A depressed aluminum market dragged down first-half earnings at Rio Tinto, the global mining company, which paid no interim dividend in order to husband cash and cope with $39 billion in net debt. Rio, fresh from a $15.2 billion rights issue, recorded a $206 million loss before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization at its Rio Tinto Alcan aluminum unit, compared with an ebitda gain of $2.38 billion in the first half of 2008. The group's 55 percent drop in pre-tax ...

Japan has joined the growing number of major economies that are back in black. Japan's economy grew 3.7 percent on an annualized basis from April to June this year, the first time the world's second largest economy has seen positive growth in 15 months. The announcement of preliminary figures by Japan's Cabinet Office comes after France and Germany surprised economists last week by posting 0.3 percent growth for the second quarter of the year. The news that Japan has rebounded ...

Ben Huh is the first to admit his company could easily have wound up on FAIL Blog. For the uninitiated, that's his wildly popular website to which users submit photos and videos documenting such colossally stupid moves as writing a billboard partly in Braille and using a trash can as a bike helmet. Like the rest of the 20-odd websites Huh owns, FAIL Blog was added to his empire for no more specific reason, he says, than "Dude, I ...

Tour de France champion Alberto Contador will stay with Astana for the 2010 season, the Kazakh-funded team announced on Saturday night. The Spaniard's future with the team had been uncertain after clinching his second victory in three years in cycling's most prestigious event, with the 26-year-old unhappy with the recruitment of Lance Armstrong this year. However, seven-time Tour winner Armstrong announced before the end of the race, in which he finished third, that he was forming a new U.S.-based team ...

As Ethiopia remains caught in a deadly cycle of drought and famine, aid agencies warn that erratic rainfall and ever-rising food costs are compounding the problems carried over from last year's drought to leave 6.2 million people in need of food assistance, on top of the 7.5 million already getting aid from the government. Close to 14 million Ethiopians — 20% of the country's total population — now have difficulty finding enough to eat, including, according to UNICEF, ...

Pan Am Flight 103 was 31,000 feet in the air, heading for New York City, when it exploded over Scotland on the longest night of the year, December 21, 1988, killing 259 people on board and 11 people on the ground below. It was the world's deadliest act of air terrorism until the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington, according to the FBI. American and British investigators painstakingly pieced together the aircraft's wreckage and found it had ...

A jury convicted a 23-year-old man on terrorism-related charges Wednesday after a trial in Atlanta. Woods lambasted European Tour referee John Paramor for warning him and playing partner Padraig Harrington for slow play in the final round at Firestone. Harrington, who led Woods by a shot playing the 16th, appeared rushed after the warning and ended up making a triple bogey eight on the hole to end his chances. 'I'm sorry that John got in the way of a great ...

Tiger Woods claims he escaped a fine for his outspoken comments about a tournament official after his four-shot win at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational on Sunday. Woods lambasted European Tour referee John Paramor for warning him and playing partner Padraig Harrington for slow play in the final round at Firestone. Harrington, who led Woods by a shot playing the 16th, appeared rushed after the warning and ended up making a triple bogey eight on the hole to end his chances. 'I'm ...

Canada is preparing to launch its toughest offensive to date against the Buy-American provision in President Barrack Obama's $787-billion stimulus package. But protectionist sentiment in the U.S. will make it difficult for Prime Minister Stephen Harper to make much headway when the two leaders meet next week at a North-American summit in Guadalajara, Mexico, even with the help of a new bargaining chip. Harper and his trade Minister Stockwell Day scored an important victory Friday when provincial premiers ...

White House economic adviser Christina Romer declared the president's stimulus plan "absolutely" is working to slow the economy's decline, though she still held open the possibility of a second stimulus package a few months down the road. Ahead of Friday's new unemployment figures that had unexpectedly good news that the recession may be ending, Romer said the president's stimulus absolutely is working but still left open possibility of a second stimulus in a few months if the recovery is slow. ...