Your Thursday morning news...
-Latin American countries are refusing to sign a declaration on dealing with the world food crisis, delegates at a UN food summit have told the BBC. Senior European officials say some of those countries, prompted by Brazil, will not sign a final statement which might "demonise" biofuels.
-Zimbabwe's currency plunged to a new record low on Thursday, trading at an average 1 billion to the U.S. dollar on a recently introduced interbank market and triggering massive price increases. Analysts said the rapid weakening of the currency was being driven by inflation expectations as well as huge demand for hard currencies.
-Following United Airlines' announcement yesterday, Continental Airlines announced today it will eliminate 3,000 jobs and shrink its fleet by 67 planes, becoming the fourth major U.S. carrier to slash payroll and flights because of soaring fuel prices. Unlike other airlines, the CEO and the President of Continental will forgo their salaries for the rest of 2008.
