GM, Delphi reaches cost cutting deal with UAW
Chicago: General Motors Corp. and its former subsidiary Delphi Corp that went bankrupt have reached an early retirement deal with more than 125,000 factory workers after reaching a cost-cutting deal with the United Auto Workers union.

The agreement will enable the company to cut 30,000 jobs by 2008 and help avert the threat of a strike at Delphi that could have crippled GM and cost the automaker $5 billion per month.

It is not yet known how much the early retirement incentives will cost GM, which plans to shut 12 plants to adjust to continuing loss of market share in the crucial US market.

Shares of GM were up less than 1 per cent on the New York Stock Exchange, off early an earlier high. The buyout offers range from $35,000 to $140,000, with the higher payments offered to workers at GM plants scheduled to be closed, one UAW local official said.

GM, which remains the world's No.1 automaker by unit sales, has been hurt by the falling popularity of its sport utility vehicles, high commodity costs and the burden of its pension and health-care obligations.
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EU blacklists 92 'unsafe' airlines
Brussels: The European Union has banned 92 airlines from operating across the region.Most of the airlines are based in Africa or Asia and fail to meet international safety standards, the EU said.

The list of banned airlines includes 50 carriers from the Democratic Republic of Congo, 14 from Sierra Leone and seven airlines from Swaziland.

The list was compiled on recommendations from the 25 EU member states after a series of crashes last summer left 500 people dead.
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Morgan Stanley achieves record revenue
New York: Morgan Stanley's profit rose 17 per cent as booming merger activity and record trading lifted total revenue beyond expectations to an all-time high. This was despite some weakness in its brokerage and money management businesses.

Chief executive Morgan Stanley John Mack, who took over last June, has overseen three quarters of improving results amid a global mergers boom and robust debt markets. Nearly one year ago former CEO Philip Purcell started management changes that led to shareholder rebellion, executives quitting and ultimately his own exit.

Morgan Stanley said net income rose to $1.64 billion, or $1.54 a share, in the first quarter that ended February 28, from $1.40 billion, or $1.29 a share, in the year-ago period.
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