Latest Business Wires

BAE Systems PLC, the world's No. 2 defense contractor, said Thursday that it is planning to axe around 640 jobs because of an expected downturn in its workload.

The London Stock Exchange PLC halted electronic share trading Thursday because of technical issues and said it has not yet determined the root cause of the problem.

Shares of major lender China Minsheng Banking Corp. slid more than 3 percent in their first day of trade in Hong Kong Thursday amid anxiety this year's stimulus-fed credit surge might weigh on the industry's profits.

European Union antitrust regulators have charged Royal Philips Electronics NV and others with running a cartel to fix the price of cathode ray tubes used in televisions and computer monitors, the EU executive and Philips said Thursday.

The head of the International Energy Agency on Thursday applauded President Barack Obama's plans to commit the U.S. to significant greenhouse gas reductions at next month's Copenhagen climate summit.

Taiwan's economy contracted at a slower pace year-on-year in the third quarter and the government raised its growth forecast for 2010 as rising demand from mainland China spurs a recovery.

China announced plans Thursday to drastically boost its energy efficiency as part of its contribution to the fight against global warming.

Malaysia's government plans to impose a 4 percent goods and services tax by 2011 to boost revenue by an additional 1 billion ringgit ($297 million) annually, a senior official Thursday.

Australian authorities have slapped U.S. private equity firm TPG with a bill for 678 million Australian dollars ($629 million) in taxes and penalties, a move that is sending chills down the spines of foreign investors.

Nebraska prosecutors have dismissed all charges against two car dealership executives accused of stealing more than 80 vehicles off their own lot.

A federal judge on Wednesday ordered The Reserve Primary Fund, which last year roiled the $3 trillion money-market industry by "breaking the buck," to pay out its remaining assets to shareholders waiting to get their money back.

Freedom Communications said Wednesday that it has finalized an agreement to sell the East Valley Tribune in the Phoenix suburb of Mesa to a company that owns free papers in Tucson, Ariz., and Telluride, Colo.

Insurer American International Group Inc. said it has cut the salaries of three top executives to comply with pay restrictions for companies that took federal bailout money, according to a regulatory filing Wednesday.

In a Nov. 24 story about Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC buying back auction rate securities from investors, The Associated Press, relying on information from the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies, reported erroneously how much the company was buying back. It has agreed to buy back up to $17.2 million from Colorado individual investors, charities, and small- and medium-sized businesses, not $79.4 million. The story also misstated how much auction rate securities the company has bought back from retail investors or agreed to resolve as part of a multistate agreement. That number should be $550 million, not $3.5 billion.

Global Defense Technology & Systems Inc. said Wednesday that it closed its initial public offering of 4.6 million common shares, which were priced at $13 apiece and yielded $36.3 million in net proceeds.

Deutsche Bank AG and a BNP Paribas unit sued Bank of America NA on Wednesday over allegations the bank failed to pay back $1.73 billion in secured notes.

TUESDAY, Dec. 1

Among the earnings stories for Wednesday, Nov. 25, from AP Financial News:

Jamaica will for the first time allow horse racing on Sundays in a bid to revive the economy and draw tourists, but will ban off-track betting on that day.

Alcohol abuse cost New Mexico 993 lives and nearly $2.5 billion in 2006 in lost productivity, health care expenses and costs associated with property loss from crashes and fires, a new report shows.