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BRUSSELS — As concerns intensify about countries like Iran and North Korea and their nuclear capabilities, this may be a risky time to sell more of the technology to the developing world.

Yet furthering nuclear exports is what several governments are seeking for their industries amid talk of a renaissance for the technology.

Take the promotion by the French government of a nuclear conference in Paris last week.

France said it wanted to help representatives of delegations that reportedly included those of Syria and Libya overcome “the challenges of finding financing, obtaining access to the technology and the latest research and training people to satisfactorily conduct their projects.”

The “peaceful use of nuclear power should not be confined to a handful of states that already hold the technology,” the government added in the message, posted at the Web site for the conference of which President Nicolas Sarkozy of France was host.

That will be a tall order.

France first must reconcile a number of competing objectives, including encouragement of the spread of nuclear expertise while preventing proliferation of military applications of the technology; building plants that are both affordable and safe enough to convince skeptics that there can be no recurrence of accidents that blighted the industry in the 1970s and 1980s; and convincing citizens that burying radioactive waste deep underground is an environmentally sound trade-off for generating nuclear power free of greenhouse gases.

The stakes are high. The number of reactors worldwide could approximately double between now and 2030, to more than 800, according to industry figures.

France should be well placed to stake a claim to that market. It is the world’s second-biggest nuclear power producer after the United States, and France already generates almost all of its own electricity from atoms. France also is home to Areva, a state-controlled company that is the world’s biggest reactor builder and is a leader in fuel reprocessing.

But Areva faces stiffening competition from its archrival Westinghouse, owned by Toshiba of Japan; G.E.-Hitachi, based in the United States; Rosatom of Russia; and up-and-coming international vendors like Korea Electric Power of South Korea.

Mr. Sarkozy called last week for international training schools with funding by France so that a new generation of technicians and designers in countries like Jordan could learn the skills required to run those new reactors safely. José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, also sought to help, by pressing for global application of nuclear safety standards set by the European Union.

Those initiatives could reduce opposition to nuclear power and exports of the technology by reducing accidents and by preventing technology from falling into the hands of terrorists.

The initiatives could also help European companies like Areva with designs that already meet those specifications.

The primary market for nuclear vendors is China, which probably will build three-quarters of the world’s new reactors through 2020 payday loans with no fax. But Westinghouse already has a firm foothold in China with its AP1000 model, and Chinese companies will soon start building those models using a “production line” approach, said Jeremy Gordon, an analyst for the World Nuclear Association, an industry group.

India is another one of the world’s most promising markets for nuclear power. But Mr. Gordon said there was no guarantee that India would become a major business hub for a single vendor like Areva. The company is already smarting after being beaten to a contract worth $20 billion in the United Arab Emirates by the South Koreans, who offered a much lower price.

Indeed, the biggest challenge for Areva in coming years may be overcoming the cost and complexity of its so-called E.P.R. model, which is loaded with multiple safety systems. The competing Westinghouse model relies more on so-called passive systems for safety, and it may prove simpler to build.

Another possible advantage for Westinghouse is that it has been more willing than other vendors to allow buyers to adopt aspects of a reactor’s design and allow them to develop a homegrown industry, Mr. Gordon said.

That means Areva’s most promising markets could be in the United States and Europe, where France and Britain will be refreshing their arrays of reactors, and where Italy has begun the process of reintroducing nuclear power after a break of more than two decades.

But large numbers of Europeans remain skeptical about the safety and environmental consequences of nuclear power, particularly the industry’s highly radioactive waste. That could limit Areva’s sales closer to home.

Günther Oettinger, the E.U. commissioner for energy, reiterated Friday that the European Commission would propose legislation promoting the permanent burial of high-level waste deep underground in geologically stable areas by the end of the year.

That move is designed to address worries about the waste, which is currently stored on an interim basis in pools of water or in casks, many near ground level and in some cases is exported.

But Mr. Oettinger also acknowledged that the issue of nuclear power would remain fraught in Europe, and he stressed that the European Commission recognized there were limits to how far it could push any nuclear agenda.

“We accept that the president of France, in nuclear plants, is seeking as many contracts as possible, both in the E.U. and beyond,” Mr. Oettinger said, but the Union had to “accept France’s energy mix just like Austria’s.”

He said Austria, which banned nuclear power in the late 1970s, already was able to generate most of its electricity without producing greenhouse gas emissions — by using hydropower.

Green Inc.: Taking a Risk With Nuclear Technology

Hot News: Dodd Lays Out Details of Financial Overhaul Bill

SAN DIEGO – Investigators are confronted with a series of nagging questions as they try to unravel the case of a California real estate agent who said his Toyota Prius turned into a runaway death trap after the gas pedal became stuck.

Why didn’t the driver simply throw the transmission into neutral as officers urged him to do? Why didn’t a safety mechanism activate that was supposed to cut power to the engine in such situations? And could he have made the story up in pursuit of fame and money?

Each question is getting scrutiny from the Internet-consuming public as they question the motives of the driver, a 61-year-old real estate agent named James Sikes. Some skeptics have even invoked the infamous “balloon boy hoax” in expressing doubts about the story.

No evidence has emerged to suggest that Sikes was dishonest when he called 911 on Monday to report that the accelerator of his 2008 Prius was jammed during a trip home from his lawyer’s office.

Sikes and his car emerged unscathed, but the incident has been another major headache for the Japanese automaker amid questions over the safety and reliability of its vehicles.

