SYDNEY (AFP) ― Embattled Australian carrier Qantas said Thursday it will slash at least 500 jobs, cut costs and close two routes after posting an 83 percent slump in first half net profits.The airline’s result in the six months to December came in at Aus$42 million ($44.8 million), compared to Aus$241 million in the previous corresponding period, due to high fuel costs and the grounding of its fleet in October.Chief executive Alan Joyce pulled all the airline’s planes out of the skies for 48 hou

Feb. 16, 2012

Former Olympus Corp. Chairman Tsuyoshi Kikukawa was arrested by Japanese prosecutors investigating his part in a $1.7 billion accounting fraud, Kyodo News reported, without citing anyone. The Japanese camera maker is facing shareholder lawsuits and may be subject to further criminal investigation after admitting to a 13-year cover-up. The company restated past securities reports and took a $1.3 billion reduction in net assets in December. Olympus’ Tokyo headquarters and its affiliated offices we

Feb. 16, 2012

NEW DELHI (AFP) ― India and China joined forces on Tuesday in saying they firmly rejected the EU’s “unilateral” decision to impose a carbon tax on air travel.The European Union imposed the tax with effect from Jan. 1, but no airline will face a bill until 2013 after this year’s carbon emissions have been tallied.“We strongly oppose the EU’s unilateral trade measure in the name of climate change,” India’s environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan told reporters at the conclusion of the BASIC Minist

Feb. 15, 2012

MUMBAI (AFP) ― India’s top vehicle maker Tata Motors posted a 41 percent jump in quarterly net profit on Tuesday, beating forecasts, thanks to strong sales of its British luxury icons, Jaguar and Land Rover.The company said its global operations, including Jaguar and Land Rover, showed a consolidated net profit of 34.06 billion rupees ($681 million) for the three months to the end of December, up from 24.2 billion rupees a year earlier.“Our sales in United States have increased and its economy h

Feb. 15, 2012

TEHRAN (AFP) ― U.S. and EU sanctions on Iran’s oil exports will drive up oil prices globally because no viable alternative exists for the Islamic republic’s output, Iran’s envoy to OPEC was quoted as saying by the Mehr news agency on Tuesday.“If there were an assured substitute for a big oil exporter then the sanctions would not send a price shock to the market .... (But) conditions in different nations show that, in present circumstances, a substitute does not exist,” Mohammad Ali Khatibi said.

Feb. 15, 2012

Sales rose modest 0.4% as consumers rebound from weak holiday seasonWASHINGTON (AP) ― Americans rebounded from a weak holiday season and stepped up spending on retail goods in January. The latest government report on retail sales pointed to a slowly improving economy. Retail sales rose at a seasonally adjusted 0.4 percent last month, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. Consumers spent more on electronics, home and garden supplies, sporting goods, at department and general merchandise stores an

Feb. 15, 2012

BEIJING (AFP) ― China’s Premier Wen Jiabao said Tuesday his country was ready to increase its participation in efforts to resolve Europe’s debt crisis, after holding talks with EU leaders in Beijing.Wen said China wanted to see Europe ― its biggest trading partner ― “maintain stability and prosperity,” a day after ratings agency Moody’s downgraded Italy, Spain and Portugal.The two sides also agreed during the talks to give fresh impetus to Beijing’s efforts to attain full market economy status f

Feb. 15, 2012

  A Happy Meal is displayed for a photograph on a tray at a McDonald's Corp. restaurant in New Jersey, on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012. McDonald's Corp. said sales rose 6.7 percent globally last month. (Bloomberg)McDonald’s Corp. said Monday it will require its U.S. pork suppliers to provide plans

Feb. 15, 2012

President Barack Obama sent Congress a $3.8 trillion budget plan Monday with stimulus spending and tax increases for the wealthiest Americans, spelling out election- year priorities that drew immediate Republican opposition. Obama is proposing more money for jobs, highways and bridges, schools, student aid and manufacturing research as well as higher taxes for corporations, banks and oil, natural gas and coal companies, even as the nation’s debt grows faster than the administration predicted in

Feb. 14, 2012

MADRID (AFP) ― Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s on Monday lowered their credit rating of Spanish banks, including the country’s four largest lenders, following their downgrade of Spain last month.Fitch cut its rating for Santander, the biggest eurozone bank by market capitalisation, by two notches to “A” and cut its ratings for BBVA, Bankia and CaixaBank by one notch.Standard & Poor’s cut its rating for the banks ― Spain’s four biggest ― as well as for 11 other Spanish lenders.The agency lowe

Feb. 14, 2012

Apple Inc., burnished by the iPhone’s success and memorials to Steve Jobs, displaced Google Inc. as top company in Harris Interactive’s poll of corporate images. Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and Johnson & Johnson dropped. Apple earned the highest score in the 13-year history of Harris’ survey of U.S. consumers, buoyed by the Cupertino, California-based company’s financial success and products like last year’s iPhone 4S, said Robert Fronk, the pollster’s executive vice president. The rise came even as

Feb. 14, 2012

ATHENS (AP) ― Greek lawmakers on Monday approved harsh new austerity measures demanded by bailout creditors to save the debt-crippled nation from bankruptcy, after riots in Athens and other cities left stores looted and burned and more than 120 people hurt.  The historic vote paves the way for Greece’s European partners and the International Monetary Fund to release $170 billion in new rescue loans, without which Greece would default on its mountain of debt next month and likely leave the eurozo

Feb. 13, 2012