Business

GENEVA A marathon meeting of the world's top commercial powers ended early in the morning in Geneva with negotiators citing some progress in talks on a new global trade pact.

WASHINGTON The latest crash tests by the insurance industry raise safety questions about small pickups, which are drawing more interest because they get better mileage than larger trucks.

WASHINGTON Rescue legislation sailed through the House on Wednesday aimed at helping 400,000 strapped homeowners avoid foreclosure and preventing the collapse of troubled mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

SPOKANE, Wash. Times are good for wheat farmers, but they should resist the urge to harvest their crop residue and sell it for ethanol production, a federal researcher says.

SEOUL, South Korea South Korea's Hyundai Motor said Thursday that its second-quarter net profit declined nearly 11 percent despite higher sales, and vowed to fight high oil prices by aggressively exporting more fuel efficient vehicles.

NEW YORK Amazon.com Inc. doesn't seem to be bothered by high gas prices or the sputtering U.S. economy.

WASHINGTON About 2 million Americans get a raise Thursday as the federal minimum wage rises 70 cents. The bad news: Higher gas and food prices are swallowing it up, and some small businesses will pass the cost of the wage hike to consumers.

SAN FRANCISCO Facebook Inc. is introducing more tools to help the software applications fueling the online hangout's popularity and is promising to intensify its efforts to weed out programs that violate its rules for protecting users' privacy.

NEW YORK With the market for electronic books still relatively sleepy, Sony Corp. is trying a new tack: untethering the latest model of its e-book reading device from its own online bookstore.

TOKYO Canon Inc. said Thursday its second-quarter profit fell 13 percent from a year ago as a stronger yen chipped away at the value of booming overseas sales of color copiers.

SAN DIEGO The legal salvos between Nokia Corp. and Qualcomm Inc. stopped months ago, part of what officials at the wireless industry heavyweights described as a truce in a long-running battle that spanned three continents.

TOKYO Japanese shares rose for the third straight session Thursday, lifted by further gains on Wall Street and a continuing slide in oil prices.

SEOUL, South Korea Hynix Semiconductor Inc., the world's second-largest memory chip manufacturer, said Thursday it will close its only U.S. factory amid changes in production standards and steep price declines buffeting the industry.

NEW YORK The weak U.S. dollar has not dissuaded Americans from planning trips abroad this year, but they may be heading to destinations closer to home, according to a survey released Thursday by Visa Inc.

WASHINGTON Cash-strapped homebuyers and borrowers facing foreclosure will get some relief from a housing bill passed by the House on Wednesday but the bill won't solve the deep-rooted ills of the U.S. housing market.

SINGAPORE Oil prices steadied in Asian trading Thursday after shedding nearly $4 a barrel in the previous session on concerns that high fuel prices are dampening demand in the world's biggest energy consumer.

The top business news from The Associated Press for the morning of Thursday, July 24, 2008:

JUNEAU, Alaska The Alaska State House of Representatives has approved a state license for a Canadian company to pursue a natural gas pipeline project that could unlock 4.5 billion cubic feet of North Slope gas reserves daily.

NEW YORK Treasury prices fell for a second straight session Wednesday as investors grew increasingly optimistic about the ability of banks and brokerages to weather the credit crisis.