The California Highway Patrol has repeatedly said it has no reason to suspect a hoax. It does not plan to investigate the incident or perform a mechanical inspection because there were no injuries or property damage. Investigators from Toyota and the federal government are also looking into the incident.

“There is no factual information that I’m aware of, or the highway patrol is aware of, that would discredit his story,” agency spokesman Brian Pennings said Friday.

Sikes spoke to throngs of reporters twice this week about his ordeal, but he has but he has not sought out attention or talk show interviews like others have done during their 15 minutes of fame. Pennings said he urged Sikes to speak with reporters the first time, on Monday, after the white-knuckled journey down Interstate 8 to avoid getting besieged later by the media.

And a law firm representing Sikes during the investigation said its client does not intend to take legal action against the automaker.

Doubters have asked why Sikes didn’t put the car in neutral as a California Highway Patrol dispatcher and an officer repeatedly urged him to do. Sikes said he considered going into neutral but worried he might go into reverse or flip.

“I had never played with this kind of transmission, especially when you’re driving, and I was actually afraid to do that,” he said Tuesday. “I was afraid to do anything out of the normal.”

Toyota has said all Priuses are equipped with a computer system that cuts power to the wheels if the brake and gas pedals are depressed at the same time, as Sikes was doing.

“It’s tough for us to say if we’re skeptical. I’m mystified in how it could happen with the brake override system,” Don Esmond, senior vice president of automotive operations for Toyota Motor Sales, said Thursday.

Raj Rajkumar, an electrical and computer-engineering professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh who studies auto electronics, said the Prius could still have acceleration malfunctions even with the fail-safe system.

Toyota says the fail-safe and the engine are controlled by a central computer that contains two independent microprocessors that communicate and must agree with each other free business cards. If there’s a disagreement, power would be cut to the wheels.

But Rajkumar said the two engine control unit microprocessors could still receive common erroneous signals from sensors or experience software errors that could cause the throttle and the fail-safe mechanism to malfunction.

Sikes came to a stop after a Highway Patrol officer blared instructions from a loudspeaker, telling him to push the brake pedal to the floor while applying the emergency brake. Sikes apparently did this, allowing him to slow the car to 50 mph and shut off the engine.

At one point during the 911 call, the dispatcher asks if he can press the ignition button for five seconds and she gets no response. Sikes said later that he struggled to hold the phone and keep his hands on the wheel.

Todd Neibert, the officer who gave instructions to Sikes over a loudspeaker, said he smelled burning brakes when he caught up with the Prius. He examined the car when it came to a stop.

“The brakes were definitely down to hardly any material,” he told reporters. “There was a bunch of brake material on the ground and inside the wheels.”

Sikes said afterward that he was “embarrassed” by the incident, suggesting that he wished he would have handled it differently. “I’m just embarrassed about that,” he said. “You have to be there. That’s all I can say.”

Kurt Bardella, a spokesman for Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said Friday that investigators are best positioned to determine if there was a hoax, but no evidence has emerged.

A representative of Issa’s office was at a California Toyota dealership when investigators from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Toyota examined Sikes’ blue Prius on Wednesday and Thursday.

“Where are these suggestions coming from?” he said. “It would be irresponsible to assert it’s a hoax without having facts.”

Joan Claybrook, a former NHTSA administrator, said Sikes’ refusal to shift to neutral, is understandable.

“It’s such a horrifying experience to be completely out of control,” she said. “It’s the kind of thing you dream about when you’re really upset and you wake up in sweats.”

The same firm handling Sikes’ case also represents the family of California Highway Patrol Officer Mark Saylor, which sued Toyota last week in San Diego Superior Court.

Saylor was killed in August along with his wife, her brother and the couple’s daughter after their Lexus accelerator became trapped by a wrong-size floor mat on a freeway in La Mesa, near San Diego. Their loaner car hit a sport utility vehicle and burst into flames.

Representatives of the firm did not respond to phone messages seeking additional comment Friday.

Claybrook, the former federal administrator, noted that drivers often come under heavy scrutiny for reporting unintended acceleration.

“Attacking the driver has long been the answer that not just Toyota, but the entire industry, has had,” she said. “Blaming the driver is old hat.”

___

AP Auto Writer Tom Krisher in Troy, Mich., contributed to this report.

Runaway Prius case presents nagging questions

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stocks ended with a slight gain Tuesday after being whipsawed by bets in the financial sector and a rally in telecommunications, which benefited from Cisco Systems Inc.’s unveiling of a new router.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average moved between gains and losses late in the day before ending 11.86 points higher, or 0.1%, at 10,564.38. The Nasdaq Composite Index was the strongest of the major indexes, with a gain of 0.4%.

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The S&P 500 rose 0.2%, led by a 1.2% gain in its telecommunications sector, which benefited from hopes that Cisco’s new device will help alleviate congestion on mobile data networks.

Sprint Nextel Corp. shares jumped 6.5%, while Verizon Communications shares rose rose 0.9%. Read Telecom Stocks

The S&P 500’s financial sector finished with a small gain overall, up just 0.3%. See Financial Stocks.

But there was extremely heavy volume in just four of its names: American International Group leapt 12.6%, Fannie Mae jumped 5.9%, Freddie Mac leapt 7.6%, and Citigroup was up 7.3%. Read more on Citi, AIG stocks.

Citi was helped by a a report on Fox Business that the government is discussing plans to sell its 27% stake in the bank, perhaps within the next three months. That in turn spurred buying in some of the other names that are still subject to the heaviest government involvement in the wake of the recent financial crisis, though no moves had been announced by the Treasury or other agencies as of Tuesday’s market close.

