The ?runaway bride? lived up to its reputation. The proposed alliance between Bharti Airtel and South Africa?s MTN has fallen through. This time round, however, the blame could land on the respective governments? doors.

MUMBAI (Reuters) - The rupee rose to its highest in nearly two months on Thursday, in line with a weaker dollar overseas, and traders said they expected little impact on the unit after telecom Bharti and South Africa's MTN called off talks for a planned tie-up.

DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Co will close Saturn and wind down its dealership network after a deal to sell the faltering brand to Penske Automotive Group collapsed, the automaker said on Wednesday.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares fell on Thursday after a surprise drop in manufacturing in the U.S. heartland cast doubts on the strength of a global recobvery, while the dollar was on the back foot against higher-yielding currencies.

MUMBAI (Reuters) - The rupee could rise on Thursday, in line with a weaker dollar overseas, and traders said they expected little impact on the unit after telecom Bharti and South Africa's MTN called off talks for a planned tie-up.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Daily News owner Mort Zuckerman made a bid for BusinessWeek magazine on Wednesday, a spokesman confirmed, joining a group of suitors that includes likely frontrunner Bloomberg LP.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp CEO Kenneth Lewis announced he was retiring, after months of being dogged by a series of government investigations into the company's acquisition of Merrill Lynch last year that had become a major distraction for the biggest U.S. bank.

MUMBAI (Reuters) – The BSE Sensex is likely to rise more than 2 percent by the end of 2009, taking its gains to over 80 percent for the year, on increasing signs of a global economic revival, a Reuters poll showed.

Japanese auto maker Toyota Motor Corporation will be hiring 1,600 contract employees in the coming months, indicating that the auto sector is slowly recovering. The car maker, which has been severely hit by the global financial turmoil, on Wednesday said the hiring of 1,600 fixed-term employees would begin next month. The decision to increase the number of contract employees reflects future production plans, against a backdrop of gradually recovering automobile sales worldwide encouraged by tax-incentive and subsidy programs implemented in various countries, the car maker said in a statement. Auto makers have seen a steep decline in sales as consumers ...

Money managers in India are scrambling to launch fixed maturity plans (FMPs) on hopes the prospect of better returns than liquid funds will help revive interest in one of the most popular fund categories of 2008. As many as 18 new FMPs have been launched this month, data from Icra Online shows, and offer documents of at least 10 more are awaiting clearance from Sebi. Fixed maturity plans offer a specific maturity to the investor and invest in debt and money market instruments of the same maturity, thus using the interest payments on those papers to generate returns. Falling short-term ...

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday lowered its estimate for global writedowns for banks and other financial institutions to roughly $3.4 trillion but warned that loan losses were set to rise as unemployment and associated delinquencies increase. In April the IMF estimated in its Global Financial Stability Report that global bank losses could reach $4 trillion but said it cut the figure by $600 billion to reflect rising securities values and new methodology for calculating writedowns. This improvement is welcome but there are still significant challenges ahead, particular for banks, said Jose Vinals, director for the IMF s monetary and ...

India Inc on Wednesday felt let down by the failure of the $23-billion proposed merger deal between telecom giants Bharti Airtel and South Africa s MTN but said the south-south co-operation was still alive. In this particular proposed deal they (South African government) could have said they will make an exception in their law in terms of dual listing norms, Ficci secretary-general Amit Mitra said. He, however, said there was still scope in South Africa where Indian companies are preferred by black administration , which today controls the country. Assocham president Sajjan Jindal described the development as the most unfortunate . He said ...

Those who had faith in the stock markets and stayed invested during the troughs can now see their wealth more than double. As the BSE Sensex crossed the 17,000-mark after a gap of 16 months, investor wealth has literally jumped 116.4% from the lows of March 9 this year. Investor wealth as measured by the market capitalisation on BSE was pegged at Rs 26.40 lakh crore on March 9, 2009, when the Sensex ended the day at 8,160.40. Since, then the market has added around Rs 30.72 lakh crore in market capitalisation, which now stands at Rs 57.13 lakh crore. ...

Net claim of non-residents on India, as reflected by the net International Investment Position (IIP) at end of June 2009, increased by $23.1 billion to $82.5 billion from $59.4 billion recorded on March 31, 2009, according to the data commissioned by the Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday. IIP of a country is the financial statement setting out the value and composition of its external financial assets and liabilities. The total external financial assets increased by $10.2 billion to $360.2 billion at the end June 2009 over the previous quarter, the bank said. Among the components of external financial assets, ...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were mostly flat on Wednesday, on a volatile last day of a strong third quarter, as a disappointing report on Midwest business activity was offset by gains in commodities and tech.

BRIGHTON, England (Reuters) - HSBC, Lloyds, Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland and Standard Chartered will implement G20 pledges on financial sector pay, the British government said on Wednesday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil surged over 4 percent toward $70 a barrel on Wednesday, buoyed by a drop in U.S. gasoline inventories and a weak dollar.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Donald Kohn said on Wednesday policymakers would raise benchmark interest rates well before consumer spending and business investment overheats, adding that obstacles to borrowing are likely to subdue the economic recovery.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama announced a plan on Wednesday to spend $5 billion on medical and scientific research, medical supplies and upgrading laboratory capacity, which he said would create tens of thousands of new jobs.