BP fine-tuned its equipment on Tuesday to deliver the first of two planned killer punches to permanently plug its ruptured Gulf of Mexico oil well that caused the world's worst accidental oil spill. The last-minute tests sought to iron out technical glitches before a "static kill" operation expected later on Tuesday, the next step to

Mobile phone service providers scrambled on Tuesday to hold onto half a million users spooked by BlackBerry's showdown with UAE regulators, offering them a switch to Apple's iPhone and other rival smartphones. "I'm going to grab the Nokia option, it seems more of a business phone than Apple," said Wiam Nabulsi, an account manager at

Asian stocks rose to their highest levels in nearly three months on Tuesday, boosted by strong European bank results and a sign the U.S. economy was stronger than expected. European shares edged lower as investors took a breather after Monday's strong rally sparked by robust results from financial heavyweights HSBC and BNP Paribas. The bank

Oil prices extended three-month highs towards $82 on Tuesday, tracking gains in Asian equities following strong bank earnings and upbeat manufacturing data for industrialised economies a day earlier. U.S. September crude rose as much as 28 cents to $81.62, 15 cents short of Monday's three-month intraday high, and was up 1 cent at $81.35 a

Greek drink refrigeration equipment maker Frigoglass said on Tuesday first-half net profit jumped 137% on a recovery in its eastern European and Asian markets. Athens-based Frigoglass, which supplies bottler Coca-Cola Hellenic and brewers such as Heineken, said net profit in the period was 14.8 mln euros, while sales rose 30% year-on-year to 235.9 mln euros.

Kuwait has asked BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM) to block pornographic sites though will not suspend services like other Gulf states have threatened to do, a local newspaper reported on Tuesday. RIM has given "initial approval" to block 3,000 porn sites at the request of Kuwait's communications ministry, the al-Jarida daily said, quoting a

Mining group Xstrata said it would pump over $5 bln into new mines and keep targeting organic growth rather than acquisitions, after more than doubling first-half earnings per share on higher metals prices. Xstrata — the world's biggest exporter of coal used in power plants — said it had approved $4.2 bln to build the

Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co, whose unit holds a stake in BP Plc's ruptured oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, said on Tuesday it has so far received a $480 mln bill from BP but has yet to decide if it will shoulder any clean-up costs. Mitsui added it is "carefully" studying the

A question-and-answer page on Google Hong Kong's website became inaccessible to some mainland Chinese users on Tuesday, underscoring Beijing's sensitivity about the Internet. The Chinese government, obsessed with maintaining social stability and controlling the flow of information, requires all search engines operating on the mainland to self-censor. It uses a "Great Firewall" to block overseas

Spanish, Italian and French car sales dropped in July from a year ago as scrappage schemes were phased out and austerity measures kicked in, figures showed on Monday. In Spain, industry association ANFAC warned of a tough second half for car sales as government subsidies ended and after a value-added sales tax hike from July