AIG surged as a debt sale by an important unit went well, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. A $1.3 billion loan offering by International Lease Finance Corp. has met with strong investor demand, which will enable the aircraft-leasing unit of AIG to raise fresh funds to repay some of its maturing debt, the newspaper said.

In general, traders and analysts said Tuesday’s session saw an increase in speculative betting, which added volatility and underscored the lack of confidence that has developed on trading floors since the market hit its bear-market lows exactly one year ago.

Digits: The Push for 3-D TV

Sony, Panasonic and Samsung have recently announced new TV models that feature 3-D. But the rush to manufacture products hides the fact that there is little content to showcase, the Digits panel reports.

“The main thing the market has going for it at this point is cheap money,” thanks to low borrowing costs from central banks around the world, said Darren Chervitz, research director at Jacob Asset Management auto loan interest rates. “We’re positioning ourselves for the day when fundamentals will matter again, but we haven’t reached that point yet.”

The Dow is now up 61% from its 12-year low hit on March 9, 2009, marking the depths of the financial crisis. The S&P 500 is up 69% over that timeframe, while the Nasdaq Composite is up 85%. Read about best and worst stocks since bear-market bottom.

The technology and telcom names that dominate the Nasdaq have often benefited over the past year from optimism that an early wave of capital investment will fuel a broader U.S. economic recovery, even as consumer spending and employment lag.

This week, Cisco’s announcement regarding its new router, dubbed the CRS-3, has meshed nicely with that broader investment theme. The device would function as part of the backbone of networks that carriers assemble to deliver information to large swaths of customers, not an at-home device for individuals to set up for personal use.

Cisco, which hit a 52-week high on Monday in anticipation of the router announcement, ended flat on Tuesday. Read more about Cisco’s new router plans.

Rex on Techs: Cisco’s Router Hype

Networking giant borrows a page from Apple’s marketing manual to promote a fast new router, and the market yawns. Rex Crum reports.

But some of its potential customers showed big gains, including a 1.1% gain in AT&T, which said it has tested the new Cisco device and found it to move data at 10,000 times the speed of a typial residential broadband connection.

“Even during the recession, people were demanding more and more data, which was incredible to see,” said portfolio manager Kim Caughey, of Fort Pitt Capital Group. “It’s become one of these trends that’s not going away.”

Elsewhere, the industrial sector benefited from a 0.8% rise in Boeing Co. after Northrop Grumman Corp. said it would drop out of a protracted quest to win a $40 billion contract to build the U.S. Air Force’s next generation of aerial-refueling planes, leaving Boeing as the only competitor left standing. Northrop shares slipped 0.3%. Read more on Boeing, Northrop.

General Growth Properties shares climbed 3.8% after the shopping-center operator got a proposal to help it emerge from bankruptcy from two of its biggest creditors.

UAL Corp. shares climbed 3.7% after its United Airlines said February unit revenue — the amount taken in for each passenger flown a mile on its planes and those of its affiliates — jumped 17% to 19% over the same month a year earlier. Read Airline Stocks.

In other markets, the dollar weakened against the yen but gained ground versus the euro. Crude-oil futures slipped 38 cents to $81.49 a barrel, while gold futures also moved lower. Treasurys edged higher.

Market Snapshot: U.S. stock end up, with financials in spotlight

NEW YORK – Tim Burton and Johnny Depp’s trip down the rabbit hole drew huge crowds, as “Alice in Wonderland” earned a whopping $116.3 million in its opening weekend — a record for a 3-D film.

The surprisingly huge total easily surpassed all other films in release and gave Walt Disney Studios an even bigger opening than that of the hugely popular 3-D film “Avatar.” It also marked the biggest opening weekend for a non-sequel.

“This is just one of those cultural phenomenons that has caught everybody’s interest,” said Chuck Viane, Disney’s president of distribution. “They don’t come like this very often.”

The film beat forecasts that ranged between $65 million-$75 million, and the surprising results added some intrigue to Oscar Sunday. Before the weekend, Disney and 20th Century Fox competed over the available 3-D ready screens; screens outfitted for 3-D are rapidly rising, but still amount to fewer than 4,000 in the U.S. and Canada.

Before “Alice,” many of those screens were still dedicated to Fox’s box-office behemoth, “Avatar,” which is up for nine Academy Awards on Sunday, including best picture.

In its 12th week of release, “Avatar” earned $7.7 million over the weekend, bringing its cumulative domestic total to $720.2 million.

Asked whether fewer 3-D and IMAX screens hurt “Avatar,” Chris Aronson, head of distribution for Fox, said, “No question.”

“Are we disappointed? Sure,” said Aronson. “But there are certain market forces that are beyond anything we can do. To have an 11-week window is pretty much unheard of. It certainly allowed this movie to be discovered and witnessed by so many people.”

“Avatar” isn’t disappearing, though, and it can be expected to regain 3-D and IMAX screens, especially if it wins best picture.

“We’ll have that negotiation tomorrow morning with exhibition, without a doubt,” said Aronson.

It also seemed likely that “Alice” benefited from the “Avatar”-effect in galvanizing audiences for 3-D movies. “Alice in Wonderland” is the first film released in 3-D since James Cameron’s epic. “Alice” was shot in 2-D, but transferred to 3-D in post-production.

“In the wake of the impact of `Avatar,’ there’s a whole new audience that’s been indoctrinated to 3-D,” said Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com. “That paid off big for `Alice in Wonderland.’”

