BUSINESS NEWS DIGEST | Free IHOP pancakes

Free IHOP pancakes

YOUNGSTOWN

Tuesday is National Pancake Day, and IHOP is celebrating with free pancakes.

The restaurant chain is giving away a short stack of buttermilk pancakes to patrons at all Youngstown-area locations from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Donations will be accepted for the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals’ programs at Akron Children’s Hospital in Boardman.

Unrest in Libya rattles markets

NEW YORK

Stocks had their worst drop this year, and oil prices surged Tuesday after Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi clung to power in the face of mounting protests.

The capital of the oil-rich country has plunged into chaos. That’s causing concerns that the unrest that already has toppled dictators in two of Libya’s neighbors, Tunisia and Egypt, could spread to other countries in the region such as Iran and disrupt the flow of oil.

Oil prices jumped 6 percent to $95 a barrel. Libya is the world’s 15th-largest exporter of crude, accounting for 2 percent of global daily output. It also has the largest oil reserves in Africa.

The Dow Jones industrial average sank 178.46 points, or 1.4 percent, to close at 12,212.79.

Greeks plan strike

ATHENS, Greece

Greece’s labor unions and professional groups have called for a general strike Tuesday that likely will disrupt flights, close stores, and cripple services in the crisis-hit country.

This year’s first major labor protest comes as Prime Minister George Papandreou’s Socialist government faces international pressure to make deeper and more lasting cuts after Greece’s debt-crippled economy was rescued from bankruptcy by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.

Vindicator staff/wire reports