DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Just a year after the global downturn derailed Dubai's explosive growth, the city is now so swamped in debt it's asking for a six-month reprieve on paying its bills — causing a drop on world markets yesterday and raising questions about Dubai's reputation as a magnet for international investment.

The fallout came swiftly and was felt globally after a Wednesday statement that Dubai's main development engine, Dubai World, would ask creditors for a "standstill" on paying back its $60 billion debt until at least May. In total, the state-backed networks nicknamed Dubai Inc. are $80 billion in the red, and the emirate needed a bailout earlier this year from its oil-rich neighbor Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

ONLINE RETAILERS HOPE TO BUCK TREND

SAN FRANCISCO — Online retailers hope the convenience of the Web, plus discounts and deals, spur still-nervous shoppers to spend more online this holiday season — even as traditional retailers brace for mediocre sales.

Internet analysts at comScore Inc. expect online retail revenue to rise 3 percent to $28.8 billion for the months of November and December. That includes the Web sites of traditional retailers, such as Macy's, but excludes auctions, travel and large corporate purchases.

Meanwhile, U.S. holiday retail sales — excluding online — are expected to drop 1 percent from last year, according to the National Retail Federation, the largest retail trade group.

Much of the growth expected in online shopping is attributed to one factor in particular: Shopping online is a major time saver, allowing consumers to bypass crowds and browse for gifts from the comfort of their homes.

SONY OPTIMISTIC ON 3-D TV TECHNOLOGY

TOKYO — Up to half of the Sony Corp. TV sets sold annually will be packed with 3-D features by the year ending March 2013, a senior executive said yesterday.

But Sony Executive Deputy President Hiroshi Yoshioka acknowledged that what Sony may really need for its money-losing TV business is its own display technology and the ability to make its own TV displays.

Sony has fallen behind in flat-panel TV technology to rivals like Samsung Electronics Co. of South Korea.

Yoshioka acknowledged that having to buy panels from Samsung was one reason why his Tokyo-based company lags behind in flat-panel TVs that use a new kind of backlight called LED — an innovation that can produce super-slim TVs and clearer images.

TECHNICAL GLITCH STALLS LONDON TRADING

LONDON — The London Stock Exchange PLC halted trading for 3 1/2 hours yesterday after a technical glitch prevented some customers from connecting to its systems.

The LSE, Europe's oldest independent exchange, said taking trade offline was the only way to ensure a fair and orderly market after customers reported the connectivity problems in early trading.

The exchange is still looking into the root cause of the embarrassing outage — the second significant technical problem in just over a year — and said it was too early to judge the extent of the effect on trade or lost business.