News For Thursday Dec 4, 2008 News For Thursday Dec 4, 2008

Business Business

France to unveil economic stimulus package Dec. 4 - Added 6 days ago

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Friday he plans to unveil a euro19 billion ($24.5 billion) stimulus package next week which will help the country's struggling car industry and support the economy through...

Russian ruble weakens despite interest rate hike - Added 6 days ago

The Russian Central Bank allowed the ruble to weaken about 1 percent against the dollar and the euro while also hiking interest rates by a full percentage point on Friday. The depreciation in the ruble suggests the...

SAS Norway cuts 10 routes to southern Europe - Added 6 days ago

The Norwegian branch of the Scandinavian Airlines Systems on Friday said it is dropping 10 seasonal routes to destinations in southern Europe because it expects demand to slump amid the global economic downturn. "The...

EU says drug makers blocked cheaper medicines - Added 6 days ago

European patients had to pay some euro3 billion ($3.87 billion) more for medicines in 2000-2007 because pharmaceutical companies deliberately stalled the sale of cheaper generic versions, EU antitrust regulators said...

British retailers extremely gloomy over Christmas - Added 6 days ago

Britain's retailers are as gloomy about the crucial Christmas trading period as at any time in the last 25 years, the country's biggest business lobby group said Friday. In its monthly survey of 185 firms covering...

Iceland changes foreign exchange rules - Added 6 days ago

Iceland's central bank said Friday it has lifted some of its restrictions on foreign exchange transactions but added it has also implemented rules curbing cross-border movement of capital. The central bank, Sedlabanki,...

Report: China tycoon allegedly manipulated shares - Added 6 days ago

Home appliances tycoon Wong Kwong-yu, under investigation for alleged economic crimes, is suspected of manipulating prices of shares in two companies, a report said Friday, citing China's securities regulator. The...

EU: Euro-zone jobless rate hits two-year high - Added 6 days ago

Unemployment in the 15 nations that share the euro shot up to 7.7 percent in October _ the highest level in two years _ as growth dropped sharply, the EU statistics agency Eurostat said Friday. Prices also plunged with...

FTSE-100 up 3 points at 4,229.16 - Added 6 days ago

Share prices on the London Stock Exchange were up at midday Friday. At midday, the FTSE-100 share index was up 3 points at 4,229.16 ...

As food prices climb, industry ponder trash - Added 6 days ago

Experts in the food industry are thinking a lot about trash these days. Food waste has been a chronic problem for restaurants and grocery stores _ with millions of tons being lost along the way as crops are hauled...

Thai stocks jump on hopes for political resolution - Added 6 days ago

Thailand's stock market jumped Friday as investors bet that a resolution may be reached soon in a political crisis that escalated this week with anti-government protesters shutting down Bangkok's two airports. Analysts...

Fujitsu Siemens plans 700 German job cuts - Added 6 days ago

Fujitsu Siemens Computers said Friday it wants to cut around 700 jobs in Germany as the economic downturn deepens. FSC, a joint venture between Fujitsu and Siemens, makes personal computers and laptops and currently...

Sweden in recession as 3Q GDP falls - Added 6 days ago

Sweden has slipped into recession as the economy shrank for the second consecutive quarter, the Scandinavian country's statistics agency said Friday. Statistics Sweden said seasonally adjusted gross domestic product...

ThyssenKrupp 4Q profit increases 38 pct - Added 6 days ago

Steelmaker ThyssenKrupp AG said Friday that higher orders and sales pushed its net profit up 38 percent in its last fiscal fourth quarter _ but it gave no forecast for the current fiscal year, citing global economic...

Bank of China expands into Switzerland - Added 6 days ago

Bank of China said Friday it has received regulatory approval to offer banking services in Switzerland. The state-owned company is the first Chinese bank to expand into Switzerland, one of Europe's most important...

AP Executive Morning Briefing - Added 6 days ago

The top business news from The Associated Press for the morning of Friday, Nov. 28, 2008: Black Friday deals await holiday shoppers CHICAGO (AP) _ The nation's retailers are set to usher in the holiday shopping season...