The weekend’s second best performer at the box-office was Overture’s “Brooklyn’s Finest,” Antoine Fuqua’s gritty police thriller, which earned $13.5 million in its first weekend, according to studio estimates.

Martin Scorsese’s “Shutter Island” for Paramount followed closely with $13.3 million in its third week of release, bringing its cumulative total to $95.8 million. Warner Bros.’s comedy “Cop Out” came in fourth, adding $9.1 million for a two-week total of $32.4 million.

But “Alice” thoroughly dominated the weekend, surprising even Disney. Worldwide, it took in $210.3 million.

It was a record release for the first quarter of the year, typically a time of lower box-office expectations and critically acclaimed Oscar contenders. The previous first quarter record was Mel Gibson’s “Passion of the Christ,” which opened with $83.8 million in Feb. 2004.

“We went into Friday thinking that we really had a big hit with us, and then all of a sudden the numbers started to roll in,” said Viane inferred heaters. “Alice” went on to make $41 million on Friday alone.

“We said, `Oh my gosh. This is bigger than any of us could have anticipated,” said Viane.

Though reviews were mostly respectfully negative, much of the film’s draw was surely in teaming director Burton and his frequent collaborator, Depp, who plays the Mad Hatter. It also presented moviegoers with a 3-D updating of Lewis Carroll’s beloved classic. Though at times dark, it gained a PG rating from the MPAA (for, among other things, “a smoking caterpillar”), which meant a large number of kids could attend.

But it proved once again how significant the draw of 3-D is to moviegoers. The technology repeatedly has inflated box-office grosses for everything from “Avatar” to “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.”

“Alice” also played across 188 IMAX screens in North America and gave IMAX its best opening ever, with $11.9 million domestically. That beat the previous record of $9.5 million set by “Avatar.”

IMAX chairman and president Greg Foster said the huge success of “Alice” was unexpected, but that “Avatar” would regain some of those IMAX screens, whether or not it wins best picture.

“The momentum on 3-D is so massive right now,” said Foster. “They were ready for a new movie. They were ready for a new, cool 3-D experience.”

Though most of the Oscar contenders weren’t a big factor at the box-office Sunday, the boffo performance of “Alice” proved the good health of Hollywood, said Dergarabedian.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. “Alice in Wonderland,” $116.3 million.

2. “Brookyn’s Finest,” $13.5 million.

3. “Shutter Island,” $13.3 million.

4. “Cop Out,” $9.1 million.

5. “Avatar,” $7.7 million.

6. “The Crazies,” $7 million.

7. “Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief,” $5.1 million.

8. “Valentine’s Day,” $4.3 million.

9. “Crazy Heart,” $3.4 million.

10. “Dear John,” $2.9 million.

___

On the Net:

http://www.hollywood.com/boxoffice

___

Universal Pictures and Focus Features are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of General Electric Co.; Sony Pictures, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount and Paramount Vantage are divisions of Viacom Inc.; Disney’s parent is The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is a division of The Walt Disney Co.; 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight Pictures and Fox Atomic are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a consortium of Providence Equity Partners, Texas Pacific Group, Sony Corp., Comcast Corp., DLJ Merchant Banking Partners and Quadrangle Group; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC Films is owned by Rainbow Media Holdings, a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corp.; Rogue Pictures is owned by Relativity Media LLC; Overture Films is a subsidiary of Liberty Media Corp.

‘Alice’ opens with $116.3 million, a 3-D record

Hot News: Congressional estimates show grim deficit picture

ZURICH — A Swiss court ordered tax officials to drop two more cases involving account holders of the banking giant UBS, adding urgency to the government’s effort to find a political solution that would preserve a data-sharing agreement with American regulators.

The Federal Administrative Court, in a decision published on Friday, told Switzerland’s tax authority to comply with an earlier ruling that blocked it from sending American regulators information on 26 UBS customers. The court, located in Bern, said Switzerland could lift bank secrecy rules only when there was evidence of tax fraud.

The decision increases pressure to find a way to salvage the agreement to hand over data on as many as 4,450 UBS account holders as part of an American crackdown on tax evasion. Parliament, however, may be asked to approve the settlement to get around the court rulings cheap payday advance.

With parliamentary approval, the court will not be able to “regard the UBS agreement as merely a mutual agreement” as it will have the same legal weight as a treaty, the government said.

The two UBS clients involved in the latest decision are among 26 covered by last month’s ruling. The court said that the account holders’ conduct — failing to complete tax forms or declare income — was tax evasion rather than tax fraud. Under Swiss law, tax fraud is a criminal offense, while evasion is a civil matter.

Officials with UBS, the Swiss Federal Tax Administration and the Internal Revenue Service all declined to comment.

U.S.-UBS Deal Is Undermined by Swiss Ruling

JOB PICTURE STILL BLEAK: New claims for jobless benefits rose sharply last week, the Labor Department said Thursday. Most of the rise resulted from state agencies processing a backlog of claims left over from two weeks ago when snowstorms closed government offices.

IMPROVEMENT STALLS: Still, a steady drop in claims in the second half of last year has stalled, a sign layoffs are no longer declining cheap business cards. More layoffs could weaken consumer spending and slow the recovery.

WEAK ECONOMY: Other recent economic reports have also been disappointing, evidence that economic growth may weaken later this year.

Summary Box: Jobless claims rise in weak recovery

TOKYO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A document claiming Toyota Motor Corp saved over $100 million by getting U.S. regulators to agree a cheap fix for unintended acceleration problems raised pressure on the company's president as he arrived in Washington to prepare for a grilling from congress.

