GENEVA - Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is in Switzerland to sign a free trade pact with the Alpine nation — the first comprehensive agreement the country has reached with a major western economy.
Li met with Swiss officials Friday in Bern, where he is due to ink the deal after three years of talks.
ANKARA, Turkey - A look at legislation passed in Turkey's parliament early Friday that would ban all alcohol advertising and tighten restrictions on the sale of such beverages, and how such a law could affect tourists and liquor companies in the mainly Muslim but secular country.
Q: What happened?
TORONTO - North American markets opened lower after better-than-expected durable goods data for April and ahead of a holiday weekend in the U.S.
The S&P/TSX composite index fell 33.62 points to 12,624.47.
The price of oil was knocked below US$94 a barrel Friday by a combination of ample supplies and lukewarm demand.
By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark oil for July delivery was down 70 cents to $93.55 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
WASHINGTON - U.S. orders for long-lasting manufactured goods rebounded in April, buoyed by more demand for aircraft and stronger business investment. The gains suggest economic growth may be holding steady this spring.
Orders for durable goods, items expected to last at least three years, rose 3.3 per cent last month from March, the Commerce Department said Friday. That followed a 5.9 decline in March.
LJUBLJANA, Slovenia - Slovenia's parliament has adopted a cap on public spending to try to convince investors that it will be able to avoid needing an international bailout.
The vote in the assembly on Friday means Slovenia's constitution will be changed to require that the government budget be balanced — it will not be allowed to spend more than it earns in taxes. The budget should be balanced by 2015.
TORONTO - The Canadian dollar was down nearly half a cent Friday morning, falling 0.41 of cent to 96.73 cents US.
The loonie has been trading near 11-month lows against the U.S. dollar due to a combination of a stronger American currency and lower prices for many of the commodities that Canada produces.
BERLIN - German business confidence rebounded this month in an unexpectedly strong showing that sends a hopeful signal for more robust growth in Europe's biggest economy, a closely watched survey found Friday.
The Ifo think-tank 's confidence index rose to 105.7 points for May from 104.4 last month. The upturn followed two consecutive declines and beat economists' expectations of a very slight increase to 104.5.
PARIS - The French government is trying to woo executives and entrepreneurs, amid concerns that it has antagonized the businesses needed to reinvigorate the economy.
Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici announced Friday that the government no longer plans to push for a law to cap executive salaries in the private sector. Instead, Moscovici told reporters that he was in discussions with business leaders and he hoped companies would agree to institute their own limits. He did not give details.
NICOSIA, Cyprus - Cypriot authorities have lifted restrictions on money withdrawals and transfers for international clients of another two foreign banks active in the crisis-hit country.
The Finance Ministry said Friday that limits no longer apply to Lebanon's Byblos Bank SAL and Jordan's Arab Jordan Investment Bank SA.
WINNIPEG - Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. (TSX: MBT) has agreed to sell its Allstream business telecommunications arm and use about half of the proceeds to reduce its pension and debt obligations.
Winnipeg-based MTS, which operates Manitoba's largest telecommunications business, says the deal values Allstream at $520 million.
LONGUEUIL, Que. - Quebec-based aerospace company Heroux-Devtek Inc. (TSX:HRX) has reported lower fourth-quarter profit.
The company, based in Longueuil near Montreal, says it had $8.4 million of net income in the three-month period, down from $8.9 million or 29 cents per share a year earlier.
NEW YORK, N.Y. - Household products giant Procter & Gamble Co. is hoping its former CEO can work his magic once again.
The Cincinnati company said late Thursday that former CEO A.G. Lafley, a 33-year industry veteran, is returning its top post. The surprise move comes as the world's largest consumer-products maker tries to spur growth in the face of stiff global competition.
MONTREAL - Canada's sixth-largest bank is hiking its dividend and buying back some of its shares, National Bank (TSX:NA) announced Friday along with a second-quarter profit that beat analyst estimates by a wide margin.
Montreal-based bank said its adjusted earnings hit a record $369 million — up six per cent from the same time last year. That equalled $2.08 per share, a seven per cent increase from $1.95 per share in the same quarter last year.
GENEVA - Switzerland's top negotiator in talks to resolve disputes over tax evasion with Europe and the U.S. is stepping down.
The Finance Ministry said Friday that Michael Ambuehl will leave his post at the end of August and go into academia.
NEW DELHI - A senior American official on Friday praised India for reducing oil imports from Iran and said the U.S. government will decide soon on New Delhi's request to renew a waiver from sanctions on Tehran.
U.S. Under Secretary for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman said that India's reduction of oil imports was supporting U.S. and European Union sanctions against Iran, which are aimed at deterring the country from developing nuclear weapons.
