PR-inside.com) HANOI, Vietnam (AP) - Vietnam's inflation rate reached nearly 23 percent in 2008, the highest in nearly two decades, according to government figures released Thursday.The consumer price index rose 22.97 percent in the past 12 months, the government said,

PR-inside.com) SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - San Francisco International Airport is planning to give guilt-ridden travelers a chance to offset the air pollution emitted from their plane rides.The airport says it will set up a series of kiosks so travelers can

PR-inside.com) TOKYO (AP) - As Toyota Motor Corp. faces its biggest crisis, speculation is growing that the charismatic grandson of the company's founder may take over leadership of the automaker sooner than expected.Japan's nationally circulated Asahi newspaper reported Tuesday that

PR-inside.com) MEXICO CITY (AP) - The U.S. auto bailout lifts the threat of imminent collapse from plants that have been a steady source of jobs in Mexico. But the rescue, backed by American taxpayers, is likely to slow investment in

PR-inside.com) DENVER (AP) - Investors who have forsaken shaky financial markets for the safety of gold must feel a little bit like prospectors.As the worst recession in at least a generation spreads, so too does the clamor for gold bars

PR-inside.com) MOSCOW (AP) - Russia's financial crisis may slow development but won't derail state social programs, President Dmitry Medvedev said Wednesday amid new warnings that the government next year would face its first budget deficit in a decade.Medvedev said hard

PR-inside.com) WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal regulators are moving to sell the remnants of failed IndyMac Bank before year end, mopping up from the second-largest bank failure this year.It was unclear Wednesday whether the government would sell off IndyMac as a

PR-inside.com) HOUSTON (AP) - Falling U.S. crude inventories failed to lift oil prices Wednesday, as traders focused instead on another round of bad economic news.Light, sweet crude for February delivery fell $1.60 to $37.38 a barrel in a shortened day

PR-inside.com) HAVANA (AP) - Cuba says its economy will grow 4.3 percent for the year, about half the original forecast, due to damage from hurricanes and the rising cost of food imports.The report by Economy Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez, during

PR-inside.com) MEXICO CITY (AP) - Mexico's telephone giant, Telmex, has launched a Web-based newscast while it awaits permission from regulatory authorities to enter the country's television market.The company has set up UNO TV on the Web site of Telmex's Prodigy

PR-inside.com) HOUSTON (AP) - Crude prices tumbled Wednesday following a raft of bad economic news and growing stockpiles of unused gasoline that suggested demand for energy has continued to erode.Light, sweet crude for February delivery fell $3.63 to settle at

PR-inside.com) BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has signed a law creating a sovereign wealth fund to buffer the country from the global financial crisis and help Brazilian companies boost trade and expand overseas.The presidential

PR-inside.com) NEW YORK (AP) - Wall Street rose modestly in light holiday trading Wednesday after the government released downbeat, but unsurprising, readings on rising U.S. joblessness and declining consumer spending.The swelling rate of unemployment has been particularly worrisome to investors.

PR-inside.com) WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal regulators are moving to sell the remnants of failed IndyMac Bank before year end, mopping up from the second-largest bank failure this year.It was unclear Wednesday whether the government would sell off IndyMac as a

PR-inside.com) SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Worries over lead paint in toys made the holidays a little brighter for handcrafted toy makers last year, but now the government's response to the scare has some workshops fearful that this Christmas might be

PR-inside.com) NEW YORK (AP) - Gold prices inched higher Wednesday in a shortened session as investors looked past discouraging economic reports and made small bets on the metal.Economic concerns have pressured many commodities prices in the past few months, particularly

PR-inside.com) NEW YORK (AP) - Treasury prices finished Wednesday's shortened Christmas Eve session narrowly mixed after the government released more gloomy readings on the economy.The Labor Department reported that initial claims for jobless benefits rose last week by more than

PR-inside.com) CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S. Virgin Islands (AP) - Roman Catholic schools in the U.S. Virgin Islands will have to turn away parents seeking financial aid for their children because of losses in a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme, church officials said Wednesday.The