AP News, August 2nd, 2007
The top business news from The Associated Press for the morning of Thursday, August 2, 2007:
Fisher-Price to Recall Nearly 1M Toys
BEIJING (AP) _ China said it would work with the United States to improve product safety amid a massive U.S. recall Thursday of plastic preschool toys made by a Chinese vendor, including the popular Big Bird, Elmo, Dora and Diego characters. The remarks came just ahead of toy-maker Fisher-Price's announcement that it was recalling almost 1 million toys, the latest in a string of Chinese product safety scandals.
___
Northwest, Pilots Reach Workload Deal
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) _ Northwest Airlines Corp. and its pilots made a deal Wednesday that would ease pilots' workloads in an effort to stop the end-of-the-month cancellations that have plagued the airline. Northwest was forced to cancel hundreds of flights at the ends of June and July because it couldn't find enough pilots. The airline had said more pilots than usual weren't showing up for work; pilots said they were overworked under a new, tougher schedule implemented under bankruptcy.
___
House Passes $20B Water Projects Bill
WASHINGTON (AP) _ The House overwhelmingly passed a $20 billion water projects bill Wednesday night despite a promised veto by President Bush, who complains the bill is laden with costly pet projects and shifts new costs onto the government. "I regret that we're in this situation. But we're going to have to do what we have to do," said Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., rallying support for a bill loaded with Army Corps of Engineers projects such as restoring wetlands in coastal Louisiana, improving hurricane protection in New Orleans and adding new drinking water and wastewater treatment plants.
___
South Korea Suspends US Beef Imports
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) _ South Korea has effectively suspended U.S. beef imports over mad cow concerns after a recent shipment was found to have contained banned parts, a news report said Thursday. The Agriculture Ministry said it halted quarantine inspections of American beef shipments Wednesday after finding a banned vertebral column in a recent shipment, Yonhap news agency reported. Without such inspections, the beef cannot be brought to market.
___
Schnucks Recalls Green Beans in 7 States
ST. LOUIS (AP) _ A supermarket chain here is pulling its brand of French style green beans from the shelves of more than 100 stores because of concerns about possible contamination. Schnucks, with stores primarily in the St. Louis area and across the Midwest, said Wednesday it was recalling Schnucks Blue Lake French Style Green Beans from all Schnucks and Logli stores.
___
Fender-Benders Cost Luxury Car Owners
WASHINGTON (AP) _ Buying an expensive car can bring an owner style, prestige and repair bills in the thousands of dollars to fix damage caused by minor fender-benders. Damage to luxury vehicles involved in low-speed crashes of 3 to 6 miles per hour, which typically happen in commuter traffic or in parking lots, can cost upward of $14,000, according to tests released Thursday by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
___
Japanese Stocks Climb; Dollar Up vs. Yen
TOKYO (AP) _ Japanese stocks rose modestly Thursday, bouncing back from a 4 1/2-month low, led by real estate shares such as Mitsubishi Estate. The Nikkei 225 index rose 113.13 points, or 0.67 percent, on the Tokyo Stock Exchange to 16,984.11 points. Wednesday it fell 2.2 percent to 16,870.98 points, its lowest close since March 16. That decline came on disappointing earnings from Japan's megabanks and Wall Street's recent retreat.
___
Oil Prices Rise in Asian Trading
SINGAPORE (AP) _ Oil prices edged higher in Asian trading Thursday after a roller-coaster session the previous day during which prices hit a new intraday record, then tumbled. Light, sweet crude for September delivery added 10 cents to $76.63 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, mid-afternoon in Singapore.
___
Lenovo Reports 12-Fold Jump in Profits
BEIJING (AP) _ Lenovo Group Ltd., the world's No. 3 personal computer maker, said Thursday its latest quarterly profits rose 12-fold as the Beijing-based company tried to establish itself as a global brand. Profits were $66.8 million for the quarter ended June 30, up from $5.2 million in the year-earlier period, the company announced.
___
StubHub, MLB Enter Ticket Resale Pact
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ EBay Inc.'s ticket-reselling subsidiary StubHub announced a five-year deal Wednesday night making it the official source of secondary tickets for Major League Baseball. The agreement puts StubHub in charge of secondary ticket sales at MLB Advanced Media LP's Internet site MLB.com, and for individual team sites, such as the San Francisco Giants' SFGiants.com.
___
Gold Prices
LONDON (AP) _ Gold bullion opened Thursday at a bid price of $664.75 a troy ounce, down from $665.30 late Wednesday.
___
Dollar-Yen
TOKYO (AP) _ The dollar edged higher against the yen Thursday in Asia after a volatile session.
A service of The Associated Press. Copyright 2007 All rights reserved.
