The top business news from The Associated Press for the morning of Friday, July 25, 2008: New market demand spurs Honda to record quarter TOKYO (AP) _ Honda Motor Co. reported record profit for a fiscal first quarter Friday as sales growth in new markets offset the damage from a stronger yen and soaring material costs. Honda, Japan's No. 2 automaker, earned a better-than-expected 179.6 billion yen ($1.68 billion) in the April-June quarter, up 8.1 percent from the same period the previous year. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had forecast 131.3 billion yen ($1.2 billion) in quarterly profit. ___ AP: Food industry bitten by its lobbying success WASHINGTON (AP) _ One of the worst outbreaks of foodborne illness in the U.S. is teaching the food industry the truth of the adage, "Be careful what you wish for because you might get it." The industry pressured the Bush administration years ago to limit the paperwork companies would have to keep to help U.S. health investigators quickly trace produce that sickens consumers, according to interviews and government reports reviewed by The Associated Press. ___ China says has more people surfing the Web than US BEIJING (AP) _ China's booming Internet population has surpassed the United States to become the world's biggest, with 253 million people online despite government controls on Web use, according to government data reported Friday. The latest figure on Web use at the end of June is a 56 percent increase from a year ago, the China Internet Network Information Center said. It said the share of the Chinese public using the Internet is still just 19.1 percent, leaving more room for rapid growth. ___ Samsung's second-quarter net profit surges SEOUL, South Korea (AP) _ South Korea's Samsung Electronics said Friday that second-quarter net profit grew 51 percent compared with the same quarter last year led by its liquid crystal display and mobile phone businesses. "We posted very strong results," Chu Woo-sik, executive vice president of investor relations, told analysts on a conference call. ___ Creators of Scrabble knockoff on Facebook sued NEW YORK (AP) _ T-R-O-U-B-L-E could loom for a Scrabble knockoff that has become one of the most popular activities on Facebook. Hasbro Inc., the company that owns the word game's North American rights, sued the creators of the Scrabulous program on Thursday, less than two weeks after the release of an authorized version of Scrabble for Facebook. ___ Oil rises above $126 after recent lows SINGAPORE (AP) _ Oil extended a rebound Friday, rising above $126 a barrel after several declines over the past two weeks, although the market remains weighed down by the belief that flagging fuel demand does not justify the recent high prices. Light, sweet crude for September delivery rose 64 cents to $126.13 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by early afternoon in Singapore. The contract rose $1.05 to settle at $125.49 a barrel on Thursday. ___ Japanese Internet mogul found guilty in appeal TOKYO (AP) _ A Japanese appeals court upheld the conviction of flamboyant former Internet mogul Takafumi Horie on Friday in an ongoing case that has come to symbolize this nation's effort to deal with white collar crime at emerging dot-coms. The Tokyo High Court rejected Horie's appeal of a lower court conviction of securities laws violations. He was found guilty in March last year of masterminding a network of decoy investment funds to manipulate earnings at his Net services startup Livedoor Co. ___ Exxon and BHP announce big Australia gas project Continued... |