SHANGHAI - General Motors Co. executives broke ground for a new Cadillac factory in China on Wednesday to target luxury buyers in the world's biggest auto market, though they said the segment would grow slower than expected this year.
Company leaders said they were optimistic about long-term growth in the luxury segment and have aggressive plans to expand Cadillac's dealer network.
STOCKHOLM - The Swedish government says it has raised 19.5 billion Swedish kronor ($3 billion) by almost halving its stake in Nordic banking group Nordea AB.
The government Wednesday said the sale, which cut its holding from 13.4 per cent to 7 per cent, will be used to reduce the Swedish state debt. The shares were sold at 75 Swedish kronor ($11.6) each.
BANGKOK - Thailand says it will pay farmers 20 per cent less for rice to stem losses from a much-criticized subsidy program that dislodged the country from its spot as the world's No. 1 exporter of the grain.
Government spokesman Warathep Rattanakorn said Wednesday the government will pay 12,000 baht ($389) per ton of rice, compared to the current price of 15,000 baht ($486).
SEOUL, South Korea - Global stock markets were mostly lower Wednesday as investors waited for an update on the U.S. economy from the Federal Reserve.
Investors were waiting to see if the Fed, which wraps up a two-day policy meeting later in the day in Washington, will make changes to its strategy of super-low interest rates and easy money that is helping to shore up the U.S. economy. Any change is likely to ripple through stock markets.
MILAN - The former head of the Italian aerospace and defence giant Finmeccanica goes on trial in a case involving alleged bribes to win a 560 million euro ($670 million) helicopter contract in India.
Giuseppe Orsi, who resigned in February, faces corruption charges in a case that has tarnished the state-controlled company.
LONDON - British bankers could soon be facing harsher penalties for behaving badly.
After a year which has seen major scandals involving rate-rigging, money-laundering and rogue-trading rock the UK's financial industry, an influential parliamentary committee recommended Wednesday that senior bankers should be held more accountable for their bank's actions. One measure, it said, should be a new criminal offence of "reckless misconduct" — one that could carry a prison sentence.
STOCKHOLM - Swedish fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz AB on Wednesday said profits fell by 11 per cent in the second quarter due to the strong Swedish krona and increased markdowns as it tried to shift its products.
The company said its net profit for the March-May period dropped to 4.66 billion kronor ($720 million) from 5.22 billion a year earlier. Sales for the quarter slipped marginally to 31.64 billion kronor from 31.66 billion.
LONDON - A year ago, Julian Assange skipped out on a date with Swedish justice. Rather than comply with a British order that he go to the Scandinavian country for questioning about sex crimes allegations, the WikiLeaks founder took refuge in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London.
He's still there — and now says he won't emerge even if Sweden drops the case that triggered the strange diplomatic standoff.
LE BOURGET, France - Boeing Co. says it is selling 30 of its new generation 737-MAX 8 jets, extending the popularity of the fuel-efficient short-haul aircraft at the Paris Air Show.
The 737-MAX 8 planes have a list price of $100.5 million, although most customers negotiate steep discounts. Aircraft leasing company CIT Aerospace, which placed the order Wednesday, is responsible for a fleet of 350 aircraft, including 128 Boeing jets, according to the company.
WASHINGTON - A wide-ranging farm bill the House is considering would cut food stamps by $2 billion a year and make it more difficult for some people to qualify for the domestic food aid program.
Passage of the five-year, half-trillion-dollar farm bill could depend on the level of cuts to the $80 billion-a-year food stamp program. Many House conservatives have said the cuts don't go far enough, while liberals have argued against cuts, saying the bill could take as many as 2 million recipients off the rolls.
TOKYO - Japan's trade deficit rose nearly 10 per cent in May to 993.9 billion yen (nearly $10.5 billion), highlighting the challenge Prime Minister Shinzo Abe faces in revitalizing manufacturing as industries increasingly shift production offshore.
Rising costs for imports due to the cheaper yen matched a 10 per cent rebound in exports from a year earlier, the Finance Ministry reported Wednesday.
JULIAN, W.Va. - Alpha Natural Resources is unveiling a $23 million training complex for coal miners that combines the world's best technology in a single West Virginia complex — and may save lives.
The Running Right Leadership Academy is a place where crises can be created but controlled in a 96,000-square-foot model coal mine, giving workers realistic preparation for the day they hope will never come.
WASHINGTON - Worry and speculation have consumed investors since Chairman Ben Bernanke spoke to Congress last month about the Federal Reserve's drive to keep long-term interest rates at record lows.
On Wednesday, many hope the Fed will settle the confusion.
TOKYO - Japan's nuclear watchdog has formally approved new safety requirements for atomic plants, paving the way for the reopening of facilities shut down since the Fukushima disaster.
