International coffee brand Starbucks has decided to partner an unknown local company, the director of which has a murky financial background.

Starbucks plans to shut 61 of its 85 coffee shops in Australia and focus its remaining operations on three major cities.

In recent years, Jordan has started to develop its own shores to attract visitors. Pithy taglines like "turn sand into gold" sum up the determination the Jordanians have to make their country a top destination -- and not just for Petra, the ancient city in the south of the country that has been voted a new wonder of the world.

It was the first city in the United States to ban trans-fats from food outlets. Now New York has set another US first -- from Monday, larger food chains such as McDonald's, Dunkin' Donuts and Starbucks must display the calories of their products on menus.

Hundreds of coffee-obsessed consumers in the United States chimed in moments after Starbucks launched a website asking customers to pitch changes the company should make to revive its struggling US business. And they have kept those thoughts coming, by the thousands.

A San Diego judge on Thursday ordered coffee giant Starbucks to pay more than $100-million in tips and interest owed to staff across outlets in California. It was not immediately clear how the money might be divided up between the estimated 100 000 current and former baristas.

Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders may soon erase the most potent symbol of the island's division, by reopening a bullet-pocked crossing between the two sides closed for nearly half a century. Hopes of ending decades of estrangement were revived after last month's election of Cyprus President Demetris Christofias.

In the sub-arctic woods of Canada's North-west Territories, a quiet crowd searches the moonlit sky, a wave of concern creeping into hushed voices. Time is running out. Then a funnel of greenish light appears in the east, hanging still at first, then rippling like steam in a glass tube.

Americans will have to cope without blended Frappuccino and blueberry coffee cake for a few hours on Tuesday as Starbucks shuts its 7 100 company-owned stores for a nationwide barista training session. Starbucks has ordered the unprecedented three-hour afternoon closure as part of an effort to improve coffee quality.

Your cellphone is a potential gold mine for marketers: it can reveal where you are, whom you call and even what music you like. Considering the phone is usually no more than a few metres away, these are powerful clues for figuring out just the right moment to deliver the right coupon for the store just around the corner.