Akio Toyoda is set to testify before the U.S. lawmakers this week in an effort to contain a safety crisis that threatens the reputation and continued success of the automaker in the market that made it a global powerhouse.

Toyota has recalled over 8.5 million vehicles globally in recent months for problems including sticky accelerators, accelerators that can be pinned down by loose floormats and a braking glitch affecting its hybrid models.

The company said on Monday it had received a federal grand jury subpoena for documents related to unintended acceleration that led to the recall of millions of cars in the United States.

Regulators believe five deaths are associated with floor mats and are reviewing up to 29 other fatality reports to see if they are related to unintended acceleration.

A 2009 internal document turned over to lawmakers and made available on Sunday shows Toyota's Washington D.C. staff trumpeting savings of more than $100 million by convincing regulators to end a 2007 investigation of sudden acceleration complaints with a relatively cheap floormat recall.

The document seems certain to add to the high-stakes debate about whether Toyota missed or ignored complaints about sudden acceleration in its vehicles and whether U.S. safety regulators were tough enough.

Toyota shares rose as much as 3 percent earlier on Monday, lifted by a rally in exporters after the yen slipped against the dollar, but pared gains to close up 1.2 percent.

"Investors remain reluctant to buy up Toyota, given uncertainty over how the congressional hearings will go," said Fumiyuki Nakanishi, head of the investment information department at SMBC Friend Securities.

"We are likely to see more selling of Toyota shares and buying of Honda shares," he said.

Toyota stock has lost 19 percent over the past month but has steadied over the past 10 trading sessions.

"VERY TELLING" DOCUMENT

Toyota on Sunday reiterated that it was conducting a top-to-bottom review of all its operations.

"Our first priority is the safety of our customers and to conclude otherwise on the basis of one internal presentation is wrong," the company said home kerosene heaters.

But the U.S. Department of Transportation said the document highlighted Toyota's slow response to the safety problems.

"Unfortunately, this document is very telling," said department spokeswoman Olivia Alair in an emailed statement.

Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. said General Manager Bob Carter would provide an update on its recall actions later on Monday.

Toyota has launched a publicity campaign to convince current and prospective customers that the company is addressing the problems. Its U.S. sales plummeted 16 percent in January and the company has estimated the recalls will cost it $2 billion at the operating level in the fiscal year ending March.

Toyota said it would temporarily halt production in France over the next two months due to soft sales, although it did not specify the number of idle days.

Last week, it had announced a similar stoppage at its factory in Britain for an extra week after Easter, on top of recent and planned output cuts in North America and Japan.

Japanese rival Mazda Motor Corp said it would not launch a special marketing campaign to draw customers away from Toyota, shunning a strategy used by other car makers keen to capitalize on Toyota's recall woes.

TOYODA TESTIMONY KEY

Toyoda, who is set to testify Wednesday after initially ruling out such an appearance, has acknowledged that the automaker founded by his grandfather let its standards slip during fast growth over the past decade.

The company has been tight-lipped about Toyoda's schedule, with a spokesman declining to confirm whether its president was already in the United States. Japanese media reported he had arrived in Washington and television showed images of his private jet.

Analysts said Toyoda's appearance in Washington will be a defining moment in whether and how quickly it can move beyond its safety crisis.

"Congress is doing him a favor. He can be apologetic and be contrite and take responsibility and acknowledge that there have been some stress points in growth of the company," said Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a Yale School of Management senior associate dean and an expert on corporate leadership.

(Additional reporting by David Bailey and Soyoung Kim in Detroit and Chang-Ran Kim, Yumiko Nishitani and Yoshifumi Takemoto in Tokyo; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Jon Loades-Carter)

Toyota memo raises stakes for chief’s U.S. hearings

WELLESLEY, Mass., Feb. 19 – WELLESLEY, Mass., Feb. 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The world faces daunting problems, from energy needs to medical research to clean water and more. Without a doubt, the answers lie in the ability of our educational system to rise to these challenges. With that goal, Babson College, Olin College of Engineering and Wellesley College will co-sponsor an interdisciplinary regional summit, "Educational Imperatives of the Grand Challenges," Wednesday, April 21, from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm in Houghton Chapel at Wellesley College (http://grandchallengesummit.olin.edu).

The summit will bring together educators, business leaders, scientists, engineers, students, government officials and policy makers to discuss the changes necessary at all levels in the educational system to prepare students with the skills and perspectives necessary to tackle global problems in energy, health, the environment and other critical areas.

The meeting is part of a national series being held in various regions of the country this spring and fall (http://www.grandchallengesummit.org) focusing on "Grand Challenges," 14 critical global problems identified by the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) that must be solved to maintain national security, improve global living standards and ensure a sustainable future (http://www.engineeringchallenges.org).

Speakers include U.S. Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra, Harvard Business School "disruptive innovation" expert Clayton Christensen, Stanford economics professor and Charter Cities advocate Paul Romer, MIT appropriate technology proponent Amy Smith and Sharon Nunes of IBM's Systems and Technology Group. Award-winning NPR Correspondent Linda Wertheimer will moderate.

"This summit will be an opportunity for us to come together to show how we can prepare the next generation to address our toughest global challenges," said Babson College President Leonard A guaranteed payday loan. Schlesinger. "We also can demonstrate through this summit how working beyond our natural boundaries empowers institutions and individuals within them and ultimately can move us much closer to solving the problems our society needs solved."

"While technology will play a key role in confronting each of the grand challenges, it cannot solve them alone," said Richard K. Miller, president of Olin College. "Solving these problems will require unprecedented levels of cooperation and holistic approaches. Global solutions — not new

technologies — must be the objective, and these require innovation and cooperation among many fields."