The new requirements approved Wednesday by the Nuclear Regulation Authority will take effect on July 8, when operators will be able to apply for inspections. If plants pass inspection, they can reopen.
BANGKOK - The price of oil fell Wednesday, before the conclusion of a U.S. Federal Reserve meeting.
Benchmark oil for July delivery fell 13 cents to US$98.31 per barrel at midday Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 67 cents to close at $98.44 a barrel on the Nymex on Tuesday.
LOS GATOS, Calif. - The online video giant Netflix says it will expand into the Netherlands, its 41st country, later this year.
Subscribers will be able to stream Hollywood fare, local TV series and Netflix originals like "House of Cards" and "Arrested Development" on TVs, game consoles, computers and mobile devices.
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. - Satellite TV operator Dish Network Corp. said Tuesday it would not submit a revised bid for Sprint, leaving the path open for the wireless carrier to accept what it already considers a superior offer from Japan's Softbank.
Dish said that Sprint Nextel Corp.'s decision to cut Dish's due diligence process short, among other things, made it "impracticable" to submit a revised bid. It said it will continue to focus on its bid for Clearwire, a wireless network operator in which Sprint has a majority stake.
BEIJING, China - Chinese property and cinema conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group says it is buying British yacht maker Sunseeker and will develop an upmarket London hotel, expanding into the luxury market as part of the latest foray abroad by a major Chinese firm.
The company said Wednesday it was acquiring a 91.81 per cent stake in Sunseeker in a deal worth 320 million pounds ($500 million). Wanda also says it plans to invest 700 million pounds ($1 billion) in a five-star, 160-room London hotel on the South Bank overlooking the Thames River.
WASHINGTON - The U.S. foiled a plot to bomb the New York Stock Exchange because of the sweeping surveillance programs at the heart of a debate over national security and personal privacy, officials said Tuesday at a rare open hearing on intelligence led by lawmakers sympathetic to the spying.
The House Intelligence Committee hearing provided a venue for officials to defend the once-secret programs and did little probing of claims that the collection of people's phone records and Internet usage has disrupted dozens of terrorist plots. Few details were volunteered.
BOSTON - The Cape Wind offshore wind project has secured a $200 million investment from a Danish pension fund in what the wind farm's president said Tuesday is a milestone for the long-delayed project.
In a statement announcing the commitment, PensionDanmark's chief executive Torben Moger Pedersen noted the fund has already invested in two offshore wind projects in Denmark and said it was "delighted to participate in the Cape Wind project."
TORONTO - Half of Canada's First Nations children are living in poverty, triple the national average, according to a new analysis of census statistics that pegs the cost of easing the problem at $580-million a year.
The study by the left-leaning Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives being released Wednesday also paints a grim picture of Metis, Inuit, and non-status Indian children, as well as of children of immigrants and visible minorities.
OTTAWA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper is set to return from his European trip but he won’t have to endure another grilling in the House of Commons for a while.
All parties agreed late Tuesday night to end the most bitter spring sitting of Parliament since Harper's Conservatives came to power more than seven years ago.
OTTAWA - Manitoba Conservative MP Shelly Glover has changed her mind and decided to file a new expense claim with Elections Canada for the 2011 federal election.
House Speaker Andrew Scheer announced the decision by the MP for St. Boniface on Tuesday as he handed a committee the tricky question of whether Glover and James Bezan, the Tory MP for Selkirk-Interlake, should be suspended over doubtful campaign spending.
OTTAWA - One week after defeating Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau's attempt to open MPs' expenses to public scrutiny, the NDP has won approval for a proposal of its own.
New Democrat MP Peter Julian won unanimous consent late Tuesday for a motion aimed at creating an independent body to oversee House of Commons spending, including MPs' expenses.
OTTAWA - The most bitter spring sitting of parliament since Stephen Harper's Conservatives came to power more than seven years ago has ended with a rare piece of agreement — unanimous consent to adjourn for the summer.
All parties agreed late Tuesday night to pull the plug after almost a month of late-night sittings.
VANCOUVER - A B.C. Supreme Court decision over land use on Vancouver Island could force the provincial and federal governments to implement a treaty first negotiated by the Crown more than 160 years ago, says a lawyer for a First Nation.
In a decision posted online Tuesday, Justice Gordon Weatherill refused to reverse a decision by the provincial government, allowing Western Forest Products Inc. to remove 14,000 hectares land from a tree-farm licence on the island's northern tip.
GENEVA - The last day of Ahmad Mokaled's short life dawned on a sunny spring February morning in the southern Lebanon town of Nabatieh.
Feb. 12, 1999, was Ahmad's fifth birthday. So his father, Raed, pulled him out of school for an impromptu celebration with Ahmad's older brother, Adam, at a bustling public park where the boys sprinted into a growing throng of children.
MAPLE, Ont. - The Great One firmly believes the NHL will return to Quebec City.
