Russian tycoon sells airline for 1 rouble

RUSSIAN tycoon Alexander Lebedev has sold his Moscow-based airline Red Wings for a symbolic 1 rouble (31 Australian cents) after it was grounded following a fatal crash of one of its Tupolev jets.

"Yes, I have signed documents on selling 100 per cent of Red Wings to a group of investors for 1 rouble," the billionaire known for his criticisms of the Kremlin wrote on his blog, without revealing the identity of the buyers.

"I did everything I could to save the company," wrote Lebedev, who part-owns Russia's most critical opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta and whose son Evgeny Lebedev owns Britain's The Independent and Evening Standard newspapers.

Writing on Twitter, he said he took the decision to sell "because of the fears of the bureaucrats in charge (of the sector)".

The Russian civil aviation agency in early February suspended operations by Red Wings, citing violations and lack of financing.

The flight ban came after one of the airline's TU-204 planes crashed on landing at Moscow's Vnukovo airport on December 29, killing five crew members, although the civil aviation authority said it was unrelated.

The aviation authority identified numerous violations by the airline and judged that it did not have enough financial resources to properly maintain its fleet.

Lebedev protested in February that there were no grounds for the decision to stop flights by the airline, which served several Russian cities.

Red Wings has a fleet of eight TU-204 planes, a mid-range jet that was first developed in the late Soviet era.

23.09 | 0 komentar | Read More

US stocks mixed after jobless claims jump

US stocks have opened mixed after unemployment claims unexpectedly jumped, offsetting positive market reaction to new stimulus measures by the Bank of Japan.

Five minutes into trade on Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 18.86 points, or 0.13 per cent, to 14,569.21.

The broad-based S&P 500 inched 1.21 points, or 0.08 per cent, higher to 1,554.90.

The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell 4.94 points, or 0.15 per cent, to 3,213.66.

The mixed result came after Bank of Japan economic stimulus measures sent the Nikkei 225 index up 2.2 per cent.

But initial US jobless claims, an indicator of the pace of layoffs, totalled 385,000 in the week ending March 30, up 28,000 from the prior week's reading, the Labor Department reported.

The unexpected increase in claims came on the heels of a disappointing report on Wednesday on private-sector hiring.

The Department of Labor on Friday will release its closely watched monthly non-farm jobs and unemployment report.

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US jobless claims jump to November high

NEW claims for US unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose in late March to their highest level since November, government figures show.

Initial jobless claims, an indicator of the pace of layoffs in the US economy, totalled 385,000 in the week ending March 30, up 28,000 from the prior week's unrevised reading of 357,000, the Labor Department reported on Thursday.

The four-week moving claims average rose by 11,250 to 354,250.

The third straight weekly increase was unexpected and brought claims to their highest level since late November.

Analysts on average had predicted claims would fall to 345,000.

The latest claims data were not part of the Labor Department's survey for its March jobs market report, which is due on Friday. But they added to signs of soft job creation last month.

"The weekly data are volatile but this latest jump erased all of the improvement over the past few months," said Jennifer Lee of BMO Economics.

On Wednesday payrolls processing firm ADP reported private sector employment rose by 158,000 jobs in March, the smallest increase in four months and well below expectations.

On Friday, the Labor Department releases its jobs and unemployment report, a closely watched indicator of the health of the US economy.

Most analysts have pencilled in US jobs growth of 192,000 in March, down from a February spike of 236,000.

The unemployment rate was expected to hold unchanged at 7.7 per cent for a second straight month.

AFP

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Google resells print rights to Frommer

GOOGLE says it has "returned" the print rights for Frommer's travel books to company founder Arthur Frommer less than a year after acquiring the popular tourist guides.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

Google said in a statement on Thursday it was "focused on providing high-quality local information to help people quickly discover and share great places" and had been integrating the Frommer's content into Google+ Local and our other Google services.

"We can confirm that we have returned the Frommer's brand to its founder and are licensing certain travel content to him," a Google spokesperson said.

The move comes eight months after Google said it was acquiring the Frommer's brand and its travel content from US publishing house John Wiley & Sons.

Google added the Zagat restaurant review content to its Google+ social network last year, as it rolled out a new local search feature that takes on services such as Yelp.

23.08 | 0 komentar | Read More

UK chancellor questions Philpott welfare

BRITISH Chancellor George Osborne has linked the case of child killer Mick Philpott to the need for reform of the welfare system, questioning why taxpayers are funding "lifestyles like that".

Osborne, who has been leading the government's defence of its sweeping welfare changes, stressed Philpott was responsible for his "absolutely horrendous" crimes.

But he said there was a "question for government and for society" about the welfare benefits that allowed Philpott to live the way he did.

Philpott, who was jailed for life with a minimum term of 15 years for killing six of his children, lived in a council house in Derby, claimed thousands of dollars in benefit and refused to get a job.

When asked if the Philpotts were a product of Britain's welfare system, Osborne said: "Philpott is responsible for these absolutely horrendous crimes, these are crimes that have shocked the nation. The courts are responsible for sentencing.

