J.J. McGrath

U.S. fast-food giant Yum Brands Inc. plans to open 130 new KFC stores in Africa this year, bringing its presence on the continent to 1,000 restaurants, the Business Day newspaper in South Africa said on Friday, citing a senior executive.

The organization that provides the world's banks with a system for moving money said on Friday it is working with officials in the European Union and the United States to address concerns about the services it provides to blacklisted Iranian banks.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard is beginning monthlong naval exercises near the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf oil-tanker route that Tehran has threatened to close in retaliation for sanctions recently imposed by the European Union and the United States.

Bradley Manning, the U.S. Army intelligence analyst suspected of passing classified documents to WikiLeaks, will face a full court-martial, the U.S. Army Military District of Washington announced on Friday. Manning faces 22 charges of participating in the largest leak of classified information in U.S. history.

With a huge lead in polls, Republican front-runner Mitt Romney appears poised for an easy win in Nevada's caucuses on Saturday that would put him in firm command of the party's seesawing presidential nominating race.

The Sahara Group has pulled out of its sponsorship deal with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Pune franchise of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the diversified business conglomerate said on Saturday.

Actor Ben Gazzara, known for his brooding tough-guy presence in dozens of films, television shows, and stage productions over his long career, died of pancreatic cancer on Friday at a New York hospital, his lawyer said. He was 81.

Iran is considering banning all oil exports to the European Union for five to 15 years, a senior Iranian lawmaker was quoted as saying on Sunday, while the country's deputy oil minister said prices would surge should the EU stop importing Iranian crude.

Iran on Sunday declared itself optimistic about the United Nations experts' visit aimed at probing suspected military aspects of its nuclear program, and its lawmakers postponed debate on a proposed halt to oil flows to the European Union watched closely in energy markets.

French oil firm Total is close to securing exploration rights over several oil-and-gas blocks in Iraqi Kurdistan, the Sunday Times reported. The paper said a deal could be announced within weeks, although it also cited sources close to the situation as saying that the deal could still fall apart.

Chancellor Angela Merkel attempts to deflect growing international pressure on Germany to agree an increase in the Eurozone's bailout funds Sunday by saying talks were continuing.

Polls opened on Sunday in an election for Egypt's upper house of parliament, with Islamists seeking to repeat the success they enjoyed in elections for the lower house. Begun in late November, the parliamentary votes are the first since a popular uprising toppled President Hosni Mubarak last February.

Oil prices could rise as high as $150 per barrel because of the European Union ban on imports of Iranian crude, the country's deputy oil minister was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency on Sunday.

Japan's second-largest refiner TonenGeneral Sekiyu KK said on Sunday it will buy 99 percent of the shares in the Exxon Mobil Corp.'s Japanese unit, ExxonMobil Yugen Kaisha, for 302 billion yen ($3.94 billion) to improve efficiency.

Awaiting the Great Transformation: Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi called on Sunday for changes to the military-drafted constitution in her first political trip since ending a boycott of the country's political system last year and announcing plans to run for parliament.

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich received the endorsement of former opponent Herman Cain on Saturday, and he vowed to fight until the end no matter what happens in Florida's primary election on Tuesday.

Riot police fought running clashes with Occupy Oakland protesters on Saturday, arresting more than 200 people and firing tear gas in scuffles that injured three officers and at least one demonstrator in the California city.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) in India is set to swell in coming years as investors stomach a lack of transparency, poor infrastructure, and policy paralysis in their search for growth, professional-services firm Ernst & Young (E&Y) said in a report.

UN nuclear inspectors arrive in Iran as Tehran prepares to ban oil exports to Europe in retaliation over European Union sanctions.

European companies owed oil by Iran could lose out should Tehran impose a ban on crude exports to the European Union next week, the head of Iran's state oil company said Saturday. Iran's parliament is due to debate a bill Sunday that would cut off oil supplies to the EU in a matter of days.

A new team of U.S. trade enforcers will make countries think twice about building unfair barriers to American exports, said President Barack Obama's top trade official, who noted the team will include intelligence officials as well as representatives of multiple agencies.

The United Steelworkers union warned on Saturday that a strike by U.S. refinery workers as early as 12 a.m. Wednesday was becoming more likely due to the lack of a more substantive response from the industry.

Canada's Algonquin Power and Utilities Corp. said it would not go ahead with its planned $83 million purchase of a minority stake in U.S.-based wind-farm operator First Wind Holdings, citing regulatory delays in Maine.

White House hopeful Mitt Romney widened his lead over rival Newt Gingrich in Florida to 11 percentage points on Saturday from 8 points a day earlier, according to Reuters/Ipsos online poll results, as he cemented his front-runner status in the Republican nomination race.

The Arab League said on Saturday it had suspended its monitoring mission in Syria because of the critical deterioration of the situation as state security forces battled rebels holding three suburbs just outside Damascus.

Many Republicans are concerned that the bitter nomination fight between Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich may already have damaged both of them to the extent that neither would be able to defeat Democratic President Barack Obama in the Nov. 6 general election.

Demand from emerging markets and financial flows will keep crude prices high and volatile in a range from $105 to $125 per barrel in 2012, Petrobras CEO Jose Sergio Gabrielli said on Saturday.

Police said on Saturday they were searching the London offices of Rupert Murdoch's News International and had arrested four people, including a policeman, in an investigation into suspected payments to police officers for information.

The Exxon Mobil Corp. plans to sell a large part of its 50 percent stake in TonenGeneral Sekiyu KK back to its Japanese refining partner in a deal that could be worth about $3.9 billion, with an announcement to be made as early as Monday, four sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.