BP defiant
BP said that it could not be held legally responsible for an oil pipeline leak on Alaska’s north slope that was discovered in March, because the company’s pipeline monitoring systems had more than met the regulatory requirements.
Italians’ AOL plan
Telecom Italia is considering purchasing AOL’s internet units in France and Germany, chairman Marco Tronchetti Provera said yesterday. AOL, a unit of Time Warner, said on Wednesday that it was reviewing options for its European operations.
Carnival slips
Advertisement
Carnival, the world’s largest cruise operator, said that its quarterly profit fell slightly because of higher fuel costs and weaker demand for its Caribbean cruises. It announced a $1 billion (£540 million) share buyback plan.
Chinese moves
China’s central bank, aiming to curb credit growth, imposed new limits on the amount of money that commercial banks can lend and raised the proportion of money that banks must keep in their reserves by half a percentage point, effective from July 5.
Bidders fined
The Hungarian competition authority has imposed fines on software giants SAP and IBM for secretly teaming up to submit bids in 2004 with joint interests. IBM, SAP Ag and Hungary’s ISH Kft co-ordinated tenders for five projects.