TAIPEI, Taiwan - Taiwan has lowered its economic growth forecast for 2013 to a muted 2.4 per cent as global demand for the island's electronics exports remained subdued.
In February, the government predicted 3.6 per cent growth this year. The economy grew 1.3 per cent in 2012.
BANGKOK - Asian shares traded erratically Friday but European markets found their footing, a day after global stocks were routed by unexpectedly weak Chinese manufacturing and fears the Federal Reserve will start withdrawing its monetary stimulus.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index, which plummeted more than 7 per cent Thursday, posted a big morning gain and then took investors on a dizzying ride into negative territory before closing 0.9 per cent higher at 14,612.45. The benchmark swung more than 1,000 points between the day's high and low.
WASHINGTON - When President Barack Obama pushed his health care overhaul plan through Congress, he counted labour unions among his strongest supporters.
But some unions leaders have grown frustrated and angry about what they say are unexpected consequences of the new law — problems that they say could jeopardize the health benefits offered to millions of their members.
TOKYO - Japan's top leaders are defending the economic strategies championed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, though the central bank chief acknowledged a need for better communication with financial markets, a day after Tokyo shares suffered their worst loss since the 2011 tsunami disaster.
Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda acknowledged Friday the need for careful handling of aggressive monetary policies aimed at breaking the world's third-largest economy free of deflation, or falling prices, that has hobbled growth by slowing investment and consumer spending.
MONTREAL - A huge boil-water advisory affecting 1.3 million people in Montreal, described by local officials as unprecedented in the recorded history of the city, was lifted late Thursday.
City officials ended the two-day-old advisory at 10:15 p.m., after tests concluded the water quality was fine.
WINNIPEG - Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. (TSX: MBT) has agreed to sell its Allstream business telecommunications arm and use about half of the proceeds to reduce its pension and debt obligations.
Winnipeg-based MTS, which operates Manitoba's largest telecommunications business, says the deal values Allstream at $520 million.
MONTREAL - Canada's sixth-largest bank is hiking its dividend and buying back some of its shares, National Bank (TSX:NA) announced Friday along with a second-quarter profit that beat analyst estimates by a wide margin.
Montreal-based bank said its adjusted earnings hit a record $369 million — up six per cent from the same time last year. That equalled $2.08 per share, a seven per cent increase from $1.95 per share in the same quarter last year.
OTTAWA - Fraud was definitely a factor in the rash of misleading robocalls that bedevilled voters in six federal ridings in the 2011 election, but not enough of one to justify overturning the results, a Federal Court judge has decided.
The ruling, released late Thursday, left both sides in the dispute — the Conservative party in one corner, the voters who fielded the calls in the other — claiming victory of a sort.
EDMONTON - Alberta's Opposition Wildrose Party says it has paid a $90,000 penalty imposed by federal regulators for violating automated phone call rules.
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission says Wildrose broke the rules in 2011 and before, during and after the April 2012 provincial election.
OTTAWA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper acknowledged for the first time Thursday that "perhaps" he could have responded more quickly to the news that his trusted chief of staff had footed the $90,000 bill for Sen. Mike Duffy's disallowed housing expenses.
Harper conceded that he could have accepted the resignation of former right-hand man Nigel Wright earlier than he ultimately did — four days after Harper and the rest of Canada learned the stunning news about the personal cheque Wright wrote the senator.
TORONTO - The chief of staff to embattled Mayor Rob Ford was escorted by security from city hall premises Thursday amid swirling allegations the mayor had been caught on videotape smoking crack cocaine.
Mark Towhey, one of Ford's closest advisers whose background is in crisis management, refused to explain his sudden departure after more than a year in the position.
VANCOUVER - Scientists at the Vancouver Aquarium have sprung into action, as part of an effort to prevent an endangered frog population from becoming extinct in eastern British Columbia.
The Rocky Mountain population of northern leopard frogs plummeted by the millions in the 1970s, and only two populations are now known to exist near Creston, in B.C.'s West Kootenay region.
VANCOUVER - A massive landslide that ripped through a small hamlet in southeastern British Columbia last year, killing four people, was caused by a deluge of rain and a late spring snowmelt that triggered the largest slide to hit the region in at least 12,000 years, a report into the disaster concludes.
The report, released Thursday by the Regional District of Central Kootenay, also warns more than a dozen properties in Johnsons Landing are still at risk of another deadly slide, meaning some residents will never be able to return to their homes.
VANCOUVER - Passing a balanced budget, going on a trade mission to Asia, and establishing labour peace with teachers are among B.C. Premier Christy Clark's top priorities as she announced she will recall the legislature this summer.