German upper house approves new VW law - Added 6 days ago

The German parliament's upper house on Friday approved a planned law governing automaker Volkswagen AG that has put Berlin at odds with the European Commission. The government's plan would allow Volkswagen's...

Cathay to park freighters, offer unpaid leave - Added 6 days ago

Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. said Friday it will park two freighters, offer unpaid leave to employees and may delay construction on a cargo terminal to cut costs amid the global economic downturn. The new measures came...

Meltdown far from over, new mortgage crisis looms - Added 6 days ago

Black Friday's retail shoppers hunting for holiday bargains won't be enough to stave off what's likely to become the next economic crisis. Malls from Michigan to Georgia are entering foreclosure, commercial victims of...

Singapore central bank warns of worsening economy - Added 6 days ago

Singapore's central bank warned the city-state's economy, which slid into recession in the third quarter, will continue to weaken, hurting corporate profits and sparking job cuts. "The economy has slowed down sharply...

India's economic growth slows to 7.6 percent - Added 6 days ago

India's economy grew at its slowest pace in four years in the third quarter as the global slump took a toll on exports and foreign investment. Gross domestic product for the July-September period expanded 7.6 percent...

Japan stocks rise on hopes for economic steps - Added 6 days ago

Japanese stocks rose Friday amid growing investor optimism that economy-boosting steps by governments around the world would help ward off a deep global recession. The benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average gained 138.88...

Euro rises against dollar - Added 6 days ago

The euro was higher against the dollar on Friday in quiet trading over the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday period. The 15-nation euro traded at $1.2943 in European morning trading, up from $1.2900 in European afternoon...

Bangkok airports shutdown ripples through region - Added 6 days ago

The severing of air links with Thailand's capital _ a vital air hub that handles 3 percent of world air cargo and 100,000 travelers a day _ rippled through the region with airlines scrambling to reroute passengers and...

Turkcell wins 3G license in Turkey - Added 6 days ago

Turkcell, Turkey's largest mobile phone operator, on Friday won a tender for the country's third-generation mobile phone license. Third-generation, or 3G, operations support Web surfing, video and other services. ...

HK stock index rises for 4th straight day - Added 6 days ago

Hong Kong's key stock index advanced for a fourth straight session Friday as investors bet Wall Street will extend gains when trade resumes following the Thanksgiving holiday. The blue chip Hang Seng index rose 336.18...

Russian president visits Cold War ally Cuba - Added 6 days ago

Russia's president visited old Cold War ally Cuba on Thursday, spending hours with President Raul Castro on the final leg of a Latin America tour designed to increase Moscow's profile in a region long dominated by the...

China's first homegrown jet makes trial flight - Added 6 days ago

China's first fully homegrown commercial aircraft, the ARJ-21, successfully made its maiden flight on Friday, a key step in the country's ambitious aviation program. Authorities said earlier this month that they...

Western governors to Obama: Act quickly on energy - Added 6 days ago

The governors of the nation's largest energy-producing states are encouraging President-elect Barack Obama to quickly adopt a national energy policy that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The bipartisan Western...

Compensating bondholders hits Unicredit profits - Added 6 days ago

Italy's largest bank, Unicredit, said Friday that compensating customers who bought index-linked notes related to Lehman Brothers securities would cut 2008 profits by euro106 million ($137 million). Unicredit said in a...

China shares retreat on profit-taking - Added 6 days ago

China's stocks retreated Friday on profit-taking but ended November with the biggest one-month gain in 15 months on optimism about a multibillion-dollar economic stimulus package. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index...

Deutsche Telekom softens call center cuts - Added 6 days ago

Deutsche Telekom AG said Friday it has secured employee approval for shutting many of its call centers in Germany after it agreed to close nine fewer facilities than originally planned. Deutsche Telekom said in August...

VW building Tenn. assembly plant during hard times - Added 6 days ago

With huge dirt movers shaping the site of Volkswagen's $1 billion assembly plant at Chattanooga, Europe's largest automaker says it has no regrets about announcing its arrival as an American employer in hard times. "We...

