Facebook shares soar, lifting Nasdaq

• From: AAP
• July 26, 2013 12:23AM

FACEBOOK shares have soared on strong earnings in opening trade, lifting the Nasdaq, while overall the markets were in negative territory.

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US jobless claims climb

MORE people filed new claims for US unemployment insurance benefits last week as the jobs market slowly improves.

Initial jobless claims rose to 343,000 in the week ending July 20, an increase of 7,000 from the previous week's upwardly revised 336,000 claims, the Labor Department reported on Thursday.

Last week's increase in claims, an indicator of the pace of layoffs, was larger than the 340,000 reading expected on average by analysts.

Analysts noted the weekly claims reporting was being affected by car plant shutdowns for retooling that were not occurring in their normal fashion this year.

"Unemployment insurance claims have been see-sawing for the past four weeks or so as the Fourth of July holiday and annual shutdowns at auto manufacturing plants make it difficult to seasonally adjust the data," said Marisa Di Natale of Moody's Analytics.

Overall, claims were grinding lower. The four-week moving average, which smooths out weekly volatility, fell by 1,250 to 345,250.

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United boosts 2Q earnings 38 per cent

THE parent of United Airlines says its profit rose 38 per cent as it spent less on fuel and slightly boosted fares.

United cut flying by 2 per cent compared to a year earlier, but passengers paid slightly more to fly. Also, United's fuel bill dropped 10 per cent as it flew less and the price of fuel dropped.

Lower fuel bills helped all of the big airlines in the most recent quarter. In the quarter ended June 30, the per-gallon cost of United's fuel fell 8 per cent. But oil prices have risen in recent weeks, likely dampening the relief for airlines.

A year ago, United was struggling to merge some of its large computer systems with United, resulting in snafus that frustrated passengers and hurt fares.

A key measure of per-seat passenger revenue rose 1 per cent in the most recent quarter as United recovered.

"I am encouraged by the progress we made in the second quarter - in our operations, in our customer service and in our financial performance," said Jeff Smisek, the airline's chairman, president, and CEO.

United Continental Holdings Inc earned $US469 million ($A514 million), or $US1.21 per share, for the quarter. It would have earned $US1.35 per share if not for special items. That's a penny better than expected by analysts surveyed by FactSet.

A year ago it earned $US339 million, or 89 cents per share.

Revenue rose almost 1 per cent to $US10 billion, about what analysts had expected.

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UN says Syria death toll above 100,000

UN leader Ban Ki-moon says more than 100,000 people have been killed in the Syrian civil war.

Ban and US Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters before talks at the UN headquarters that there could be no military solution to the 28-month-old conflict.

While Syrian activists say well over 100,000 people have been killed, the UN has been more cautious about the toll.

But Ban said: "More than 100,000 people have been killed, millions of people have either been displaced or become refugees in neighbouring countries.

"We have to bring this to an end, the military and violent actions must be stopped by both parties and it is thus imperative to have a peace conference in Geneva as soon as possible."

The US and Russia have vowed to press for a follow up to a peace conference held in Geneva last year, which set out a transition plan.

Divisions between Syrian opposition groups and diplomatic hurdles thrown up by President Bashar al-Assad's government have blocked efforts to call a new meeting.

Syrian National Coalition president Ahmad Jarba is in New York and was to hold talks with Kerry ahead of a meeting with UN Security Council envoys on Friday.

Ban has previously said he would like a peace conference in September. But UN diplomats say the conflict is now so bitter that they doubt the two sides can be brought to the negotiating table.

Kerry said there is "enormous levels of suffering, suffering that is growing by the day which requires all of us to work even harder to try to bring about peace negotiations".

He added: "There is no military solution to Syria, there is only a political solution. That will require leadership in order to bring people to the table."

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Facebook surges on mobile ad results

SHARES of social networking giant Facebook have vaulted more than 25 per cent in early trading following a surprisingly good earnings report.

Facebook shares were up 26.0 per cent to $33.39 at 1354 GMT on Thursday (2354 AEST), the highest level since May 2012.

The surge came after the company's earnings report showed large increases in ad revenue from mobile technology.

