CA-BUSINESS Summary

European shares dip on Italy worries, dollar firm

LONDON (Reuters) - European shares edged away from 4-1/2-year highs on Monday as weak economic data from China and worries about Italy undermined the optimism generated by last week's strong U.S. jobs numbers. The dollar was still rising on the payrolls data, touching a 3-1/2-year high against the yen and at a 3-month peak to the euro after the surprise employment growth boosted optimism over recovery in the world's largest economy.

Global economy: Shafts of sunshine try to pierce thick clouds

LONDON (Reuters) - Global economic news is improving here and there, but a batch of data due this week is unlikely to shake financial markets' conviction that major central banks are not about to take away the punch bowl. If anything, even more monetary easing could be in the pipeline.

Analysis: S&P paper trail may lead nowhere in government case

NEW YORK (Reuters) - In early 2007, as signs of distress began appearing in securities backed by residential mortgages, executives at Standard & Poor's began advising analysts responsible for rating mortgage bonds that they should put the phrase "privileged and confidential" on emails to one another. Analysts working for the McGraw Hill Cos division also were discouraged from doodling on notepads and official documents during meetings to discuss pending deals and existing ratings, several former S&P employees said.

Yum China recovery remains rocky even as online anger calms

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Chinese consumers' anger at KFC over a food safety scare has abated as the number of negative posts about the fast food chain owned by Yum Brands Inc on the country's most popular microblogging platform fell by two-thirds. China's half a billion microbloggers posted 3 million overwhelmingly negative comments about KFC in the month that began on December 18, when state media started reporting on the scare over contaminated chicken, a Reuters review of data from the Twitter-like platform Weibo shows.

Cove Energy directors look to replicate success in Mozambique: FT

(Reuters) - Three key executives that were behind the creation and sale of Cove Energy Plc have reunited to raise funds for oil and gas exploration in waters off Mozambique, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. John Craven, Michael Blaha and Michael Nolan, now directors of Discover Exploration, are looking to raise about $50 million, the Financial Times reported.

Taiwan regulators, feet to the fire, talk tough on China-linked media deals

TAIPEI/HONG KONG (Reuters) - Taiwan regulators, under pressure from a public worried that Beijing may meddle in their media, have begun talking tough on TV and newspaper deals by Taiwanese businessmen with strong ties to the mainland. The island's media watchdog has proposed new anti-monopoly rules that could scuttle the $601 million sale of Next Media Ltd's Taiwan operations to a Taiwanese group including Want Want Holdings owner Tsai Eng-meng, who runs a multibillion dollar snacks-to-property empire in China.

IAG accepts mediator proposal in Iberia labor dispute

MADRID (Reuters) - IAG airline holding company has accepted a government-appointed mediator's compromise proposal to end a labor conflict over mass layoffs at Spanish flagship airline Iberia, the company said on Sunday. "The board has decided to accept the proposal," the company said in a statement. International Airlines Group, or IAG, is the holding company for Iberia and British Airways.

Analysis: Meat prices add to China's inflation, policy risks

BEIJING (Reuters) - Diners looking for some beef hotpot on a chilly evening in Beijing pay more per pound than their counterparts in Boston, a discrepancy that shows the challenges China faces in reviving growth as inflation pressures make an untimely return. China's consumer price index rose 3.2 percent in February from a year earlier, a 10-month high, official data released on Saturday showed. The pick up in inflation from just 2 percent in January was driven by a 6 percent increase in food costs.

Publishers oppose Amazon's bid to gain Web names: WSJ

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two publishing industry groups, the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers, are opposing Amazon.com Inc's request to own new domain names, The Wall Street Journal reported. The organizations argue that allowing Amazon to have such domain addresses that end in suffixes such as ".book," ".author" and ".read" would be a threat to competition, the paper said.

China's ragtag shale army a long way from revolution

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's plans to unlock what could be the world's biggest shale gas reserves risk running further off track after 16 firms awarded exploration rights in the latest auction lacked one core skill - not one has drilled a gas well before. Beijing is hoping shale gas can transform the country in the same way as the U.S. boom, though to date there has been little commercial production and a target of producing 6.5 billion cubic meters of gas by 2015 in the world's biggest energy consumer looks out of reach, according to industry experts.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ca-business-summary-080432934--finance.html

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