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Africa's wealthiest man, Aliko Dangote, says he aims to invest up to $8bn in a major new oil refinery that would double Nigeria's current oil output.

Bank of America has reported a sharp rise in profits after it shed costs and set aside less money for bad loans. The bank reported first quarter net income of $2.3bn (£1.5bn), after making $328m in the same quarter a year ago.

A judge on Tuesday approved a set of settlements among Lehman Brothers entities that will allow the company's defunct brokerage to pay back about $15 billion in customer claims.

Dish Network Corp, the No. 2 U.S. satellite television provider, on Monday offered to buy wireless service provider Sprint Nextel Corp for $25.5 billion in cash and stock, a move that could inspire other telecommunications or video companies to consider their own prospects of combining.

German investor Joh A Benckiser (JAB) is to buy the owner of Douwe Egberts coffee in a 7.5-billion-euro ($9.8 billion) deal to create a global hot drinks empire aimed at taking on market leaders Nestle and Mondelez.

His trade mission is intersecting with one of the most controversial issues of his governorship: the state's $68-billion bullet train. He'd love China to pump some money into the troubled project.

J.C. Penney has hired bankers at Blackstone for advice on shoring up its fast-eroding cash. The company is seeking to raise about $1 billion. Bond analysts don't think Penney's operations will be able to generate enough cash to cover the company's needs beyond a year, putting pressure on new Chief Executive Myron "Mike" Ullman to cut costs and look for ways to raise new capital even as he tries to get more shoppers into stores.

Southeastern Asset Management, the activist investor that owns 8.4 percent of Dell Inc, said on Tuesday the computer maker's evaluation of a $24.4 billion leveraged buyout deal with its founder and buyout firm Silver Lake was flawed.

General Electric Co is buying oilfield pump maker Lufkin Industries Inc for $2.98 billion, sharply increasing its presence in the fast-growing market to extract oil and natural gas from shale rock, the conglomerate said on Monday.

A $2 billion experiment on the International Space Station is on the verge of explaining one of the more mysterious building blocks of the universe: The dark matter that helps hold the cosmos together....