In the News...

JAPAN AIRLINES IN TROUBLE

Japan Airlines (JAL), which entered bankruptcy protection last month, has announced a massive increase in loses. The airline said it lost 177.9bn yen ($1.99bn, £1.3bn) in the last nine months of 2009 - up from a loss of 1.9bn yen a year earlier.

JAL is continuing to operate flights while it undergoes major restructuring under court supervision. The company is expected to cut staff, routes and aircraft numbers in an attempt to return to profitability.

SPANISH OIL FIRM DRILLS NEAR FALKLANDS

Spanish oil company Repsol is to drill for oil in an area near the Falkland Islands.
It will drill about 200 miles off Argentina's coast by December, "well within Argentinean waters".

The move comes as UK oil companies begin to search for oil in the Falklands, despite strong opposition from Argentina. An oil platform started drilling in Falklands territorial waters this week.

The platform, the Ocean Guardian, has been towed 8,000 miles from the Cromarty Firth in Scotland. Repsol said it would explore for oil in a "few" wells in the area.

MORE JAPANESE CAR RECALLS

Three Japanese automakers have announced the recall of thousands of vehicles, mostly in their home market.

Suzuki Motor is recalling 432,000 small vans in Japan because of a potential problem with air conditioning units.

Nissan's recall involves about 76,000 cars in Japan and more than 2,000 overseas due to a defect that may cause engine failure. And some 60,000 Daihatsu vehicles are being recalled due to faulty airbags that could accidentally inflate.

The announcements come as 8.5 million Toyota vehicles are being recalled worldwide because of safety concerns.

UNIONS INVOLVED IN CORUS DISPUTE

Union leaders have been meeting in London to discuss "orchestrated action" in the wake of the partial mothballing of the Redcar Corus plant.

The GMB, Community and Unite unions want to force the company to make a firm commitment to finding a buyer for Teesside Cast Products (TCP).

The blast furnace was shut down at the plant on 19 February, leaving 1,600 workers facing the axe. Corus said it remained open to credible offers for TCP.

The site has been at risk since April 2009 when international buyers pulled out of a 10-year contract to buy steel slabs.

Source: BBC News