Speaking to her newly elected caucus members as well as defeated candidates for the first time since the Liberals' come-from-behind election win last week, Clark said the party must now make good on its campaign promises.
CALI, Colombia - Prime Minister Stephen Harper says it is too soon to decide whether Canada should join the Pacific Alliance trade bloc in its mission to deepen economic integration.
After a day spent meeting with Latin American leaders and looking into their plans to form a European Union-like bloc to compete with Asia, Harper said he was not ready to make the call.
CALGARY - A senior TransCanada Corp. executive says the resistance to the approval of the proposed Keystone XL oilsands pipeline has made the company more cautious about future cross-border endeavours.
Alex Pourbaix, president of energy and oil pipelines at the Calgary-based pipeline and utility company (TSX:TRP), said the long delays getting Keystone approved in the U.S. has been an education.
TROIS-RIVIERES, Que. - A woman is recovering following a bizarre accident in which she was run over three times by her own car.
Trois-Rivieres, Que., police say the newspaper delivery woman was making her rounds this week and jumping in and out of her car frequently to drop copies of Le Nouvelliste on subscribers' doorsteps.
TORONTO - Maybe offering straight cash for a blood donation is a no-no, but research suggests that other incentives like free T-shirts and gift cards can boost donor rates without compromising the safety of the blood supply.
Writing Thursday in the journal Science, an international team of economists says countries that prohibit material rewards for blood donors may want to rethink that position, based on recent research.
Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version incorrectly stated the car prize was offered by Canadian Blood Services.
CALGARY - An agency offering support to young sex abuse victims and named after a former NHL player who himself was molested as a teenager was busy even before it officially opened its doors Thursday.
The Sheldon Kennedy Child Advocacy Centre, named for the hockey player who brought to light sex crimes by one-time junior coach Graham James, began seeing children a couple of months ago and 200 kids have already visited the facility, Kennedy said.
MONTREAL - Quebec's corruption inquiry has heard its fair share of explosive allegations. The latest one is about an actual explosion.
A witness Thursday described the frightening methods used to keep an asphalt cartel in place, including the one time his car was blown up when he ran afoul of his fellow schemers.
OTTAWA - Mike Duffy is blowing off any talk of his voluntary resignation from the Senate amid an expense scandal that has reached all the way to the Prime Minister's Office.
Duffy spoke out Thursday, his first public comments since resigning last week after it was revealed he had made inappropriate expense claims and then paid them off with a $90,000 "gift" from Stephen Harper's chief of staff.
ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - Survivors of abuse at the Mount Cashel Orphanage in St. John's, N.L. have reached a settlement with the Christian Brothers of Ireland worth more than $16.5 million.
The settlement with the Catholic religious order includes cash plus other assets that must still be approved in court.
WASHINGTON - A Canada-U.S. trade war is apparently looming as Ottawa threatens "retaliatory measures" against the United States in a continuing dispute over meat labelling.
The U.S. government announced new regulations Thursday on "country-of-origin labelling" (COOL) that would track cattle and hogs right from the farm to meat processing and distribution systems.
OTTAWA - Importers of popular electronics such as big-screen TVs and MP3 players are ramping up their fight against federal tariff changes, accusing the government of misleading them by offering tariff breaks that it planned to claw back later.
Importers of televisions are already on the hook for about $16 million in retroactive duties from 2011 after last year's crackdown on a particular tariff exemption that has become a political football.
VIRGINIA WATER, England - Two-time defending champion Luke Donald and Ryder Cup teammate Ian Poulter missed the cut Friday at the BMW PGA Championship.
Donald (72) was 6 over overall after two rounds in the cold and rain at Wentworth.
PONTE DI LEGNO, Italy - Friday's 19th stage of the Giro d'Italia was cancelled due to snow along the route and Saturday's penultimate stage was altered for the same reasons, leaving Vincenzo Nibali with a much milder finish to defend his lead over.
For Friday, organizers said there were "adverse weather conditions and, in particular, snow on the stage route in its entirety."
BERN, Switzerland - Roger Federer says he won't play for Switzerland in the Davis Cup playoffs against Ecuador in September.
Federer says "it's better that I announce now" that he'll miss the Sept. 13-15 series at home following the U.S. Open.
PORTLAND, Ore. - The Portland Thorns' season couldn't be going any better. They're sitting atop the National Women's Soccer League's opening-season standings and drawing more than 11,000 fans to home games. And they've got Alex Morgan.
But just a few hours' drive north, the Seattle Reign are struggling with a roster unexpectedly missing its star power, and with no wins and four total goals so far.