Facebook shares have not appreciably moved higher since the company's high-profile public offering in May 2012.

But the company has made a priority of following its more than one billion members onto smartphones or tablets as lifestyles increasingly revolve around accessing the internet from mobile devices.

Facebook reported net income in the second quarter of $US331 million ($A362 million) compared with a loss of $US157 million in the year-ago period.

Revenue for the quarter that ended June 30 climbed to $US1.81 billion, up 53 per cent from the same period a year earlier.

Facebook said 41 per cent of its ad revenues came from mobile, compared with 30 per cent in the prior quarter and virtually nothing a year ago.

"We've made good progress growing our community, deepening engagement and delivering strong financial results, especially on mobile," said Facebook chief executive and Mark Zuckerberg .

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Top Tunisian opposition figure shot dead

A LEADING opposition figure and critic of Tunisia's ruling Islamists, Mohamed Brahmi, has been shot dead outside his home near the capital, in the second such assassination this year.

The murder by unknown gunmen sparked angry street protests in central Tunis and Brahmi's birthplace of Sidi Bouzid where he served as MP.

"Mohamed Brahmi, general co-ordinator of the Popular Movement and member of the National Constituent Assembly, was shot dead outside his home in Ariana," Watanya state television and the official TAP news agency reported.

"He was riddled with bullets in front of his wife and children," Mohsen Nabti, a fellow member of the small leftist movement, said in a tearful account aired on Tunisian radio.

The interior ministry, cited by TAP, said that Brahmi, a 58-year-old MP and vocal critic of Tunisia's ruling Islamists, was assassinated as he left home.

Watanya said Brahmi was struck by a hail of 11 bullets fired from point-blank range.

The February 6 assassination of Chokri Belaid, another opposition figure, in front of his home sparked a political crisis in Tunisia and charges of government involvement.

Condemning the latest killing, lawyer Mabrouk Korchid said that Brahmi was "assassinated in cold blood on the day that Tunisia is marking" the 56th anniversary of the republic's declaration.

Brahmi, a man with a bushy moustache and weather-beaten complexion, was elected MP for Sidi Bouzid, birthplace of the 2011 revolution which toppled president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

On July 7, he resigned from his post as general secretary of the Popular Movement, which he founded, protesting that it had been infiltrated by Islamists.

French President Francois Hollande, whose country was the pre-independence colonial power in Tunisia, strongly condemned Brahmi's killing and called on the country to unite behind its post-revolutionary democratic transition.

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Video captures moment of Spain train crash

A VIDEO has been released showing the exact moment a train derailed in northeastern Spain, killing 80 people.

The video, which lasts just 10 seconds, shows the train negotiating a curve in the track before a number of carriages in the middle of the train come off the rails and drag the rest of the carriages off with them.

The images were first released on Spanish website Zoom News, but the video has since appeared on YouTube and a number of websites and TV stations.

According to Zoom News the video comes from a security camera of railway administrator Adif. However, a spokesman for Adif said they could not confirm the images had come from one of their cameras.

Authorities have not said what caused the accident, but it has been reported that the train was travelling at 190 kilometres an hour, more than twice the 80km/h speed limit, when it crashed.

The train was carrying 218 passengers and four crew from Madrid to the coastal town of Ferrol.

It is the deadliest rail disaster in Spain since 1944.

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US durable goods orders jump

NEW orders for big-ticket US manufactured goods rose 4.2 per cent in June, led by demand for aircraft.

Orders for durable goods, long-lasting manufactured products, rose to $US244.5 billion ($A268 billion), an increase of $US9.9 billion from May, the Commerce Department said on Thursday.

Analysts had predicted a much smaller 1.8 per cent increase on average.

The May reading was revised sharply higher to $US234.6 billion from an initial estimate of $US231.0 billion.

The June reading was the fourth increase in durable goods orders in the past five months.

But transportation equipment orders, a typically volatile item, drove the increase.

Civilian aircraft orders soared 31.4 per cent and defence aircraft orders jumped 18.7 per cent.

Orders were flat excluding transportation.

Excluding defence, orders rose 3.0 per cent.

On a year-over-year basis, new orders were up 3.7 per cent.

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