"Modern complex problems require complex solutions, and a broader education makes those solutions possible," said Wellesley College President H. Kim Bottomly. "Insights occur when knowledge is integrated across the disciplines to approach global issues in a new way. To gain acceptance of new innovation you must understand human behavior. To develop the most appropriate innovations you must understand their social, psychological, political and economic ramifications. Engineering, business leadership and the liberal arts are a natural and powerful partnership for our times."

Provided by Newswise, online resource for knowledge-based news at www.newswise.com

SOURCE Babson College

Boston Area Colleges Sponsor Summit on Transforming Education to Meet Critical Global Challenges

LONDON (AFP) – World oil prices plunged on Friday as traders took their cue from the strengthening US dollar and eyed a crucial update on energy stockpiles in the United States, analysts said.

New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in March, fell 1.64 dollars to 73.64 dollars a barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for March delivery plunged 1.48 dollars to 72.64 dollars a barrel.

Oil sank after the European single currency fell close to a nine-month dollar low, as markets took a dim view of eurozone growth data and unclear EU proposals to help debt-ridden Greece.

In late morning London trade, the euro tumbled to 1.3532 dollars, the lowest level since May 19. That compared with 1.3695 in New York late on Thursday.

A stronger dollar usually dampens demand for oil because it makes dollar-priced crude more expensive for buyers using weaker currencies.

"While European key players and the IMF will not allow a complete failure of Greece, the euro is likely to remain under pressure from the issue and similar concerns for other countries in the region," said analysts at the JBC Energy consultancy in Vienna.

EU leaders stopped short Thursday of offering a bailout to rescue eurozone member Greece. Deep problems in Greek public finances have highlighted the parlous debt of other crisis-hit countries such as Italy and Spain.

Investors also sought the safe-haven dollar after China ordered financial institutions to increase the amount of money they keep in reserve, as Beijing looked to rein in rampant lending amid fears of asset bubbles no fax needed payday loans.

The development was an additional concern for the oil market because China is the world's second biggest energy consuming nation after the United States.

Later Friday, traders will digest a key US inventories report for the week ending February 5. The report, usually published on Wednesdays, was delayed due to a snowstorm in the northeastern US.

This week, crude futures have edged higher as investors mulled the prospect of EU financial support for crisis-hit Greece — and as the US east coast experienced its second huge snowstorm in less than a week.

The International Energy Agency forecast on Thursday that world oil demand and prices would rise this year, driven higher by strong growth in emerging economies, revising upward its earlier forecasts.

The Paris-based agency said demand was now expected to be 86.5 million barrels per day in 2010 compared to a forecast last month of 86.3, while average prices will rise to 75 dollars per barrel from 58 in 2009.

Global daily demand is now estimated at 84.9 million barrels per day (mbd) in 2009, and thus the IEA is predicting a 1.6-mbd increase.

Demand growth is expected to come "entirely" from outside the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a grouping of 30 developed economies including Britain, France, Germany, Japan and the United States.

Oil prices slide on back of strong dollar

PARIS — Credit Suisse reported a fourth-quarter profit that was below analysts’ expectations on Thursday, but said it was gaining market share in the coveted wealth management business while its rival UBS suffered.

The net profit of 793 million Swiss francs ($740 million) fell below the average forecast of 1.28 billion francs estimated by 14 analysts in a Bloomberg survey. Still, it was an improvement on the net loss of 6.02 billion francs in the fourth quarter of 2008.

The bank said its performance was affected by a general weakening in the investment bank business and fixed-income trading, felt by many in the sector, as well as by a fine of $536 million that Credit Suisse paid to authorities in the United States over a breach of sanctions against Iran and other countries.

For the year, the bank reported net profit of 6.7 billion francs, in contrast to a loss of 8.2 billion francs in 2008, most of which came in the final quarter, after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers sent markets downward.

By contrast, in 2009, “our business was resilient in the fourth quarter despite lower client trading activity in November and December,” the bank’s chief executive, Brady W. Dougan, said in the earnings statement.

“Client activity stopped quite early,” said Georg Kanders, an analyst at WestLB Research in Frankfurt. “Many hedge funds had already earned a lot, and with Dubai, people closed their books. Why endanger your bonus and good results?”

UBS, Credit Suisse’s rival, reported on Tuesday that its investment banking unit had earned a pretax profit of 297 million francs for the quarter. But it failed to stanch the hemorrhaging in its wealth management business, as clients withdrew 45.2 billion francs in assets in the fourth quarter.

With net new assets up by 12.5 billion francs for the quarter and 44 free credit scores.2 billion francs for the year, Mr. Dougan said Credit Suisse faced a different situation.

“Our transaction pipelines and net new asset inflows are the best we have seen since the crisis,” he said during a news conference in Zurich. “2008-2009 was not a great time for wealth creation,” and therefore the growth that the bank posted “was actually taking market share.”

Asked how the Swiss banking model would weather the pressure it has come under recently to lift the veil of secrecy, Mr. Dougan was sanguine.

“Of course there are issues to be worked through, but in the medium term, we think the Swiss financial market will continue to be a successful one,” he said. “There are lots of good reasons to do banking in Switzerland that have nothing to do with the tax treatment of your assets.”

The bank has also changed its pay practices for 2009.

“A lot of the compensation our people are receiving, they don’t actually receive,” Mr. Dougan said. “It’s subject to performance in future years.”

