns as the largest trade exhibition for the gaming community, following the recently announced scale-backs of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3)in August.

A group of nine of the world's biggest investment banks said on Tuesday they planned to set up a new system for reporting share trades, bypassing the major European stock exchanges and ahead of new European securities regulations due to come into force later this year.

Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson said on Tuesday that it would launch a new service on its phones that would allow full music downloading, initially focusing on new and up-and-coming artists.