Billionaire investor Carl Icahn is proposing that Dell shareholders get a chance to own a bigger stake in the struggling computer maker in hopes of thwarting an attempt by the company's founder to buy it for $24.4 billion and take it private.

Icahn, who owns a nearly 9 percent stake in Dell, now wants shareholders to receive warrants in addition to the cash he previously recommended be given to shareholders.

Boasting its own artificial sun and a floor area three times that of the Pentagon, the "world's largest building" has opened in southwest China to mixed reviews from its first visitors.

The towering 100-meter (330-foot) high New Century Global Center, which is said to to be big enough to hold 20 Sydney Opera Houses, recently opened its doors Chengdu.

AT&T Inc. said Friday that it has agreed to acquire Leap Wireless International Inc., the pre-paid cellphone carrier that operates under the Cricket brand, for about $1.19 billion in cash, or $15 a share.

The purchase gives America's No. 2 cellphone carrier a leg-up in serving customers who prefer not to have lengthy contracts. Leap's Cricket service has 5 million subscribers who pay monthly without a contract. The deal also gives AT&T the right to use Leap's unused airwaves — also known as spectrum — to expand its network.

German defense technology group Krauss-Maffei-Wegmann is about to lose a contract worth at least 5.0 billion euros from Saudi Arabia, the daily Handelsblatt reported on Friday.

The Saudis are losing patience over Berlin's foot-dragging on a deal, worth $6.5 billion, to deliver 270 Leopard combat tanks, which is the subject of fierce controversy in Germany, the newspaper said.

Myanmar has introduced a new law to overhaul its central bank, the presidential office said Friday, in the latest reform aimed at burnishing the country's economic credentials.

Details of the new legislation have not yet been published but officials say the central bank will have more autonomy and will no longer operate as part of the finance ministry.

China's airlines and airports continue to have the worst flight delays in the world, according to a travel industry monitor.

A survey of flight times last month showed that Beijing's airport had the lowest proportion of flights leaving on time among 35 leading airports at just 18.3 percent, FlightStat Inc. reported on its website.

Striking workers blocked highways and staged mainly peaceful marches across Brazil Thursday in a day of industrial action called by unions to demand better work conditions and tougher measures to contain rising inflation.

The "National Day of Struggle" was called by the country's top five labor federations during last month's nationwide street protests for better public services and an end to endemic corruption.

Brazilian workers on Thursday blocked roads and staged protest rallies across the country in a day of industrial action called by major unions to press demands for better work conditions.

The "National Day of Struggles" was called by the country's five leading labor federations during last month's mass street protests to demand better public services and an end to endemic corruption.

Emerging economies will be the main force in the global oil market next year, driving demand to a record high level, International Energy Agency (IEA) data showed on Thursday.

Raising its demand forecast this year because of unseasonally cold weather, the IEA also signalled that in 2014 emerging economies will drive demand to a record 92.0 million barrels per day.

Japan's central bank on Thursday left its vast monetary easing programme unchanged and boosted its assessment of the economy, using the word "recover" for the first time in more than two years.

The Bank of Japan, which unveiled a gigantic bond-buying scheme in April, said the outlook for the world's number three economy was looking up, as brighter corporate and consumer spirits encouraged spending.