Japan's devastating earthquake and tsunami in March are set to make 2011 the costliest year on record for natural disasters, German insurance giant Munich Re said on Tuesday.

Total economic losses for the first six months alone were $265 billion, easily exceeding the $220 billion recorded for the whole of 2005, previously the most expensive year to date, Munich Re said.

Tourism Minister Fadi Abboud promised his costumers that GPI will return stronger than before, apologizing for the fire that gutted his plastic factory in Mazraat Yashouh.

Abboud told As Safir newspaper on Tuesday that the machines at the factory cost approximately $12 million. “So far, there is no complete estimate for the losses,” he said.

Italy moved to curb financial speculators on Monday as Italian stocks dropped and bond yields hit record high levels on signs that Europe's sovereign debt crisis is spreading.

The financial market authority Consob said it was imposing transparency rules on short selling, forcing investors betting on stocks losing value to inform the regulator of any market actions that could spark volatility.

Purveyors of luxury and indulgence flirted with record stock market valuations this week as investors looked past a litany of bad economic figures and the eurozone debt crisis to focus on the fundamentals.

Dealers said successful share floats for such fashion icons as Prada in Hong Kong -- a key market for investors and buyers alike -- and Salvatore Ferragamo in Milan boosted interest and offered the prospect of further gains.

Taiwan's once-booming textile industry entered this decade in need of a wake-up call, with global competition having reduced exports by over a third. But one firm has received a boost from a surprising source: coffee.

The S. Cafe fabric, made by small firm Singtex Industrial, incorporates recycled coffee grounds from Starbucks and 7-Eleven, and has proved a hit with heavyweight international brands including Nike and North Face.

After a glimmer of hope in the Greek debt crisis, is it back to the drawing board for Eurozone leaders as they struggle to protect the single currency and its 17-nation economy?

"That's for sure ... that's why the ECB has probably always had the position that having talks about private sector involvement was not a particularly brilliant idea," UniCredit chief Eurozone economist Maro Valli told Agence France Presse.

U.S. President Barack Obama urged Democrats and Republicans Saturday to take a "balanced approach" to cutting deficit before a new round of key talks aimed at averting a debt default.

Obama said the two parties must address challenges like the solvency of Medicare, a government-run health insurance program for seniors and also insisted on closing tax loopholes and deductions for the wealthiest Americans.

A Milan court ordered Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi's Fininvest company Saturday to pay rival media group CIR 560 million euros after it bribed a judge to approve a company takeover.

The Milan appeals court reduced by a quarter the original 750-million-Euro ($1-billion) damages claim that a civil court had ordered the holding company to pay in October 2009.

The U.S. micro-blogging website Twitter is gaining value and is now worth an estimated $8 billion, the New York Times reported Friday.

The newspaper, citing two people briefed on the matter, said the popular website is in the process of raising $400 million in a deal that has provided the latest estimation of its value.

Pfizer says it may sell its animal health and nutrition business in the next two years so it can focus on expanding its low-cost pharmaceuticals unit.

Pfizer says it will also consider transactions including spinoffs and may pursue different strategies for each business. It said any transactions could take one to two years to complete.