The Quebec capital has been without an NHL franchise since the Nordiques left in 1995. But hockey legend Wayne Gretzky said Tuesday his gut feeling is that Quebec City will again have its own pro hockey franchise.
OTTAWA - A Postmedia News and Ottawa Citizen investigation exposing the use of "robocalls" to mislead and harass voters during the 2011 federal election campaign has won the 2012 Michener Award.
The foundation handing out the award noted that the "detailed and sustained reporting" led to Elections Canada investigating complaints, a Federal court ruling that electoral fraud occurred in six ridings and a PC campaign worker facing charges.
TERRACE, B.C. - There is a growing imbalance between oil supply and delivery in Canada and doing nothing is not an option, the lawyer for the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers told a federal panel weighing the Northern Gateway project.
Keith Bergner told the review panel Tuesday that current pipeline capacity is not sufficient, and producers are finding themselves with product on their hands and no way to ship it to buyers — "shut-in" as it's known in the industry.
OTTAWA - Refugee numbers around the world are at their highest level since 1994, the United Nations refugee agency reported Tuesday in a sobering look at global displacement.
More than 45.2 million people either fled their own countries or were internally displaced in 2012, compared to 42.5 million the year before, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said in its annual global trends report.
TORONTO - A team of Canadian and U.S. researchers has developed a new "sharp-shooter" drug they hope may be a breakthrough in treating several types of aggressive cancer.
The drug, known for now as CFI-400945, is a new class of cancer agent that targets an enzyme involved in some malignancies, among them certain types of breast cancer, and ovarian, colorectal, pancreatic and prostate cancers.
WASHINGTON - Sen. John McCain urged the world on Tuesday to learn from past mistakes as it passively observes Syria's bloody civil war while Canada's defence minister, Peter MacKay, stood by the Canadian government's decision against arming the Syrian rebels.
"There's an old line about those who refuse to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them," McCain told reporters at the Canadian embassy in the U.S. capital.
MONTREAL - Quebec's construction strike settled into its second day with a warning that workers are ready to stay off the job for a long time.
Yves Ouellet, spokesman for the alliance of construction unions, said the 175,000 workers had already made several concessions to "reduce the cost of projects" at the request of their bosses and are ready for a lengthy strike.
OTTAWA - The RCMP should amend its code of conduct to explicitly define and prohibit harassment, a Senate committee recommends.
In a newly tabled report, the senators said Tuesday that spelling out the prohibition in direct language would avoid ambiguity.
OTTAWA - Conservative attacks against Justin Trudeau's paid public speaking career have boomeranged into questions about the propriety of using the Prime Minister's Office to fire off purely partisan missiles.
The tables turned Tuesday after the Barrie Advance newspaper outed the PMO as the source of documents circulated to media Monday showing three fundraising events headlined by Trudeau in 2006 and 2007 — before he became an MP — lost money.
QUEBEC - The Quebec government is spending $500,000 to create a committee to examine wasteful spending by the federal government.
The pro-independence Parti Quebecois government wants to examine how much it costs to have federal services that duplicate ones already offered by the province or that encroach on provincial jurisdiction.
MONTREAL - Montreal has had its second scandal-provoked mayoral resignation in less than a year, with an arrest and criminal charges leading to the departure Tuesday of its interim city-hall boss.
Replacement mayor Michael Applebaum stepped down a day after he was slapped with 14 criminal charges.
OTTAWA - Two speakers hired by the Senate to help motivate senators and staff in the midst of a raging scandal over the abuse of taxpayers' money have had their event cancelled pending further discussion.
Communications consultant Barry McLoughlin and motivational speaker Marc-Andre Morel had been slated to talk about "the enduring value of the Senate and help bring a little perspective to the current situation," according to an invitation that went out Tuesday morning.
OTTAWA - Leaked documents suggest Canada helped the United States and Britain spy on participants at the London G20 summit four years ago.
Britain's Guardian newspaper says spies monitored the computers and intercepted the phone calls of foreign politicians and officials at two G20 meetings in London in 2009.
BOSTON - Jonny Gomes hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning to lift the Boston Red Sox to a 3-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday night, completing a doubleheader sweep.
Daniel Nava was aboard on a leadoff walk when Gomes followed with a towering shot off Joel Peralta (1-3) that cleared the Green Monster and bounced off the sign just to the right of the foul pole.
ATLANTA - Zack Wheeler lived up the hype in his major league debut, pitching six scoreless innings to lead the New York Mets to a 6-1 victory over the first-place Atlanta Braves and a doubleheader sweep on Tuesday.
Wheeler gave up only four hits and struck out seven while consistently reaching the upper 90s on the radar gun. He struggled a bit with his control, walking five, but got out of every jam.
MIAMI - LeBron James saved a championship reign, cancelled a celebration.