In its statement, Credit Suisse said that executive board members had received no traditional bonuses for last year and that the performance criteria attached to the deferred payouts “may result in future negative adjustments.”

Though much of Europe’s attention is directed to Greece and other debt-laden nations on the periphery, where the risk of sovereign default has been perceived to be high, Credit Suisse said that it was not directly affected.

“We don’t have any material exposure to Greece,” Mr. Dougan said.

Credit Suisse Sees Gains in Wealth Management

SINGAPORE — Singapore Airlines, one of the world’s biggest carriers by market value, on Tuesday reported its best quarterly profit in almost two years as cargo volumes rebounded and travel improved.

The airline industry is recovering from its worst downturn last year, but growth in the more profitable business class segment, where SIA thrives, is slow and could take time to capture pre-crisis level.

“Passenger loadings in January and bookings in hand indicate that the recovery in the third quarter is likely to continue in the final quarter of the current financial year,” SIA said in a statement.

“The business outlook for the group in 2010 is encouraging, but it must be acknowledged that uncertainties linger over the global economy.”

The Singapore carrier saw a strong December when cargo traffic turned positive for the first time in 19 months and year-end travel boosted demand, but it has trailed the recovery seen by Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific, which is helped by China’s strong demand.

CLSA expects February’s Singapore Airshow could boost premium traffic and the mass market could benefit from the opening of the city-state’s two casino resorts later this year fast cash advance.

But the aviation industry body I.A.T.A. said last week the sector could face a tough 2010, making up for the lost demand in 2009 and handling new security demands.

SIA, 55 percent-owned by state investor Temasek Holdings, reported a net profit of 403.7 million Singapore dollars ($286.3 million)) in its third quarter, its highest quarterly profit since March 2008.

The results compared to a net profit of 337 million Singapore dollars a year ago, but below analysts’ average forecast of 448 million Singapore dollars.

Earnings from U.S. rivals so far this quarter have been mixed, raising concerns about the industry’s recovery.

At the close of trade, SIA shares were down 8.6 percent since the start of the year compared to an 9.4 percent drop in shares of Cathay Pacific and a 6 percent drop in the broader Singapore market.

Reuters

Singapore Air Profit Rises as Demand Bounces Back

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PORT ARTHUR, Texas – About 450,000 gallons of crude oil spilled in a southeast Texas port Saturday after two vessels collided, the U.S. Coast Guard said. No injuries have been reported, but part of the port has been closed.

U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Renee Aiello told The Association Press that the crude spilled at the Port of Port Arthur when a 600-foot tanker carrying oil collided with a towing vessel pushing a loaded barge. The Coast Guard was notified of the collision around 9:50 a.m., she said.

The crash left a 15-by-8-foot hole in the tanker, Aiello said low fee pay day loans. The towing vessel then ricocheted and hit another tanker that was tied to a pier. Aiello didn’t know what damage was caused to that ship.

Aiello said a portion of the oil in the damaged tank has been moved to another holding tank on the ship.

Port Arthur is about 90 miles east of Houston.

Oil spilled at east Texas port as ships collide

BERLIN — Military officials from the European countries with orders to buy the Airbus A400M military transport plane tried and failed again Friday to resolve differences over how to share billions of euros in cost overruns, but said they would resume negotiations this coming week in Berlin in the hope of meeting a Jan. 31 deadline.

Many of the participating countries need the aircraft urgently as they play a greater and more demanding role in peacekeeping missions. The repeated delays — the A400M is now more than four years behind schedule — represent a big setback for European military cooperation.

Military procurement ministers from the seven customer nations met until late into the night Thursday with top managers from Airbus and its parent company, European Aeronautic Defense & Space.

“We will meet again early next week here in Berlin,” a German defense ministry spokesman, who asked not to be identified, said Friday. “All of the participants do want a solution to this problem.” Two people with direct knowledge of the negotiations said they would likely take place Tuesday.

Alexander Reinhardt, a spokesman for EADS, said nailing down the critical details of how to finance the program remained a thorny issue.

“The negotiations have been difficult, as expected,” Mr. Reinhardt said.

Seven countries — Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain and Turkey — together ordered 180 A400Ms in 2003 for €20 billion, or $28.2 billion. Last year, EADS and Airbus asked them to help cover an additional €5.2 billion in costs and to accept significant delivery delays. The company has asked the countries to agree to an additional 25 percent payment, or around €5 billion, according to people with direct knowledge of the negotiations.

The Airbus chief executive, Thomas O. Enders, warned this month that without an agreement soon, the project might have to be abandoned, placing as many as 40,000 European jobs at risk.

But while France said it would consider paying more, Germany has been more than reluctant. It has ordered 60 of the 180 aircraft, while France has ordered 50.

France was supposed to receive the first deliveries of the A400M transport aircraft late last year and Germany in 2010, but the plane made its first test flight only last month. Both countries will now have to wait several years more, according to the German Defense Ministry faxless cash advance.

Germany, however, has little room to maneuver. With 4,300 German troops based in northern Afghanistan, Berlin needs access to such aircraft for transporting not only troops but also such heavy equipment as tanks, armored personnel carriers and helicopters.

Without the A400M, it must either modernize at huge expense its Transall aircraft, which are more than 30 years old, or lease Russian Antonov aircraft.

“We want the A400M but not at any price,” the German defense minister, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, reiterated during an interview with the Bayernkurier newspaper to be published Saturday. “Our willingness to compromise has its limits.”

Britain, too, is furious about the delays, especially given its big role in Afghanistan.

