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SAN FRANCISCO

The Toronto stock market was higher Tuesday afternoon as the U.S. Federal Reserve acknowledged that the U.S. economy is weaker than it had thought with increasing risks, yet offered no measures to soften the blow of deteriorating conditions.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 75.57 points or per cent to 11,746.53 after earlier gaining as much as 378 points. The TSX had earlier surged as much as 378 points earlier in the session as investors bought up stocks that were beaten down in price during a series of plunges that brought the TSX to its lowest level in a year.

Gains disappeared after the U.S. Federal Reserve failed to come up with new stimulus measures at the end of their meeting on interest rates. The Fed is keeping interest rates near zero and tried to reassure rattled markets by saying that rates will stay that low through mid-2013. The Fed had previously only said that it would keep it low for

Stocks are edging higher after the government reported a decline in the number of people seeking unemployment benefits and as JPMorgan Chase announced strong earnings.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. rose 4 percent after the bank reported that higher investment banking fees raised its net income beyond analyst expectations.

The Labor Department reported applications for unemployment benefits fell to a three-month low last week, a sign that companies are laying off fewer workers. At 405,000, the figure is still above the 375,000 that signals healthy job growth.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index is up 3 points, or 0.2 percent, at 1,320 in early trading Thursday. The Dow Jones industrial average is up 8, or 0.1 percent, at 12,500. The Nasdaq composite is up 6, or 0.2 percent, at 2,802.

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Yemeni security forces clashed with Islamist fighters near a southern town overrun by militants, leaving seven Islamists and a soldier dead, officials said, as tens of thousands staged rallies across Yemen calling for the president to step down.

Security across the impoverished nation in the southern corner of the Arabian Peninsula, home to an active al-Qaida branch, has largely collapsed since the uprising seeking to oust President Ali Abdullah Saleh broke out in February.

Islamist fighters seized Zinjibar and another town in the southern Abyan province earlier this year, and Yemeni troops have sought to push them out.

Wednesday’s clashes broke out when Islamist fighters attacked an army base west of Zinjibar, but were repelled.

Yemen’s Defense Ministry said in a statement that seven Islamists were killed and two arrested during the attack. Medics said one soldier was killed and three injured in the clashes.

More than 54,000 Abyan residents have fled the fighting, said Ahmed al-Kohlani, a state minister. He said many relocated to the port city of Aden, where schools were turned into shelters.

To the west, near the city of Taiz, medical officials said two soldiers were killed in clashes with armed tribesmen. Taiz is a hotbed of opposition protests.

The fighting raged in different areas outside the city throughout the day Wednesday, with government forces firing heavy artillery at positions held by tribal fighters free credit score online. Military officials said the soldiers were killed when tribesmen attacked a checkpoint. Eyewitnesses elsewhere said tribal fighters set fire to three military vehicles.

Later Wednesday, mortars hit a residential area in Taiz, killing a civilian and injuring eight, a security official said.

Also Wednesday, port officials in the port city of Aden said pirates seized an oil tanker off Yemen’s coast before Yemeni and international forces intervened and freed the ship. The ship had left the Saudi port of Jiddah and was heading for Sri Lanka, flying a Panamanian flag, the officials said.

All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

There have been near-daily protests demanding that Saleh step down. The president has been in Saudi Arabia since June 5, undergoing treatment for injuries sustained in an attack on his presidential compound.

On Wednesday, an opposition statement accused him of trying to create chaos in Taiz and in the province of Abyan. The statement alleged that Saleh pulled his security forces from several cities in Abyan, enabling Islamic extremists and al-Qaida-linked groups to exploit the turmoil and take control.

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Prime Minister David Cameron said Tuesday he is shocked by allegations that a British tabloid hacked into the cellphone of a murdered schoolgirl after she went missing.

“If they are true, this is a truly dreadful act and a truly dreadful situation,” Cameron said about the latest hacking allegations against the News of the World.

“What I’ve read in the papers is quite, quite shocking, that someone could do this actually knowing that the police were trying to find this person and trying to find out what happened,” he added.

The prime minister spoke while on a brief trip to Afghanistan as the phone hacking scandal in Britain deepened with claims that the tabloid’s intrusion into the missing girl’s voicemail system may have disrupted the U.K. police investigation.

The case involves charges that the newspaper’s representatives broke into the voicemail of 13-year-old Milly Dowler when she was first reported missing in 2002. She was later murdered by a nightclub doorman.

Lawyer Mark Lewis, representing Dowler’s family, said he plans to sue the tabloid, which is at the center of the long-running scandal that involves widespread hacking into the voicemail systems of celebrities, sports figures and aides working with the royal family.