The toughest part now might be topping this performance in Game 7.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Tomas Tatar scored twice as the Grand Rapids Griffins won the Calder Cup on Tuesday with a 5-2 victory over the Syracuse Crunch in Game 6 of the American Hockey League's championship series.
Tatar scored on the power play 12:41 into the second period then added an empty-net goal for some insurance in the final minute of play.
TORONTO - A seven-game win streak and the emergence of Esmil Rogers as a reliable starter is taking some of the pressure off injuries to the Blue Jays' pitching rotation.
Edwin Encarnacion had a home run and three RBIs to back Roger's strong outing against his former club and Toronto took a 8-3 interleague victory over the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday night.
NORTH ATTLEBOROUGH, Mass. - State and local police spent hours at the home of New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez on Tuesday night as another group of officers searched an industrial park about a mile away where a body was discovered the day before.
Police at the scene and prosecutors would not comment on the actions while Sports Illustrated, citing an unidentified source, reported that Hernandez was not believed to be a suspect in what was being treated as a possible homicide. Police had spoken with Hernandez, the magazine said.
Serena Williams says in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine that, while not blaming the victim in the Steubenville rape case, "she shouldn't have put herself in that position."
The comment is made in one paragraph of a lengthy story posted online Tuesday about Williams, a 16-time Grand Slam title winner who is ranked No. 1 heading into Wimbledon, which starts next week.
VANCOUVER - Many golfers would consider a pair of top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour in the same season as a breakthrough.
But not Graham DeLaet.
KINGSTON, Jamaica - Veronica Campbell-Brown's agent insists one of the cornerstones of Jamaica's wide-ranging sprint success "is not a cheat," even though the test results disagree.
While her case is being decided, the three-time Olympic gold medallist will sit out and her country will try to make sense of one of its longest-held fears: a high-profile track star getting busted for doping.
BOSTON - The trend of hiding injuries is nothing new in sports. But Chicago coach Joel Quenneville may have added a new wrinkle to the art of deception.
Blackhawks star Marian Hossa was a late scratch for Game 3 Monday against the Bruins, replaced by Ben Smith.
MAPLE, Ont. - The Great One firmly believes the NHL will return to Quebec City.
The Quebec capital has been without an NHL franchise since the Nordiques left in 1995. But hockey legend Wayne Gretzky said Tuesday his gut feeling is that Quebec City will again have its own pro hockey franchise.
SAN FRANCISCO - Major League Baseball is dragging its feet on having team owners vote on the Oakland Athletics' proposed move to a new ballpark over 60 kilometres south in San Jose, Calif., said San Jose city officials in a lawsuit filed Tuesday.
The lawsuit — filed in federal court in San Jose — is disputing MLB's exemption from federal antitrust law, which MLB has used as a "guise" to control the location of teams, according to the suit.
VANCOUVER - Brad Knighton will attempt to improve his job security Wednesday night.
The Vancouver goalkeeper is looking to cut down his goals against as the Whitecaps host Chivas USA at B.C. Place Stadium. His role as the club's starter — and future with the team — have come into question amidst reports that the Whitecaps are attempting to secure the services of a new 'keeper.
NEW YORK, N.Y. - The game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees was postponed by rain Tuesday night, delaying the renewal of their old October rivalry.
The game was called about 30 minutes before the scheduled first pitch. It will be made up as part of a day-night doubleheader Wednesday, with start times of 1:05 p.m. and 7:05 p.m.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Defenceman Slava Voynov agreed to a new six-year, $25 million contract Tuesday with the Los Angeles Kings, who signed yet another young cornerstone to a long-term deal.
The 23-year-old Siberian would have been a restricted free agent this summer after his breakout playoff performance for the Kings, whose Stanley Cup title defence ended in the Western Conference finals against Chicago.
Defenceman Mark Streit is staying in Philadelphia
Less than a week after Streit was acquired by the Flyers in a trade with the New York Islanders, the 35-year-old defenceman agreed to a four-year $21 million contract, according to a person familiar with deal.
TORONTO - John Herdman has pleaded patience with his work-in-progress women's soccer team this season.
Two more newcomers will have the chance to audition for Canada's head coach when the Canadians play perennial powerhouse Germany in a friendly on Wednesday.
VANCOUVER - Vancouver Whitecaps winger Kekuta Manneh has been suspended one game for a collision with New England Revolution goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth.
Vancouver coach Martin Rennie revealed the suspension after a practice Tuesday. The Whitecaps will not appeal the suspension, and Manneh will sit out Wednesday's home game against Chivas USA.
BOSTON - Chris Kelly, Daniel Paille and Tyler Seguin have proved to be a winning combination for the Boston Bruins.
"I'm just a little ticked off that I didn't put them together sooner," Boston coach Claude Julien joked Tuesday.
