IBT Staff Reporter

SAN ANTONIO - Even though Toyota Motor Corp touts its mighty Tundra pickup as the truck that's changing it all, workers who build it in San Antonio are not immune from the threat of layoffs that have beset the Big Three U.S. automakers. Opening the $1.2 billion plant in San Antonio in early 2007 was part of Toyota's public relations campaign to displace big U.S. truck makers like Ford, Che...

Feb 17, 2009

NEW YORK - Stock index futures tumbled on Tuesday on concern that the recession is worsening and that efforts to stabilize the global financial system may not be enough. The diminishing appetite for riskier assets made stocks sink in Asia overnight while in Europe benchmark indexes were down more than 2 percent. Top drags before the bell included financials, with shares of Bank of America

Feb 17, 2009

ANTANANARIVO, (Reuters) - Madagascar's armed forces said on Tuesday they were ready to fulfil their duties if a bitter power struggle that has killed about 125 people is not resolved quickly.

Feb 17, 2009

STUTTGART/WASHINGTON - Daimler swung to a hefty loss, hit by exposure to Chrysler, and Opel and Saab braced for news of General Motors' survival plan, as European carmakers saw their fates tied closely to their U.S. peers. As GM and Chrysler put the finishing touches to blueprints showing how they will pay back billions of dollars of government loans, Chrysler's German ex-owner Daimler said it...

Feb 17, 2009

Profit fell to $3.79 billion, or 96 cents per share, for its fiscal fourth quarter that ended January 31, from $4.096 billion, or $1.02 share, a year ago. The company said earnings per share excluding a 7 cent charge for the settlement of class action lawsuits was $1.03 per share. Analysts, on average, had been expecting it to earn 99 cents per share, according to Reuters Estimates. Last month, ...

Feb 17, 2009

TORONTO, (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Tuesday he is not concerned about the possibility of General Motors Corp (GM.N) moving out of Canada as the Detroit-based company restructures its operations.

Feb 17, 2009

BARCELONA - Nortel Networks Corp aims to present its new business plan on how it will scale down its business operations within the next few weeks, a senior company official told Reuters on Tuesday. The Toronto-based telecom equipment maker filed for bankruptcy protection in Canada and the United States last month, blaming the economic crisis for derailing a turnaround effort that ...

Feb 17, 2009

China defended its ties with Cambodia's Khmer Rouge regime saying it was part of normal diplomatic relations, as a trial began on Tuesday in Phnom Penh of the group's chief torturer.

Feb 17, 2009

BARCELONA - Nortel Networks Corp aims to present its new business plan on how it will scale down its business operations within the next few weeks, a senior company official told Reuters on Tuesday. The Toronto-based telecom equipment maker filed for bankruptcy protection in Canada and the United States last month, blaming the economic crisis for derailing a turnaround effort that ...

Feb 17, 2009

Vodafone, the world's largest mobile phone group by revenue, believes competition will continue to increase in Spain but is not concerned and believes it is on the right track.

Feb 17, 2009

Profit fell to $3.79 billion, or 96 cents per share, for its fiscal fourth quarter that ended January 31, from $4.096 billion, or $1.02 share, a year ago. The company said earnings per share excluding a 7 cent charge for the settlement of class action lawsuits was $1.03 per share. Analysts, on average, had been expecting it to earn 99 cents per share, according to Reuters Estimates. Last month, ...

Feb 17, 2009

SAO PAULO - Brazil's stocks and currency sank on Tuesday, dragged down by fresh concerns that the recession in the United States is worsening and that Washington's efforts to shore up the economy may not be enough.

Feb 17, 2009

LONDON - Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) posted a 14.3 percent drop in fourth-quarter operating income at its international businesses, hit by the stronger dollar, but said underlying growth was solid, led by the UK, China and Brazil.

Feb 17, 2009

Growing concerns about deteriorating emerging European economies hit European shares and the euro on Tuesday, driving capital to safer government bonds and gold.