Lewis said the parents were given hope that their daughter was alive because messages on her phone had been deleted _ allegedly by the tabloid’s representative.

“It is distress heaped upon tragedy to learn that the News of the World had no humanity at such a terrible time,” he said. “The fact that they were prepared to act in such a heinous way that could have jeopardized the police investigation and give them false hope is despicable.”

The tabloid’s publisher, News International, released a statement Monday saying the matter is of grave concern and promising to cooperate with investigators. The publishers have already apologized and reached financial settlements in a number of phone hacking cases.

A private investigator and a royal editor who worked for News of the World were jailed in 2007 for tapping the phones of royal household staff. Five more people have been arrested since a fresh police investigation began in January.

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Embattled photography pioneer Eastman Kodak Co. is nearing the end of a high-stakes patent-infringement fight with smartphone giants Apple Inc. and Research in Motion Ltd.

The 131-year-old Rochester, N.Y.-based company argued in a January 2010 lawsuit that image-preview technology it patented in 2001 was infringed by iPhone maker Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif., and BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd. of Ontario, Canada.

Chief Executive Antonio Perez estimates Kodak could draw up to $1 billion from its deep-pocketed rivals if it gets a favorable ruling Thursday before the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington, D.C.

Because the federal agency can block imports of patent-infringing products, Apple and RIM could be forced to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in licensing fees to bring in smartphones made overseas.

Both Apple and RIM have declined to comment on the case.

A triumph for Kodak would also lift some pressure on the maker of cameras, film, photo kiosks and inkjet printers as it struggles to redefine itself as a 21st-century powerhouse in digital imaging.

Its dispute with Apple and RIM centers on technology Kodak created for extracting a still image while previewing it in the camera’s LCD screen. In 2009, the trade commission ruled that South Korean mobile phone makers Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics infringed the same patent, resulting in $964 million in payouts.

Kodak has amassed more than 1,000 digital-imaging patents since the 1970s, and almost all of today’s digital cameras rely on those inventions. It has licensed digital technology to at least 30 companies, including mobile-device makers such as Motorola Inc. and Nokia Corp.

Mining its rich array of inventions for repeated cash infusions has become an indispensable tactic driven in large part by Kodak’s long and painful digital turnaround.

Since 2004, Kodak has reported only one full-year profit _ in 2007 _ and anticipates another annual loss this year before crossing back to profitability sometime in 2012. It has trimmed its work force to 18,800 from 70,000 in 2002.

Kodak has a promising array of new businesses, but it needs to tap other sources of revenue before investments in those areas have time to pay off.

It is hoping four growth businesses _ consumer inkjet printers, high-speed commercial inkjet presses, workflow software and packaging _ will more than double in size to nearly $2 billion in revenue in 2013, accounting for 25 percent of all sales.

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High gasoline prices, government budget cuts and weaker-than-expected consumer spending caused the economy to grow only weakly in the first three months of the year.

The Commerce Department estimated Thursday that the economy grew at an annual rate of 1.8 percent in the January-March quarter. That was the same as its first estimate a month ago.

Consumer spending grew at just half the rate of the previous quarter. And a surge in imports widened the U.S. trade deficit.

Most economists think the economy is growing only slightly better in the current April-June quarter. Consumers remain squeezed by gas prices, scant pay increases and a depressed housing market.

Analysts estimate that growth has accelerated slightly to around 2.5 percent in the current April-June quarter. For the entire year, they think the economy will grow around 3 percent. That would be little changed from the 2.9 percent growth in 2010.

Also Thursday, the government said more people applied for unemployment benefits last week. It was the first increase in three weeks and evidence that the job market remains sluggish.

The number of people seeking benefits rose by 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 424,000. Applications are above the 375,000 level that’s consistent with sustainable job growth. Applications peaked at 659,000 during the recession. Employers stepped up hiring this spring, but some economists worry that rising applications indicate hiring is slowing.

Economists had been more optimistic when the year began. They assumed that a cut in workers’ Social Security taxes, which raised take-home pay, would boost consumer spending. And new business tax breaks were thought likely to spur business spending.

But political upheaval in the Middle East and North Africa sent energy prices soaring. The result was that consumers had to pay more for gas, leaving less money to spend on other items.

The government’s revised estimate for gross domestic product _ the economy’s total output of goods and services _ showed consumer spending growing at an annual rate of just 2.2 percent. That’s sharply down from an initial estimate of 2.7 percent.

Consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of economic activity, had grown at a much faster 4 percent rate in the October-December period.

The GDP revision showed that the government sector is dragging on growth. Government spending fell at an annual rate of 5.1 percent. Federal and state and local governments have cut spending to battle budget deficits.

