NEW YORK: Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc will pay $26 billion to buy out Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp in a bet the nation's largest rail company will benefit from a recovering US economy.

Warren Buffett's acquisition of the remaining 77.4 percent of Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) railroad his Berkshire Hathaway does not already own looks like a strategic bet that America's future energy needs will be met, in large part, through a massive expansion in coal-fired power generation coupled with carbon capture and storage (CCS).

NEW YORK: Warren Buffett's latest deal - huge even by the billionaire investor's own standards - could put the Oracle of Omaha in the mood to sell some of his massive portfolio of stakes in marquee US companies.

NEW YORK: If you always wanted to invest alongside Warren Buffett, but found it too expensive, you now have your chance.

FRANKFURT/BERLIN: General Motors' decision to keep its European arm Opel after months of negotiations to sell it triggered anger and dismay in Germany, which had led the talks and was putting up much of the cash.

BERLIN: Opel labor representatives called for work stoppages across Europe to protest General Motor Co's decision not to sell its European subsidiary.

LONDON: European stock markets recovered yesterday, helped by upbeat earnings reports across the region.

WASHINGTON: Two key US lawmakers endorsed the idea of the government restricting not just the risks taken by big financial firms, but also their sheer size, echoing proposals being heard in Europe.

SEOUL: The ousted chairman of the oldest conglomerate in the Republic of Korea (ROK), the Doosan Group, was found dead in an apparent suicide, a news report said yesterday.

Global financial services giant Morgan Stanley is yet again looking to sell its entire holdings in China International Capital Corp (CICC), the country's first and most profitable investment bank, sources in both the US-based financial advisor and CICC confirmed yesterday.

Sinovac Biotech Ltd, China's first officially approved H1N1 flu vaccine maker, announced yesterday it would transfer its stock exchange listing to the NASDAQ Global Market from NYSE Amex in a bid to raise more funds and become a leading vaccine producer.

China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) and British oil major BP on Tuesday signed a technical service contract with Iraq's state-owned South Oil Company to expand production from the Rumaila oilfield, the country's first major oil deal since the US invasion in 2003.

China's second largest oil company, Sinopec Corp, yesterday signed its first purchase deal for liquefied natural gas (LNG) with US oil major ExxonMobil, in a move to expand its share in the rapidly growing domestic gas market.

SHANGHAI: Just a couple of hours after the Chinese government approved the Shanghai Disneyland project, a nearby parcel of land was snapped up for a whopping 1.19 billion yuan by a little-known Xiamen-based property developer at an auction in the city yesterday.

HONG KONG: Apple Inc's mainland partner sold fewer iPhones than analysts anticipated in the product's debut last week, raising concerns the price is too high to attract customers in the world's biggest mobile phone market.

China Investment Corporation (CIC), the country's sovereign wealth fund, has begun talks on setting up its first international office in London, a leading investment agency has revealed.

CHONGQING: Elevator maker Otis is setting up a new factory in the southwestern city of Chongqing to capitalize on the burgeoning growth in the industrial region.

LIMA: A weekend attack on a copper project in northern Peru that left three dead may have been the work of drug traffickers who want to keep the area undeveloped in order to protect their trade, the head of a business leaders group said on Tuesday.

Surging deposits at China's biggest banks signal the country's equity and property market rallies this year are sustainable, not loan-fueled bubbles as some analysts have suggested, said Henderson Global Investors Ltd.

Emerging-market equities, heading for their best year in a decade, will lead a first-half advance in global stocks in 2010 as export and domestic demand pick up, according to Prudential International Investments Advisers LLC.

Chinese stocks rose for a fourth day, driving the benchmark index to the longest winning stretch in two months, as raw-material producers advanced on higher commodity prices.

China, the world's largest rubber consumer, is expected to import 950,000 tons of compound rubber this year, a surge of nearly 71 percent from last year, an industry report said yesterday.