"But I think there is a question for government and for society about the welfare state, and the taxpayers who pay for the welfare state, subsidising lifestyles like that. And I think that debate needs to be had."

Critics have attacked the government's wholesale changes to the welfare system, which enter into force this month.

But with the government keen to reduce the welfare bill a raft of changes are being introduced, including an average STG14 ($A20) a week cut in housing benefit for council tenants deemed to have a spare room - dubbed the "bedroom tax" by opponents.

Wider welfare and tax changes will also see council tax benefit funding cut, and working-age benefits and tax credit rises pegged at one per cent - well below inflation - for three years.

Disability living allowance is being replaced by the personal independence payment, while trials are due to begin in four London boroughs of a STG500 ($A728) a week cap on household benefits.

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Gillard leaves for six-day China visit

PRIME Minister Julia Gillard departs for China on Friday morning accompanied by the most senior Australian political delegation to ever visit the Asian nation.

Her six-day visit includes taking part in the Boao Forum for Asia, on Hainan Island, and a meeting with new president Xi Jinping.

She is expected to hold several private meetings ahead of the forum.

Ms Gillard plans to promote trade and economic interests and share with the Chinese leadership perspectives on global and regional economic and security issues.

Foreign Minister Bob Carr, part of the delegation, says there will also be discussions about North Korea's increasingly provocative behaviour.

"I would expect the Chinese to give us an account of the measures they've taken so far, to give us a reading of what they think the effect of that has been in North Korea," he told ABC television on Thursday.

"That will lead to a discussion where we would explore with them further action they might take."

The Australian delegation for the visit also includes including Trade Minister Craig Emerson, Defence Minister Stephen Smith and Financial Services Minister Bill Shorten.

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Man kills nine in axe rampage in India

AN Indian villager has axed to death four women and five young girls while apparently mentally disturbed after his wife left him, police say.

Pandu Nagesia, 35, killed nine of his neighbours during his rampage through Behratoli village in the central state of Chhattisgarh on Thursday, district police chief Govardhan Singh Darroh said by telephone.

The victims were five girls aged between two and nine, a 25-year-old and three women over 60, he said.

"A total of nine females were axed to death," Darroh said.

"The accused Nagesia first attacked a 25-year-old woman and her two-year-old child and axed them to death, subsequently killing his neighbours one after another," the police chief said.

"The accused seems to be mentally disturbed after his wife deserted him," he said, after Nagesia was taken into custody and the axe recovered from the village, 625 kilometres north of the state capital, Raipur.

A witness said the incident happened in the early afternoon when some women and children had assembled at a house after their male relatives had gone to work in a nearby mine, the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency reported.

Attacks on Indian women have been in the global spotlight since December, when a 23-year-old student was brutally attacked and raped by six men on a moving bus in the capital, New Delhi. She died two weeks later of her injuries.

The case prompted outrage at home and abroad, prompting parliament to toughen laws to make the country safer for women.

Since the Delhi case, a string of other attacks have hit the headlines, including the gang-rape of a Swiss cyclist in central Madhya Pradesh state last month.

On Wednesday four sisters walking home in north India suffered severe burns after being attacked with acid by two men on a motorbike - a brutal example of another growing problem in South Asia.

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ECB can't replace govt action: Draghi

THE European Central Bank cannot step into the breach left by a lack of action by eurozone governments to solve the region's debt crisis, but is ready to do whatever it can to play its part, ECB chief Mario Draghi says.

"We cannot replace lack of capital in the banking system or the lack of actions by governments," Draghi told a news conference on Thursday after the ECB left its interest rates unchanged for the ninth month in a row.

"The most stimulative measure is to pay the arrears. The ECB cannot replace governments on that front, or on structural reforms," he said.

Nevertheless, the ECB was willing and ready to act and looking at all policy options, standard and non-standard, to help resolve the crisis, Draghi insisted.

"We are ready to act within our mandate," he said.

With regard to non-standard or anti-crisis measures, "we discussed a variety of measures. We have to be aware of what we can do and what we cannot do," Draghi said.

The ECB was also open to taking on board the experiences of other countries in trying to solve the eurozone's problems, he said.

"We will certainly look at other countries' experiences, what is feasible, institutionally acceptable and effective," he said. "We are thinking 360 degrees on non-standard measures," Draghi said.

Throughout the seemingly never-ending crisis - which appeared to have abated recently until political gridlock in Italy and the crisis in Cyprus sent shockwaves through financial markets once again - the ECB has never hesitated to act as firefighter.

It has slashed its key interest rates, pumped more than 1 trillion euros ($A1.24 trillion) into the banking system to avert a credit crunch and sought to tame borrowing costs in worst-hit countries by buying up their sovereign bonds.

The multi-faceted approach appeared to pay off, allowing the markets to enjoy an extended period of calm.

But calls have arisen for the ECB to come to the rescue once again as tensions re-emerged after elections in Italy ended in a political stalemate and Cyprus's parliament rejected the terms of a tough bailout deal with its international creditors.

Finding a solution was not easy, and would require the participation of all actors, Draghi said.

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