Economists expect government spending to remain weak. They note that Congress will likely slash spending to try to shrink $1 trillion-plus budget deficits.

Exports grew faster than previously estimated last quarter _ a brisk 9.2 percent rate. But imports grew even faster _ at a 9.5 percent rate _ causing the U.S. trade deficit to widen. A higher trade deficit subtracts from growth.

Spending by companies on equipment and software grew at a solid rate of 11.6 percent. Economists expect that to continue as companies take advantage of one-year tax write-offs for such purchases.

David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor’s in New York, said he thinks the economy will grow at an annual rate of 2.5 percent in the current quarter. Wyss said he expects growth to strengthen slightly to around 3 percent in the second half of this year.

In part, that’s because the U.S. manufacturing supply disruptions caused by the Japanese earthquake and nuclear crisis in March should ease. And auto plants and other factories get back to full production.

Still, analysts think the economy may not be able to exceed 3 percent growth for the full year.

“There are just too many headwinds for the economy to fight against at the moment,” Wyss said.

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British lawmakers said Monday they still have “significant concerns” about the takeover of chocolate maker Cadbury by Kraft Foods Inc. _ more than a year after the controversial deal.

The Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee also strongly criticized Kraft’s chief executive Irene Rosenfeld for refusing to appear before parliamentary hearings into the takeover.

The report _ titled “Is Kraft working for Cadbury?” _ said Kraft’s attitude to the inquiry “steered close to a contempt” of the House of Commons.

It also chastised the U.S. food group for failing to accept criticism from Britain’s takeover market regulator of its U-turn on promises to keep open a British factory.

Kraft’s purchase of Cadbury for 11.5 billion pounds in February 2010 caused much consternation in Britain, where it is a much-loved brand, and kicked off a government review of foreign takeover rules.

Rosenfeld did not make her first visit to Cadbury’s historic base in Bournville, England, to meet management and employees until October 2010.

She also refused requests from lawmakers to appear at hearings either in person or via video link to give assurances about future job levels at Cadbury, instead sending Executive Vice President Marc Firestone to face hostile questioning from lawmakers.

Both lawmakers and the public were further enraged when Kraft backtracked on its plans for Cadbury’s Somerdale plant in western England. During the long and bitter takeover battle, Kraft said it would save the Somerdale plant and 400 associated jobs, a decision that would have reversed earlier plans by Cadbury to close the factory and move production to Poland.

However, shortly after Kraft completed the deal in February, it said the plant would close by 2011.

“That sorry episode overshadowed what could have been a positive discussion on the future of Cadbury under Kraft’s ownership,” the committee said in its report payday loans guaranteed no fax. “In its correspondence with the committee, Kraft in our view steered close to a contempt of the House. We trust that that will not be repeated.”

The committee said it remained concerned on two fronts: Kraft’s commitment to British Cadbury brands given strategic decisions are being made from Kraft’s European headquarters in Zurich, and the company’s apparent lack of consultation with union leaders about pay and conditions for workers.

“One year on from Kraft’s predatory purchase of Cadbury the workers are still none the wiser about the company’s commitments to its U.K. businesses,” said Jennie Formby, national officer of the Unite union. “In fact, we now have less information about the company’s current state and future intentions than before the takeover.”

“Workers look at Kraft’s horrendous multi-billion debt, consider its record in other countries where jobs have gone, plants have shut and wages have been cut, and rightly worry about what the future holds for them,” Formby added.

However, the report said the committee was “encouraged” by Kraft’s promise to continue investing in Cadbury, adding that lawmakers understood that no further jobs would be axed in Britain.

“Whilst Kraft did not extend its undertakings on jobs, the strong indication to us was that the extent of investment at Bournville and other sites would only make sense alongside retention of employment levels in the U.K.,” the report said. “We trust that our interpretation is correct. If it is not, we shall expect any change in the position to be made public by Kraft at the earliest opportunity.”

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LONDON

Switzerland’s government has moved to freeze any assets in the country’s banks that might belong to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs said Thursday.

"The Federal Council [Bundesrat] has decided to freeze any assets of Moammar Gaddafi and those surrounding him, in Switzerland, with immediate effect," the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

The move comes after ten days of protests that have lost Gadhafi control of eastern Libya and led prominent members of his own government to defect and join demonstrations.

Gadhafi has shown no signs that he’s ready to give up the post he has held for 42 years Internet Payday loans.

It was not immediately clear what assets, if any, Gadhafi keeps in Switzerland.

For the Swiss government, it’s a case of deja vu, as the country moved earlier this month to freeze the assets of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his family, following protests in that country that led to his resignation.

The Swiss banking system is known for its secrecy. But in recent years, the banks have made concessions in the interest of providing more transparency. 

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