Feb 17, 2009

Israel is involved in a covert war of sabotage inside Iran to try to delay Tehran's alleged attempts to develop a nuclear weapon, a British newspaper said on Tuesday, quoting a former CIA agent and intelligence experts.

Feb 17, 2009

NEW YORK - Stock index futures slid on Tuesday as concerns that the global recession was worsening fueled a global equity rout, and investors worried that efforts to stem the downward spiral and stabilize the financial system may not be enough. * The diminishing appetite for riskier assets sunk stocks in Asia overnight, while in Europe benchmark indexes were down more than 2 percent. * S&P ...

Feb 17, 2009

The new touchscreen HTC Magic is the phone maker's sleek second attempt at integrating Google's mobile phone Android operating system.

Feb 17, 2009

- Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Tuesday, as the market reopens after a long holiday weekend, with investors bracing for quarterly results from retail behemoth Wal-Mart . At 4:48 a.m. EST, futures for the S&P 500 were down 2.1 percent, Dow Jones futures were down 1.8 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures were down 1.9 percent. Wal-Mart, the world's bigg...

Feb 17, 2009

Daimler swung to a hefty loss, hit by exposure to Chrysler, and Opel and Saab braced for news of General Motors' survival plan, as European carmakers saw their fates tied closely to their U.S. peers.

Feb 17, 2009

rose by the same amount, but confidence among non-manufacturers worsened by 8 points to a record low of minus 39. Japan's finance minister, Shoichi Nakagawa, also said he would resign, after Japan's budget passes, over his embarrassing performance at a G7 weekend meeting in Rome. Nakagawa's untimely departure is a major blow to increasingly unpopular Prime Minister Taro Aso. Analysts said As...

Feb 17, 2009

Intel, the world's biggest chipmaker, expects to sell at least 50 percent more of its Atom chips for netbooks and other mobile Internet devices this year than it did last year, the head of that unit said.

Feb 17, 2009

Top cell phone maker Nokia will use Qualcomm's chips in its advanced cell phones, the firms said on Tuesday, marking a further warming of ties between the former courtroom rivals.

Feb 17, 2009

WASHINGTON - The U.S. government will release $4 billion in additional aid to General Motors Corp on Tuesday as planned, a White House aide said on Monday, ahead of the deadline for the automaker to submit a new survival plan. The aide said GM's smaller rival Chrysler LLC's request for additional aid would be treated as a new request and dealt with separately. GM is seeking conce...

Feb 17, 2009

SINGAPORE - U.S. oil prices fell toward $36 a barrel on Tuesday as bleak economic indicators in Asia returned focus to the worldwide oil demand slump. Following Monday's news that Japan's economy shrank by the most in 35 years, a Reuters poll showed confidence among manufacturers remained mired near record lows and service sector sentiment fell to its poorest ever. Concerns over weak oil co...

Feb 17, 2009

Flash memory maker SanDisk aims to boost sales of memory cards to store music and video on their mobile phones by tailoring their cards to highlight the offerings of individual network operators.

Feb 17, 2009

- Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc, Donald Trump's casino group, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Tuesday, court documents show. The casino operator had assets of about $2.1 billion and total debts of about $1.74 billion on December 31, 2008, it said in its filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey. Nine affiliates of the casino operator including Trump P...

Feb 17, 2009

BARCELONA - Top global mobile phone maker Nokia said on Tuesday it would work with Qualcomm Inc to develop mobile phones. Nokia said the phones would use Qualcomm chipsets and S60 software, the most widely-used smartphone software. The first Mobile devices based on this collaboration are expected to launch in mid-2010 and be compatible with the forthcoming Symbian foundation platform, Nokia...

Feb 17, 2009

Chipmaker Freescale, which began making chips for small netbook laptop computers last month, plans to expand its offering to include chipsets for Google's Android operating system by next quarter.

Feb 17, 2009

Internet calling company Skype has secured a deal with Nokia under which the world's biggest phone maker will preload Skype software into some of its new smartphones starting from the third quarter of this year.

Feb 17, 2009