IBT Staff Reporter

A biofuel company will invest $1 billion to develop the biofuel sector in Africa, it was announced Tuesday.

Honda will begin to produce small business jets for the U.S. market in partnership with Piper Aircraft, the company announced Tuesday.

Britain's FTSE 100 share index closed higher on Tuesday as a surge in the cost of base metals boosted miners such as Xstrata, while steelmaker Corus rose on bid talk and reassuring results from a rival.

The collapse of yesterday's WTO trade talks in Geneva has resulted in mixed feelings for Africa as it faces an uncertain future of high tariffs, officials said on Tuesday.

A judge this week will decide if a $90 million 'click fraud' settlement proposed by Google is a just compensation for plaintiffs in a class action suit.

Nissan, the world's fourth largest carmaker, released its first quarter earnings for 2006 on Monday, announcing a slight increase in net profit despite a reduction in operating margin.

AT&T Inc., the largest U.S. telephone-service provider, released its second quarter earnings report for 2006 on Tuesday, highlighting stronger revenue growth due to increased contributions from Cingular wireless and its wire line operations.

Microsoft Corp. officials made official last Friday that the software giant is readying a portable music device, quelling rampant speculation. Though the new device, dubbed Zune, benefits from the technical expertise and financial backing of the software-giant, it needs more than technical success to hurdle competition.

AT&T Inc. on Tuesday posted higher quarterly profit, bolstered by strong growth in wireless and high-speed Internet services.

McDonald's Corp. on Tuesday said quarterly profit rose, helped by a popular Happy Meal promotion and strong European sales during the World Cup soccer tournament.

The Nikkei average rose 1.42 percent on Tuesday to end above 15,000 for the first time in more than a week as Tokyo Electron Ltd. and Toshiba Corp. climbed after strong quarterly results from U.S. chip firms boosted expectations of higher earnings at home.

Yahoo Inc., said on Monday named a top academic database expert to head its research team studying links between computer and human-aided Web search.

Intel Corp., which has been losing market share in computer processors to Advanced Micro Devices Inc., now looks better placed to weather a brutal price war that seems set to worsen.

Motorola Inc. on Monday unveiled several new handsets, including the Krzr and the Rizr, which are narrower than its flagship Razr.

UK stocks closed at their highest level in nearly two weeks on Monday as numbers from Vodafone boosted investor confidence at the start of a busy earnings week and concerns over the conflict in Lebanon eased slightly.

South Africa's MTN Group now owns 97.34 percent of MTN Uganda following a $55 million cash purchase on Monday.

Online mail-order DVD rental leader Netflix, announced it nearly tripled its profits for the second quarter. However investors were unconvinced, as the company's stock price spiked steeply lower in after hours trading.

Global trade talks have been suspended indefinitely after five and a half years of discussions failed to produce results.

Reaction to news of AMD's acquisition of ATI Technologies on Monday included a thumbs down from Fitch Credit Ratings as the agency revised the company's outlook from positive to negative.

American Express, the travel services and credit card company, reported second quarter earnings that surpassed Wall Street expectations citing strong credit card spending.

On Monday, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) said it will pay $5.4 billion to acquire Canadian graphics chip maker, ATI Technologies Inc., putting further pressure on rival graphics firm NVIDIA Corp.

On Monday, the California power grid operator, Independent System Operator (ISO), declared a stage 1 emergency, urging all consumers to reduce their electricity usage voluntary, following a heatwave which has swept over the state over the past few days.

China Resources Snow Breweries Ltd. (CR Snow) in a joint venture with SABMiller, one of the world's leading brewers, will acquire a 100 percent equity interest in China's Yinyan Brewery for U.S $42.3 million.

Tessera Technologies Inc., a developer of semiconductor packaging technologies, announced that it has ended a patent dispute with chip maker Micron Technologies Inc. on Friday.

World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz ended his visit to Liberia by addressing the nation's legislature on Friday where he praised the country's economic progress, but warned there is a need for more improvements.

USG, a leading building products company, announced an increase in earnings for the second quarter due to record shipments of its wallboard.

Drug maker Schering-Ploughdrugs, announced on Monday that its 2006 second quarter earnings surpassed Wall Street expectations due to a surge in the sales of key drugs.

According to one industry analyst, the new iPods from Apple Inc. will feature a host of advanced features, but may be stymied by delays.

Drug maker Merck & Co., Inc. surpassed second quarter Wall Street earnings expectations on Monday on stronger worldwide sales, led by its cholesterol drug Zetia.