The new &ldquo;Angry Birds Space&rdquo; edition of the world&rsquo;s most popular mobile-phone game won&rsquo;t appear on Microsoft Corp&rsquo;s Windows Phone platform in a blow to handset maker Nokia Oyj.

Angry Birds game skips Windows Phone

Business Standard

The probability of a woman getting married by age 25 dropped to less than half as more Americans opt to cohabitate with their romantic partners rather than tie the knot, a US government study shows.

Living together trumps matrimony for recession-wary Americans

Hong Kong picks its new chief executive today, after a campaign marked by personal scandals, public discontent over a widening wealth gap and protests for greater democracy.

Hong Kong picks new leader as wealth gap fuels public discontent

Portugal&rsquo;s town halls face default amid 9 billion euros ($12 billion) of debt unless the government provides aid soon, said Fernando Ruas, president of the nation&rsquo;s association of municipalities.

Portugal town halls face default amid $12-bn debt

AOL Inc hired Evercore Partners to find a buyer for its more than 800 patents and explore other strategic options, according to three people with knowledge of the situation.

AOL hires Evercore to find buyer for patent portfolio

Hewlett-Packard Co, the world&rsquo;s biggest personal-computer maker, authorised a 10 per cent increase in its quarterly dividend, which the company expects to declare in May.

HP approves 10% rise in quarterly dividend

Prime Minister Mario Monti's Cabinet approved a bill to overhaul Italy's labour laws that will ease firing rules, facing down opposition from unions and political allies needed to pass the measure in Parliament.

'Italy's labour reform won't spur firings'

News Corp's James Murdoch resigned as director from three additional boards as he's cutting his ties to the company's UK newspaper division amid a phone- hacking scandal.

James Murdoch board seats dwindle amid BSkyB scrutiny

In the new SL roadster from Daimler AG&rsquo;s Mercedes-Benz, even the windshield wipers are high tech.

Mercedes chases Audi in roadster with splashless wipers

Oil climbed after Reuters reported Iranian oil exports will drop by 300,000 barrels a day this month because of tighter sanctions.

Oil rises almost $3 a barrel on Iran report

JPMorgan Chase &amp; Co is being sued by a trader who says he accepted a contract from the investment bank because a typographical error made him believe he would be paid 10 times what was actually offered.

Trader sues JPMorgan for decimal 'error' in job offer

After targeting global banks deemed too big to fail, regulators are weighing tougher capital rules for lenders whose collapse would affect national economies. The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision is considering extra reserve requirements and tougher oversight for smaller lenders that aren&rsquo;t caught by measures to protect the world economy from meltdown. The possible firewalls would be discussed at a two-day meeting of the group that starts tomorrow.

Basel group said to consider national firewalls for banks

Research In Motion Ltd (RIM) has been ousted from the top spot for smartphone shipments in its home market for the first time, trailing Apple Inc&rsquo;s iPhone.

BlackBerry loses top spot to Apple 

Billionaire Anil Agarwal&rsquo;s Vedanta Group has offered Rs 17,000 crore ($3.4 billion) to buy the government&rsquo;s remaining stakes in Hindustan Zinc Ltd and Bharat Aluminium Co, a ministry official said.

Vedanta ups the ante for Balco, Hindustan Zinc

Japan reported an unexpected trade surplus for February and higher-than-forecast exports, adding to evidence of a rebound in the world&rsquo;s third-biggest economy.

Japan posts trade surplus 

Applications for unemployment benefits dropped last week to the lowest level in four years, reinforcing signs the US labour market is picking up.

US jobless claims at 4-yr low

The Reserve Bank of India&rsquo;s tomes on interest-rate policy made Subir Gokarn despair when he was a Standard &amp; Poor&rsquo;s economist. Now a deputy governor, he&rsquo;s part of the biggest communication overhaul in the bank&rsquo;s 77-year history. &ldquo;That really wasn&rsquo;t the best way to do it,&rdquo; Gokarn, who joined the RBI in 2009, said in an interview last month.

Subbarao boosts transparency in RBI 

The Obama administration is sending a message to major buyers of Iranian oil &mdash; in particular China, India and South Korea &mdash; that they can avoid new US sanctions by curtailing their imports of Iranian crude by the end of June, several US officials said.

Cut Iran imports to gain waivers, US signals Asia 

Coal imports by India, the world&rsquo;s third-largest user of the fuel, fell 13 per cent in February from the previous month as slowing economic growth hurt demand, according to port data.

Coal imports decline 13% in February

Nickel ore and bauxite shipments from Indonesia, the top supplier to China, may plunge 75 per cent this year as a ban on metal ore sales comes into force in May, two years earlier than scheduled, said an industry group. The ban, originally set for 2014, was brought forward as exports surged in the past three years, Syahrir Abubakar, executive director of the Indonesia Mining Association, said in an interview. The country shipped 33 million tonnes of nickel ore and 40 million tonnes of bauxite in 2011, he said. China, the world&rsquo;s biggest metal user, bought about 80 per cent of its bauxite and 53 per cent of its nickel ore from the southeast Asian nation last year, customs data showed. Declining shipments may increase competition for supplies among Chinese processors, potentially benefiting nickel-ore mining companies in the Philippines and boosting prices.

Nickel, bauxite exports from Indonesia to decline on ban

Credit-default swaps dealers will hold an auction to settle as much as $3.2 billion of Greek bond insurance triggered by the nation&rsquo;s debt restructuring.

Bloomberg