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Eurozone meets on Greek bailout

World BusinessFeb 20, 2012

BRUSSELS (AFP) ― Eurozone finance ministers meet in Brussels Monday with time running out if they are to close a new 230-billion-euro ($300 billion) bailout package for Greece and avert a chaotic default.After several false starts during weeks of difficult negotiations, the ministers were scheduled to start meeting at the EU headquarters from 3:30 p.m., bidding to greenlight terms on an exchange of bonds held by private investors, the launch of which is penciled in for Wednesday.They hope this k
Slowing China growth may hurt supercar sales, Lamborghini says

World BusinessFeb 20, 2012

Lamborghini SpA, maker of the $1 million Aventador LP 700-4, said industry sales of ultra-luxury sports cars may slow as signs that China’s economy is weakening puts off some buyers. “If you look at the economy right now, there may be some uncertainty to make people wait a little,” Christian Mastro, Lamborghini’s Asia Pacific general manager, said in a phone interview “The number of people able to spend this kind of money is limited, it’s not unlimited.” Growth in the world’s second-largest econ
Private jet makers, jostling for Asian markets

World BusinessFeb 20, 2012

SINGAPORE (AFP) ― If you have money and want to flaunt it, mansions, limousines and yachts are no longer enough. For the super rich of Asia, owning a private jet has become the ultimate status symbol.Executive-jet makers aiming to woo Asia’s growing ranks of billionaires and multi-millionaires were out in force at the Singapore Airshow, which drew to a close over the weekend.Brazil’s Embraer had Jackie Chan’s personal Legacy 650 jet ― with a unique white, red and yellow livery inspired by a myth
U.S. gas prices at record for this time of year

World BusinessFeb 20, 2012

NEW YORK (AP) ― Gasoline prices have never been higher this time of the year.At $3.53 a gallon, prices are already up 25 cents since Jan. 1. And experts say they could reach a record $4.25 a gallon by late April.“You’re going to see a lot more staycations this year,” says Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research. “When the price gets anywhere near $4, you really see people react.”Already, W. Howard Coudle, a retired machinist from Crestwood, Mo., has seen his monthly gaso
Thousands protest Spain’s new labor market reforms

World BusinessFeb 20, 2012

MADRID (AP) ― Hundreds of thousands of protesters were marching throughout Spain on Sunday in the first large-scale show of anger over new labor reforms that make it easier for companies to fire workers and pull out of collective bargaining agreements.Spain’s main trade unions organized marches in 57 cities, beginning midmorning in southern Cordoba. Some events that had been planned for later in the day, such as in eastern Valencia, had to be brought forward because of the early buildup of large
Japan, China to help Europe solve crisis

World BusinessFeb 20, 2012

Azumi says Japan-China deal reached for common response to IMF on EuropeJapanese Finance Minister Jun Azumi said his nation and China will work together to help Europe solve its debt crisis through the International Monetary Fund. Europe needs a bigger so-called firewall of added funding to contain the crisis, even as Greece shows some improvement in solving its financial woes, Azumi told reporters in Beijing Sunday after meeting Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan. Azumi, who met Chinese Finance
Wynn Resorts buys out biggest stakeholder

World BusinessFeb 20, 2012

NEW YORK (AP) ― Wynn Resorts Ltd. said Sunday that it forcibly bought back all the shares controlled by its biggest stakeholder Kazuo Okada and asked the Japanese tycoon to resign from the board after finding he made improper payments to overseas gambling regulators.The Las Vegas casino operator said it took action against Okada after a year-long investigation uncovered that he engaged in activities that violated U.S. anti-corruption law.The announcement marks the latest deterioration of Okada’s
Japan’s exports fall on yen strength

World BusinessFeb 20, 2012

Japan posted a record trade deficit in January as the yen’s strength and weaker global demand eroded manufacturers’ profits and slowed the nation’s recovery from last year’s earthquake and tsunami. The trade deficit widened to 1.48 trillion yen ($19 billion) and shipments dropped 9.3 percent from a year earlier, the Ministry of Finance said Monday in Tokyo. The median estimate of 28 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a trade gap of 1.46 trillion yen. The currency’s advance has hampere
Japan, China to help Europe solve crisis

World BusinessFeb 20, 2012

Japan agrees with China to aid Europe through IMF after further euro steps, Azumi saysJapanese Finance Minister Jun Azumi said that his nation and China are committed to help resolve the European debt crisis through the International Monetary Fund once euro region members take further steps themselves. “We shared the view that Europe needs to make more efforts to create a bigger firewall,” Azumi told reporters in Beijing Sunday after meeting Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan. “We also agreed to a
Santorum raises stakes in battle with Romney

World NewsFeb 20, 2012

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) ― Rick Santorum courted conservatives in the U.S. Midwest in his battle with Mitt Romney for the Republican presidential nomination as President Barack Obama’s campaign team shifted gears to consider the possibility his opponent in the November election will be the former Pennsylvania senator.Campaign officials confirm Obama’s Chicago-based organization has begun combing through Santorum’s background looking for possible lines of attack. It also emailed Obama’s Pennsylvania s
Secretive Navy SEALs take starring role in new film

World NewsFeb 20, 2012

Scenes from a movie "Act of Valor," starring real, active-duty Navy SEALs. (AP-Yonhap News) The secretive Navy SEALs are coming out of the shadows for a new Hollywood film, with elite commandos cast in starring roles in a radical departure for America's special forces. In "Act
Irish P.M., Xi discuss trade, investment

World NewsFeb 20, 2012

DUBLIN (AFP) ― Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny held talks Sunday with China’s Vice President Xi Jinping as the second day of his visit to the eurozone member focused on trade and investment and the signing of a number of bi-lateral deals. “We welcome the opportunities which our growing relationship with China presents,” Kenny told Xi, the Asian power’s leader-in-waiting, at an official dinner in Dublin Castle. “We welcome the growing people to people links in trade, education and tourism,” he ad
Sarkozy: not afraid of record

World NewsFeb 20, 2012

MARSEILLE, France (AP) ― President Nicolas Sarkozy defended his unpopular policies as insulating France from the worst consequences of Europe’s debt crisis, declaring in a nationalistic speech to thousands of supporters Sunday that “the truth doesn’t scare me.”In the first major speech of his re-election campaign, Sarkozy lashed his opponent and election front-runner, Socialist candidate Francois Hollande, painting him as a liar who would say anything to get elected.Just two months ahead of the
U.S., Britain urge Israel not to attack Iran

World NewsFeb 20, 2012

JERUSALEM (AP) ― The U.S. and Britain on Sunday urged Israel not to attack Iran’s nuclear program as the White House’s national security adviser arrived in the region, reflecting growing international jitters that the Israelis are poised to strike.In their warnings, both the chairman of the U.S. joint chiefs of staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, and British Foreign Secretary William Hague said an Israeli attack on Iran would have grave consequences for the entire region and urged Israel to give interna
Iran suspends oil exports to British, French buyers

World BusinessFeb 20, 2012

TEHRAN (AP) ― Iran has halted oil shipments to Britain and France, the Oil Ministry said Sunday, in an apparent pre-emptive blow against the European Union after the bloc imposed sanctions on Iran’s crucial fuel exports. The EU imposed tough sanctions against Iran last month, which included a freeze of the country’s central bank assets and an oil embargo set to begin in July. Iran’s Oil Minister Rostam Qassemi had warned earlier this month that Tehran could cut off oil exports to “hostile” Europ