From Bust to Broom: Foreclosure cleanups bustling - Added 6 days ago

Several men wordlessly carry out furniture, broken computers and boxes of garbage from a large blue house on a quiet upstate street on a brisk autumn morning. Rusting bikes and an old grill lay discarded in the...

Online retailers ramp up deals to capture dollars - Added 6 days ago

Online retailers are ramping up heavy-duty deals to turn skittish shoppers into buyers during the crucial Thanksgiving weekend and "Cyber Monday" _ but even so, online sales are expected to be fairly flat after years of...

Mexico weighs foreign investment in telephones - Added 6 days ago

A Mexican congressional commission has approved a proposal to loosen the current 49-percent limit on foreign investment in the fixed-line telephone industry. The bill, however, must still be debated by the full house. ...

Aa food prices climb, industry ponder trash - Added 6 days ago

Experts in the food industry are thinking a lot about trash these days. Food waste has been a chronic problem for restaurants and grocery stores _ with millions of tons being lost along the way as crops are hauled...

Venezuela could punish channel for vote coverage - Added 1 week ago

A Venezuelan TV news channel could face penalties for broadcasting a candidate's victorious remarks on election night before he was declared the winner. Venezuela's telecommunication commission says Globovision...

Russian president visits Cold War ally Cuba - Added 1 week ago

Russia's president visited old Cold War ally Cuba on Thursday after meeting with his nation's new friends in Latin America in a tour aimed at reviving relationships that have frayed since the Soviet Union's collapse. ...

Ecuador increases goods subject to tariff hike - Added 1 week ago

Ecuador may hike import duties on 940 goods to protect domestic producers as its economy slows. It wasn't clear how much tariffs would increase, but the Industry Ministry on Thursday said the higher rates would boost...

Not-so-jolly economy brings woe to Santa's lap - Added 1 week ago

Some of the kids crawling onto Santa Joe's lap this year have more than stuffed animals and video games on their most-wanted lists. Several times already this season, Joe Jackson has been asked to get Daddy a job or...

Airbus crashes off French coast; 2 dead, 5 missing - Added 1 week ago

An Airbus A320 passenger plane crashed off France's southern coast during a maintenance flight Thursday, killing two people and leaving the five others on board missing, authorities said. The airplane had undergone...

Japan's October industrial production down sharply - Added 1 week ago

Japan's government reports that the country's industrial production fell 3.1 percent in October from the previous month, as the global slowdown forced companies to cut output. The result, which follows a 1.1 percent...

Japan jobless rate at 3.7 percent in October - Added 1 week ago

Japan says its unemployment rate stood at 3.7 percent in October, down slightly from the month before. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said Friday that the number of jobless in October totaled 2.55...

China police say tycoon under investigation - Added 1 week ago

Electrical appliance tycoon Wong Kwong-yu, one of China's wealthiest men, is under investigation for alleged involvement in economic crimes, police confirmed Thursday, ending several days of speculation regarding his...

Monster Worldwide founder McKelvey dies at 74 - Added 1 week ago

Andrew McKelvey, the billionaire founder and former chief executive of Monster Worldwide Inc., died early Thanksgiving morning in New York after a long battle with pancreatic cancer, his family said. He was 74. In...

Gift certificates for birth control? Foes say bah! - Added 1 week ago

At the Planned Parenthood of Indiana, 'tis the season of giving health care and contraception. But it's a sentiment that opponents of abortion and artificial birth control say denigrates the holiday season. The network...

Argentine congress moves toward airline takeover - Added 1 week ago

Argentine lawmakers are moving to expropriate the country's biggest airline from its Spanish owners, who want to be paid for their property. Congressman Ariel Basteiro says two congressional committees decided that...

Commerzbank to take over Dresdner in Jan. - Added 1 week ago

Commerzbank will take over rival Dresdner Bank AG in January, months earlier than expected, Commerzbank announced in a statement Thursday. Commerzbank said it had reached a deal with Dresdner's owner, insurer Allianz...

Mumbai attacks seen denting business confidence - Added 1 week ago

The terror attacks that rocked India's financial capital may depress stocks, dampen tourism and slow new investment, but are unlikely to inflict long-term damage on the nation's economy, analysts and business people...