LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY
“[Southwestern] will do some minimum level of exploration at almost any price, but they are not going to even approach previous levels until natural gas prices pass about $4.”
James Williams, energy analyst, WTRG Economics Article, 1D
Economist Monti resigns as premier Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti resigned Friday, ending a 13-month tenure and clearing the way for elections that will focus on his crisis-fighting austerity policies.
The appointed premier, an economist, submitted his resignation to President Giorgio Napolitano, according to a statement from the president’s office. Napolitano asked Monti’s Cabinet to remain in power to handle routine government administration.
Monti stepped down after lawmakers passed a 2013 budget law.
The president has suggested Feb. 24 as the date for elections.
Monti took over last year just as Italy risked becoming the next victim of Europe’s debt turmoil under former Premier Silvio Berlusconi. Although he’s overseen a recovery in Italy’s bonds and repaired its tattered standing abroad, Monti’s agenda left Italians with higher taxes, rising unemployment and a shrinking economy.
Monti, who has never sought elected office, may use a Sunday news conference to announce whether he’ll sit out the election, or heed the call of a group of centrist political parties that want him to run on a platform of continued change for the eurozone’s third-largest economy.
A former adviser to Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Monti imposed $26.5 billion in austerity measures. He raised taxes, cut spending, increased the retirement age and overhauled labor rules to make firing easier. The policies have left Italy on track to cut its deficit to within the European Union target of 3 percent of output this year.
- Bloomberg News
300 Delta jobs draw 22,000 seekers
Delta Air Lines has received 22,000 applications for about 300 flight-attendant jobs in the first week after posting the positions outside the company, the Atlanta-based company said Friday.
The applications arrived at a rate of two per minute, Chief Executive Officer Richard Anderson told workers in a weekly recorded message. Applicants will be interviewed in January and those hired will begin flying in June, for the peak travel season.
“We’re hunting for foreign-language speakers as we continue to expand to all points around the globe,” Anderson said. “We are experiencing a phenomenal response to the job posting.”
Delta’s applicant rush reflects the demand for jobs with the U.S. unemployment rate at 7.7 percent and the interest in an industry where flight privileges are a prized employee benefit.
The carrier received 100,000 applications for 1,000 jobs when it last hired flight attendants in October 2010.
While Anderson put the number of positions in the latest round of hiring at about 300, Betsy Talton, a spokesman, said it could reach 400. As many as 30 percent of those hired will speak languages including Japanese, Hindi, Mandarin and Portuguese, she said.
Delta has said it plans to develop Seattle into a U.S. West Coast gateway for flights to Asia, adding service to Tokyo’s Haneda airport and to Shanghai. In October, the Atlanta-based airline said it would add flights between Paris and 11 U.S. cities in 2013.
- Bloomberg News
Instagram changes tune on policy
SAN FRANCISCO - Instagram has abandoned wording in its new terms-of-service agreement that sparked outcry from users who were concerned it meant their photos could appear in advertisements.
In a blog post late Thursday, the popular mobile photo-sharing service says it has reverted to language in the advertising section of its terms of service that appeared when it was started in October 2010.
Instagram is owned by Facebook Inc. and maintains that it would like to experiment with different forms of advertising to make money.
Its blog post says that it will now ask users’ permission to introduce possible ad products only after they are fully developed.
The outcry to the changes announced earlier this week led the company to clarify that it has no plans to put users’ photos in ads.
- The Associated Press
GE to buy Italian aviation business
FAIRFIELD, Conn. - Industrial conglomerate General Electric plans to buy the aviation business of Italian manufacturer Avio for $4.3 billion to strengthen its jet-propulsion business and its supply chain.
The Fairfield, Conn., company said Friday that it wants to build its supply chain as it ramps up engine production. The deal also gives GE a chance to offer Avio products outside the aviation industry, in power generation, oil and marine products.
GE will buy Avio S.p.A.’s aviation business from European private-equity firm Cinven and the Italian aerospace group Finmeccanica.
Avio has supplied GE Aviation since 1984. The company, which is based in Turin, Italy, employs about 5,300 people. It makes aviation propulsion components and systems for civilian and military aircraft, including low-pressure turbine systems, accessory gearboxes, geared systems and combustors. Last year, its aviation business generated $2.4 billion in revenue, more than half of which was derived from components for GE and GE joint venture engines.
GE isn’t buying Avio’s space unit, which employs 800 people.
- The Associated Press
Nokia, BlackBerry maker settle old tiff
HELSINKI - Nokia Corp. and Canadian smart-phone rival Research In Motion have agreed on a new patent-licensing pact that will end all existing litigation between the two struggling companies, the Finnish firm said Friday.
The agreement includes a “one-time payment and on-going payments, all from RIM to Nokia,” Nokia said, but did not disclose “confidential” terms.
Last month, Nokia sued the BlackBerry maker for breach of contract in Britain, the United States and Canada over cellular patents they agreed to in 2003. Research In Motion claimed the license - which covered patents on “standards-essential” technologies for mobile devices - should also have covered patents for nonessential parts, but the Arbitration Institute of Stockholm Chamber of Commerce ruled against Research In Motion’s claims.
Nokia is among leading patent holders in the wireless industry. It has already received a $565 million royalty payment from Apple Inc. to settle long-standing patent disputes and filed claims in the United States and Germany alleging that products from HTC Corp. and Viewsonic Corp. infringe a number of its patents.
The company says it has invested $60 billion during the past 20 years in research and development and has one of the wireless industry’s largest portfolios, claiming some 10,000 patent families.
- The Associated Press
Business, Pages 28 on 12/22/2012