3xwy Blog

AP – China’s Focus Media Holding Ltd. said Tuesday that a drop in one-time expenses helped narrow its fourth-quarter loss.

AP – DG FastChannel Inc., a digital media advertising services company, on Tuesday said fourth-quarter earnings rose by 81 percent, easily beating Wall Street expectations.

AP – Forestar Group Inc. said Wednesday it swung to a loss in the fourth quarter as the real estate and natural resources developer took a write-down on a condominium development and booked a charge for an environmental remediating project.

AP – Newspaper publisher and TV station owner Media General Inc. said Thursday that cost cutting helped it turn a profit for the fourth quarter despite falling ad revenue.

Reuters – China’s Geely would barely lay a finger on Ford Motor Co’s Volvo if it succeeds in acquiring the Swedish luxury car brand, the firm’s top executive was quoted by state media as saying on Friday.

President Obama said Tuesday success in Afghanistan “was inextricably linked” to Pakistan. Adil Najam, professor of international relations at Boston University and the founding editor of the blog Pakistaniat: All Things Pakistan, says events in Afghanistan have an almost-immediate impact in neighboring Pakistan.

Reuters – Vivendi shares rose on Tuesday as hopes mounted that Europe’s largest entertainment group was close to selling its stake in U.S. media group NBCU and getting cash to fund its growth plans.

AP – Mediation would be a good way to expedite a flood of mortgage foreclosures, members of a foreclosure task force said Wednesday, but some disagreed on the details in oral arguments before the state Supreme Court.

When Iranians used Twitter to get out news about their recent election, people took note in China. Compared with Iran, Twitter played a much smaller role in the recent ethnic clashes in western China. But many Chinese believe Twitter and its Chinese imitators, like Jiwai, have considerable potential to change their media and their society.

NPR’s correspondent in India, Philip Reeves, reports on the quirks of Indian airports — and on the pre-flight frisking of a “very, very important person” that sent the media and parliament into a frenzy.