The German Defense Ministry official said that cost was not the only issue still on the table, but range and payload as well. The A400M is currently several tons over its specified weight.

An audit of the A400M program by PricewaterhouseCoopers, which was commissioned last year by the governments, has blamed a significant portion of the cost over-runs on EADS and Airbus for failing to put proper budget controls in place. It also said the manufacturer had consistently underestimated development costs.

The auditor’s report, which was leaked to several European media this past week, estimated that the A400M was roughly €7.6 billion over budget.

EADS and Airbus have rejected the findings of the audit, but have so far failed to provide their own cost estimate for the program, now four years behind schedule.

EADS has already written off €2.4 billion in costs for a project that continues to expend cash at a rate of around €100 million each month.

The seven countries failed to meet an year-end 2009 deadline to agree on a new delivery schedule and financing arrangement for the contract, and last month set a new deadline of Jan. 31.

With the financial crisis and recession straining budgets across Europe, the governments have been reluctant to come up with more money.

Nicola Clark reported from Paris.

Pressure Mounts for Deal for Airbus Military Plane

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Crude oil followed the stock market up on Tuesday, settling higher for the first time in five sessions.

Investors boosted health stocks, watching a Massachusetts election to fill the seat of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. Some hoped for a Republican victory that would make it more difficult for Senate Democrats to pass a health care bill. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up nearly 100 points in afternoon trading.

Wholesale gasoline prices also moved higher after the MasterCard SpendingPulse report for the week ended Friday showed gasoline consumption rose 3.2 percent with the week before and 2.3 percent from the same week a year ago. Traders have been looking for signs that gasoline demand is starting to pick up to justify oil prices that have more than doubled in the past year.

SpendingPulse is a division of MasterCard Advisors that tracks total sales paid for by credit card, checks and cash.

But last week’s falling oil prices started to bring down prices at the gas pump. Gasoline prices fell for the fourth straight day, though the declines have been modest so far.

Prices of $2.74 per gallon Tuesday were less than 2 pennies under the 15-month peak of $2.7543 hit on Thursday, according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service.

Prices still are up 15 cents in the past month and 89.8 cents from a year ago, as motorists dig deeper into their wallets to pay for fuel just as Christmas bills start to come in payday loans with low fees.

Tuesday’s gasoline prices matched the Energy Information Administration survey that showed prices averaged $2.739 per gallon nationwide Monday, down 1.2 cents from the week before.

A typical motorist using about 50 gallons a month is paying about $140 for gasoline, $45 more a month than a year ago.

Gasoline prices have spiked in the past month on a jump in oil prices.

Analyst Tom Kloza said to look for larger declines in gasoline prices over the next few weeks. January and February are typically a period of poor demand for transportation fuels.

Benchmark crude for February delivery rose $1.02 to settle at $79.02 Tuesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In other Nymex trading in February contracts, heating oil fell 0.06 cent to settle at $2.0454 a gallon, while gasoline added 1.37 cents to settle at $2.0591 a gallon. Natural gas futures shed 13.4 cents to settle at $5.557 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In London, Brent crude for March delivery rose 53 cents to settle at $77.63 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

___

Associates Press writers Pablo Gorondi in Budapest and Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, contributed to this report.

Crude settles higher as stocks climb

McDonald’s, the fast-food company, said on Monday that it had promoted Don Thompson, the head of its United States division, to become its No. 2 executive.

Mr. Thompson succeeds Ralph Alvarez, who retired unexpectedly last month, citing health concerns. Like Mr. Alvarez, Mr. Thompson will have the dual titles of president and chief operating officer.

He becomes the third person to hold the No. 2 post at McDonald’s since 2004, when the company lost two chief executives to fatal illnesses. Since then the company has stressed the importance of succession planning, and the No. 2 executive has been widely viewed as a chief executive in waiting.

James A. Skinner, the chief executive, said Mr. Thompson would oversee operations at McDonald’s nearly 32,000 restaurants worldwide. The company operates in more than 117 countries.

Despite the importance of its international markets — revenue from outside the United States made up nearly two-thirds of the company’s total of $23.5 billion in 2008 — a company press release and profile of Mr. Thompson showed little evidence of foreign experience.

Walt Riker, a company spokesman, said that Mr. Thompson had worked with the company’s international restaurants when he was executive vice president of restaurant systems in 2004, a job that included involvement with such things as modernized drive-throughs, new cooking systems, cashless payment systems and new menu items.

McDonald’s has a long history of choosing its top executives from within unsecured personal loans.

Mr. Thompson, 46, started working at McDonald’s in 1990 as an electrical engineer in the restaurant systems group. He then moved into restaurant operations and rose to executive posts in its West and Midwest divisions. In 2006 he was named president of the company’s United States division, when Mr. Alvarez was promoted from that post to the No. 2 spot.

Mr. Alvarez’s predecessor, Michael J. Roberts, also left the company abruptly, reportedly over frustrations that Mr. Skinner, who became chief executive in 2004, had failed to step down as quickly as anticipated.

McDonald’s has been a success story during the global recession, reporting strong sales and generally outperforming its fast-food rivals. Possible signs of weakness began to show in the United States business late last year, however. Same-store sales in the United States for the month of November were down 0.6 percent compared with the same period the previous year, the company reported. But year-to-date same-store sales for the period that ended Nov. 30 were up 2.8 percent in the United States and 3.9 percent companywide.

The company also announced on Monday that Jan Fields would succeed Mr. Thompson as president of its United States division. Ms. Fields had previously been the executive vice president in the division.

McDonald’s Names U.S. Chief as Its No. 2 Executive

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