Business: Industries

Customers admire Japanese auto giant Toyota Motor's hybrid Prius vehicle at the company's showroom in Tokyo. Toyota Motor Corp. has slashed its 2009 sales forecast due to slowing demand, putting off its goal of becoming the world's first automaker to sell more than 10 million vehicles in a year.(AFP/Yoshikazu Tsuno)

Toyota shelves goal of selling 10 mln vehicles

AFP - 25 minutes ago

TOKYO (AFP) - Toyota Motor Corp. on Thursday slashed its 2009 sales forecast due to slowing demand, putting off its goal of becoming the world's first automaker to sell more than 10 million vehicles in a year.

  • Toyota Motor Corp. President Katsuaki Watanabe speaks to reporters after his press conference at a hotel in Tokyo Thursday, Aug. 28, 2008. Toyota lowered its global sales target for 2009 to 9.7 million vehicles on Thursday, down from an earlier 10.4 million vehicles, blaming 'tough times,' caused by rising material costs, a slowing U.S. market and soaring gas prices. Watanabe said Japan's biggest automaker will continue to boost growth by focusing on gas-electric hybrids as a core strategy, and offsetting declining U.S. and European demand with sales in emerging economies. (AP Photo/Katsumi Kasahara)
    Toyota lowers 2009 global sales target AP - 2 hours, 14 minutes ago

    TOKYO - Toyota lowered its global sales target for 2009 to 9.7 million vehicles on Thursday, down from an earlier 10.4 million vehicles, blaming "tough times," caused by rising material costs, a slowing U.S. market and soaring gas prices.

  • The headquarters of Belgian biopharmaceutical group UCB. UCB plans to cut its headcount by 2,000 -- 17 percent of its worldwide staff -- as part of a restructuring, the company said Thursday.(AFP/Belga/File/Dirk Waem)
    Belgian drugmaker UCB to cut 2,000 jobs in restructuring AFP - Thu Aug 28, 3:51 AM ET

    BRUSSELS (AFP) - Belgian pharmaceuticals group UCB plans to cut its headcount by 2,000 -- 17 percent of its worldwide staff -- as part of a restructuring, the company said Thursday.

  • Companies report 4 new deaths with diabetes drug AP - Tue Aug 26, 10:11 PM ET

    WASHINGTON - Eli Lilly and Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. on Tuesday reported four new deaths in patients taking Byetta, even as the companies tried to shore up the safety profile of their popular diabetes medication.

  • Inventor of PDA Files More Suits, Now for Voice Mail NewsFactor - Wed Aug 27, 4:49 PM ET

    Klausner Technologies, a patent-holding company, is at it again. The New York-based company said late Tuesday that it has filed a patent-infringement lawsuit against Verizon Wireless, LG Electronics, Google and a long list of others.

  • Workers man a China Mobile relay station near the Qinghai-Tibet railway July 3, 2006. (Claro Cortes IV/Reuters)
    China Mobile says Q2 profit up Reuters - Wed Aug 27, 12:57 AM ET

    HONG KONG (Reuters) - China Mobile (0941.HK), the world's largest wireless operator, posted a 51 percent rise in quarterly profit on strong subscriber growth, but faces new competition in China's revamped telecoms sector.

  • Tiffany doubles 2Q profit on strong sales overseas AP - 50 minutes ago

    NEW YORK - Jewelry retailer Tiffany says second-quarter profit doubled, beating Wall Street expectations as sales rose by double-digit percentages in Asia and Europe.

  • The Sears logo is pictured on the outside wall at Fair Oaks Mall, in Northern Virginia, May 29, 2008. (Larry Downing/Reuters)
    Sears Holdings profit falls short Reuters - 1 hour, 8 minutes ago

    ATLANTA (Reuters) - Sears Holdings Corp posted quarterly profit that fell short of expectations on Thursday as the retailer cut prices to lure shoppers amid a U.S. housing slump that hurt appliance and tool sales.

  • A customer who did not want to give his name talks to a police officer at a closed branch of IndyMac Bank in Burbank, California July 11, 2008. (Fred Prouser/Reuters)
    Judge dismisses borrower lawsuit against IndyMac Reuters - Wed Aug 27, 11:48 AM ET

    NEW YORK (Reuters) - A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit accusing the now-bankrupt mortgage lender IndyMac Bancorp Inc of inflating the appraised values of homes and misleading borrowers into paying higher closing and financing costs.

  • Customers wait outside the Encino branch of IndyMac Bank in Los Angeles on July 17, 2008. (Phil McCarten/Reuters)
    FDIC sees most problem banks since 2003 Reuters - Wed Aug 27, 3:53 AM ET

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of troubled U.S. banks rose 30 percent to 117 in the second quarter, the highest level in five years, and a top regulator warned that conditions will worsen as the housing slump and credit crisis continues to pound profitability.

  • A copy of 'Rolling Stone' magazine published in May 2001. (HO Old/Reuters)
    Rolling Stone owner names Schenck publisher: report Reuters - 1 hour, 31 minutes ago

    (Reuters) - Rolling Stone's owner Jann Wenner has named William Schenck as the magazine's fourth publisher in two years just as the title prepares scale down its large-format pages to a standard magazine size, the New York Post said on Thursday.

  • American Media may refinance $570 million debt: report Reuters - Thu Aug 28, 2:26 AM ET

    (Reuters) - Struggling tabloid publisher American Media Inc has secured the backing of many of its creditors for a new bond offering to refinance $570 million in existing debt, the Wall Street Journal said.