HONG KONG (AP) - Asian stock markets were mostly higher
Friday as stronger-than-expected results from bellwether companies gave
investors more reasons to hope the worst of the global recession was over.
European markets were mixed in early trade.
TOKYO (AP) - Japanese shares rose Friday as investors
turned optimistic the worst of the global economic crisis was over following
better-than-expected earnings from corporate giants.
STOCKHOLM (AP) - Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson on
Friday posted a euro293 million ($387 million) net loss in the first quarter on
falling sales and said it would slash an additional 2,000 jobs to cut costs.
TOKYO (AP) - Toshiba Corp., Japan's top chipmaker, Friday
said its net loss for the last fiscal year will be bigger than forecast due to
a large write-off, and warned that more contract jobs will be cut.
UNION, Mo. (AP) - A sport utility vehicle loaded with
1,200 baby chicks in cardboard boxes pulls up to the Clearview Feed and Seed
store, where customers come to pick up their peeping, cheeping poultry orders
on a recent spring day.
SHANGHAI (AP) - As ailing global automakers agonize over
their survival strategies, China's upstarts are racing them to launch homegrown
hybrid and electric vehicles in the only major market that is still growing.
HAVANA (AP) - Talks toward a thaw in U.S.-Cuba relations
seemed to be a real possibility after the new presidents of both countries
reached out to each other with surprisingly straightforward language about
their desire to revive a relationship frozen by 50 years of cold war.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - New Zealand's inflation
rate continued to ease in the first quarter, official figures showed Friday,
setting the scene for the central bank to cut interest rates again to help an
economy mired in recession.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Google Inc.'s YouTube said Thursday it
is vastly expanding its library of full-length movies and TV shows it offers
online, while also launching a new advertising service and adding about a dozen
new content partners.
HONG KONG (AP) - Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., Asia's
third-largest carrier, has asked staff to take unpaid leave while it cuts
passenger and cargo capacity to cope with the global downturn.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The recession is prodding Google
Inc. to grow up faster than a lot of people anticipated.
BEIJING (AP) - Air China Ltd., one of China's three major
state-owned carriers, said Friday it lost 9.3 billion yuan ($1.3 billion) in
2008 due to surging fuel costs and wrong-way bets on fuel hedging contracts.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - U.S. Secretary of State
Hillary Rodham Clinton assured Haitians Thursday that the United States' latest
aid is more than a short-term fix for a nation still struggling with some of
the world's worst poverty.
DETROIT (AP) - The United Auto Workers union has placed
concession talks with General Motors Corp. on the back burner as it tries to
reach a deal with Chrysler LLC before an April 30 government deadline, two
people briefed on the negotiations said Thursday.
LYON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) - Broadcast reports say a gas
leak caused an explosion at an aluminum factory in southeastern Michigan,
causing minor injuries to four people.