Mitsubishi and Daimler Chrysler in compensation talks
Tokyo: Mitsubishi Motors is in talks with Daimler Chrysler AG to compensate the German automaker for damages related to the recall scandals at the Japanese automaker's truck unit.

The talks on possible compensation are continuing although Mitsubishi Motors has not received an official demand for restitution from DaimlerChrysler. DaimlerChrysler was a key partner for the Tokyo-based automaker before deciding last year to end cash infusions to bail out the troubled company.

DaimlerChrysler is miffed that scandals about a systematic cover-up of auto defects emerged after it took a stake in both Mitsubishi Motors and its truck unit. The scandals have recurred despite promises by Mitsubishi Motors to come clean after the wrongdoing was first disclosed in 2000.

Sales of Mitsubishi cars and trucks have been plunging not only in Japan but also in the United States. Mitsubishi Motors said the compensation was still undecided.

Mitsubishi Motors has been announcing one revival plan after another over the last several years and is set to disclose another this month.
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JP Morgan's predecessor banks had slave trade links
New York: JPMorgan Chase & Co has acknowledged that two of its predecessor banks had specific links to the slave trade by way of complying with a city of Chicago ordinance requiring such disclosures.

The bank said in a statement that the two Louisiana banks had received thousands of slaves as collateral before the Civil War. The New York-based bank also apologised for contributing to "a brutal and unjust institution" and said it was setting up a scholarship fund in Louisiana as a way to make amends.

JP Morgan officials said the bank undertook the study after Chicago passed an ordinance in 2003 requiring companies that do business with the city to research their history to determine any links to slavery. Among the companies that have been required to do such research are banks, insurance companies, bond underwriters and other financial vendors.

JP Morgan's disclosure was outlined in a letter to the bank's employees that was signed by Wiliam B Harrison Jr, the bank's Chairman and Chief Executive, and James Dimon, the President and Chief Operating Officer.

The bank said historical researchers had found that two now-defunct predecessor banks, Citizens Bank and Canal Bank, served as banks to plantations from the 1830s until the Civil War.
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