Ad sales boost Time Warner profit
Quarterly profits at US media giant TimeWarner jumped 76% to $1.13bn (£600m) for the three months to December, from $639m year-earlier.
The firm, which is now one of the biggest investors in Google, benefited from sales of high-speed internet connections and highe… | business | 10% |
Dollar gains on Greenspan speech
The dollar has hit its highest level against the euro in almost three months after the Federal Reserve head said the US trade deficit is set to stabilise.
And Alan Greenspan highlighted the US government's willingness to curb spending and rising household savings a… | business | 10% |
Yukos unit buyer faces loan claim
The owners of embattled Russian oil giant Yukos are to ask the buyer of its former production unit to pay back a $900m (£479m) loan.
State-owned Rosneft bought the Yugansk unit for $9.3bn in a sale forced by Russia to part settle a $27.5bn tax claim against Yukos.… | business | 10% |
High fuel prices hit BA's profits
British Airways has blamed high fuel prices for a 40% drop in profits.
Reporting its results for the three months to 31 December 2004, the airline made a pre-tax profit of £75m ($141m) compared with £125m a year earlier. Rod Eddington, BA's chief executive, said t… | business | 10% |
Pernod takeover talk lifts Domecq
Shares in UK drinks and food firm Allied Domecq have risen on speculation that it could be the target of a takeover by France's Pernod Ricard.
Reports in the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times suggested that the French spirits firm is considering a bid, b… | business | 10% |
Japan narrowly escapes recession
Japan's economy teetered on the brink of a technical recession in the three months to September, figures show.
Revised figures indicated growth of just 0.1% - and a similar-sized contraction in the previous quarter. On an annual basis, the data suggests annual grow… | business | 10% |
Jobs growth still slow in the US
The US created fewer jobs than expected in January, but a fall in jobseekers pushed the unemployment rate to its lowest level in three years.
According to Labor Department figures, US firms added only 146,000 jobs in January. The gain in non-farm payrolls was below… | business | 10% |
India calls for fair trade rules
India, which attends the G7 meeting of seven leading industrialised nations on Friday, is unlikely to be cowed by its newcomer status.
In London on Thursday ahead of the meeting, India's finance minister, lashed out at the restrictive trade policies of the G7 natio… | business | 10% |
Ethiopia's crop production up 24%
Ethiopia produced 14.27 million tonnes of crops in 2004, 24% higher than in 2003 and 21% more than the average of the past five years, a report says.
In 2003, crop production totalled 11.49 million tonnes, the joint report from the Food and Agriculture Organisatio… | business | 10% |
Court rejects $280bn tobacco case
A US government claim accusing the country's biggest tobacco companies of covering up the effects of smoking has been thrown out by an appeal court.
The demand for $280bn (£155bn) - filed by the Clinton administration in 1999 - was rejected in a 2-1 decision. The … | business | 10% |