ROME - Former Giro d'Italia winner Danilo Di Luca tested positive for EPO in a surprise test at his home before this year's race, organizers announced Friday.
If confirmed in a backup "B'' sample, Di Luca risks a lifetime ban since this is his third offence.
PONTE DI LEGNO, Italy - Race organizers say former Giro d'Italia winner Danilo Di Luca has tested positive for EPO.
More coming.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Jonathan Quick saved his best save for the final minute, sliding deftly across his crease and snagging Joe Pavelski's shot from point-blank range to the grateful gasps of the Los Angeles Kings' sellout crowd.
Quick's imposing post-season presence only appears to be growing, and the San Jose Sharks are running out of time to figure him out.
DETROIT - Jimmy Howard kept Jonathan Toews in his misery, making three saves against the struggling star to help the Detroit Red Wings beat the Chicago Blackhawks 2-0 on Thursday night in Game 4 of the second round series to put the NHL's best team during the regular season on the brink of elimination.
When Howard wasn't using his glove or pads to deny Toews, Detroit's skaters were rattling him and his teammates with a physical presence that is clearly making them uncomfortable.
SASKATOON - With disappointment etched on his face, Saskatoon Blades overage forward Josh Nicholls was unable to contain his emotions Thursday after the host team crashed out of the MasterCard Memorial Cup.
"It's a tough moment obviously there leaving the ice, especially the way that it happened," said Nicholls, his voice cracking following his final junior game, a London Knights' 6-1 blowout victory in the tournament's tiebreaker game. "Saskatoon's been a great city for myself and for my family and for my hockey career.
DENVER - The Colorado Avalanche are rounding up the old crew to restore the downtrodden franchise.
First, Joe Sakic was given more responsibility in the front office.
TORONTO - Plenty of star power and promising pitching by the Baltimore Orioles gave the Toronto Blue Jays every reason to resign themselves to a long night.
Through three innings, that is.
NEW YORK, N.Y. - Chris Kreider proudly wore the Broadway Hat in the victorious New York Rangers dressing room as he tried to describe the feeling of saving his team's season.
Kreider deftly steered in a pass from Rick Nash 7:03 into overtime, and the Rangers stayed alive in the Stanley Cup playoffs with a 4-3 victory over the Boston Bruins on Thursday night.
VANCOUVER - Former Vancouver Canucks coach Alain Vigneault appears to have some interesting opportunities as he pursues a new job.
Given his experience and success with the Canucks, Vigneault should get some consideration for the vacant Dallas Stars job. Dallas has a strong core of young, emerging talent, but missed the playoffs the past two seasons under former first-time NHL coach Glen Gulutzan.
INDIANAPOLIS - Fuzzy Zoeller says he's "paid his dues" after his infamous remarks about Tiger Woods ordering fried chicken for the Masters champions dinner, and believes similar comments made by Sergio Garcia will eventually blow over.
Garcia has apologized to Woods after saying at a recent awards dinner in London that he would serve fried chicken if the two rivals had dinner at the U.S. Open. Garcia called it a "silly remark," adding that "in no way was the comment meant in a racist manner."
Star Calgary running back Jon Cornish may get odd looks when he stands on one foot ordering lunch or spins through a doorway.
But he says he can't stop working on ways to improve his game, after setting a new CFL record last season for a Canadian with 1,457 rushing yards.
VANCOUVER - Ryan Lochte did many things after dominating at the 2012 London Olympics — except swim.
The U.S. swimming star, who won five gold medals in London, was featured in his own reality show called "What Would Ryan Lochte Do?" He also appeared on talk shows and made TV cameo appearances.
OTTAWA - Daniel Alfredsson has no doubt that he and the Ottawa Senators will bring their best game to Pittsburgh and doesn’t care if anyone thinks otherwise.
Down 3-1 to the Penguins, the Senators face the prospect of elimination when their best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal resume Friday night.
TORONTO - Prior to training camp this season, young midfielder Jonathan Osorio was just hoping to catch on with Toronto FC.
The 20-year-old from Toronto has gone well beyond just hanging around. Osorio earned a starting assignment in the MLS club's first pre-season game against Columbus in Orlando in February, has seen action in 10 of TFC's first 11 league games, scored twice and been singled out for praise by manager Ryan Nelsen, who has used him as an impact substitute.
SASKATOON - Saskatoon Blades defenceman Dalton Thrower has played his last game at the MasterCard Memorial Cup.
The Canadian Hockey League has suspended Thrower for the rest of the tournament for his check to the head on Portland Winterhawks forward Taylor Leier.
