Palash Ghosh

The category-five storm, Cyclone Yasi, that has struck Queensland in northeastern Australia (already reeling from deadly floods last month) is likely to hammer global commodity markets, according to media reports.

Amidst a dramatic escalation of violence in Cairo between supporters and opponents of president Hosni Mubarak, CNN is reporting that its correspondent Anderson Cooper and his crew were attacked and hit in the head several times by pro-Mubarak forces.

The president of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, said he will not seek to extend his term as ruler of this poverty-stricken country beyond 2013, according to media reports, as another domino falls in the wake of political upheavals in the Middle East.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, managing director of the International Monetary Fund delivered the following speech at the Monetary Authority of Singapore on February 1, 2011.

Fighting has erupted in Cairo between groups opposed to Hosni Mubarak and those who support the Egyptian President, the day after Mubarak announced he will not seek re-election.

Here are the top ten most surprising quotes from Egyptiam President Hosni Mubarak's speech in Cairo from Feb. 1, 2010

Live blog on developments in Egypt.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has expressed his total support for the anti-government protesters in Egypt, after major Turkish newspapers has criticized his ruling AKP Party for their silence on the topic.

The newly-elected governor of New York has proposed a state budget that will reduce funding for state operations by 10 percent and potentially layoff almost 10,000 state employees.

In direct defiance of her father’s policies and views, Barbara Bush, one of former President George W. Bush’s twin daughters, supports gay marriage. She has taped a video which calls for the state of New York to legalize same-sex marriage.

British music company EMI Group said that Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) has seized control of the company from struggling financier Guy Hands, in a move that it will probably lead to the sale of EMI.

The U.S. manufacturing sector grew at its fastest pace in nearly seven years in January, and prices paid jumped more than expected in the latest sign the economic recovery is gaining traction.

U.S. Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has urged Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to step down and promise that neither he nor his son will run in the presidential election scheduled for later this year. Kerry is the highest-level US politician to call for Mubarak’s removal.

As hundreds of thousands of anti-government protesters converge in central Cairo on the eighth day of unrest in Egypt, the U.S. government has instructed all of its non-emergency staff and their families to evacuate the country.

Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim, who is considered by some to be the world’s richest person, said he will invest $8.3-billion in nineteen countries, primarily in Latin America.

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) will close its research and development (R&D) facility in Sandwich, Kent, England, which presently employs 2,400 people, the “majority” of which would be made redundant over the next two years.

At least 219 people died and 510 were injured in Tunisia during the protests that eventually forced the President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali to flee to Saudi Arabia last month, according to a team of UN officials investigating human rights in the country.

The king of Jordan has dissolved his government and appointed a new prime minister, in the wake of protests demanding political reform and economic improvements.

China's state broadcast company apparently used footage from a famous Hollywood movie in a news report allegedly about the country’s air force.

The unrest rolling across in the Middle East will likely not spare Morocco, said a relative of King Mohammed VI in an interview published Monday.

Swirling turmoil in Egypt will likely spread to other regions of the world and may impart a negative effect on economic growth and contribute to higher consumer prices, according to Nouriel Roubini, chairman of Roubini Global Economics.

Airplane maker Boeing (NYSE: BA) received billions of dollars in questionable subsidies from the U.S. government according to a study by The World Trade Organization (WTO) which was presented on Monday to officials of the U.S. and the European Union (EU).

Eleven banks have already failed so far this year, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC).

Twenty-five people have been arrested for trespassing during a protest demonstration outside of a retreat where the secretive billionaire Koch brothers held an assembly for conservative elected officials, political donors and strategists.

U.S. consumer spending rose more than expected in December to post the sixth straight month of gains as households drew down on their savings to fund purchases, government data showed on Monday.

The UK charity fundraising regulator, Fundraising Standards Board, has launched an investigation into the Salvation Army over complaints that they charity may have lied to donors about the use of profits generated from sales of second-hand clothes.

Liverpool Football Club has submitted a record second offer of 35-million pound sterling bid for Newcastle’s 22-year-old striker Andy Carroll.

Shares of Massey Energy Co. (NYSE: MEE) are rallying this morning after it was announced over the weekend that Alpha Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE:ANR) agreed to buy the metallurgical coal producer in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $8.5 billion.

One of the biggest pop stars in Southeast Asia has been sentenced to 3.5 years in prison for manufacturing and distributing sex videos over the internet.