Business - Wire

The stock market suffered one of its worst days since the financial meltdown Monday, slicing 680 points off the Dow Jones industrial average as Wall Street snapped out of its daydream of a rally and once again faced the harsh reality of a recession.

Victoria Servin shows off her new pair of black leather boots, a splurge for the 21-year-old student who lives alone in an aging, one-room apartment.

A French daredevil who climbed the outside of The New York Times' skyscraper has been sentenced to community service.

Many decades ago, cost-conscious Henry Ford turned to hydroelectric plants to power his car factories like the one by the Great Miami River, near this Cincinnati suburb. That assembly plant is long gone, but the power plant and the technology behind it isn't.

Rabbi Moishe Silverman stood taking inventory of a meat freezer at South Florida Kosher, the supermarket and butcher shop where he works. Dressed in a yarmulke and tie and wearing a plastic apron over his white butcher jacket, he surveyed the piled boxes of chicken and beef.

Euro zone nations on Monday ruled out slashing sales tax to boost their economies but backed a wide euro200 billion ($252 billion) economic stimulus package that aims to boost growth.

The nation's largest chicken producer, Pilgrim's Pride, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday. Here's a look at the top five players in the chicken industry as of the middle of 2008:

China's manufacturing activity contracted sharply in November as a downturn in the world's fourth-largest economy worsened, raising the threat of politically volatile job losses, according to data reported Monday.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday she is leaving "all options open" to stimulate Germany's flagging economy, but repeated she still does not favor immediate tax changes.

Pilgrim's Pride Corp. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday, hurt like other meat producers by volatile feed prices and slumping demand but also hobbled by an unmanageable debt load.

Gold prices and other commodities tumbled Monday, as confirmation that the nation is in a recession further unnerved investors already concerned about a drop off in demand for raw materials.

Budget airline Ryanair launched a new takeover bid Monday for Irish rival Aer Lingus, calculating that Ireland's worsening economy would soften past opposition and make a deal more likely.

Iranian state TV is reporting that OPEC's Secretary-General says a daily oil production cut of between 1 million and 1.5 million barrels is likely in December.

The European Central Bank and the Bank of England are under mounting pressure to cut interest rates aggressively this week amid signs that the economic slump will be deeper and more prolonged than previously expected.

Hawaiian Telcom Communications Inc., the largest telephone company in Hawaii, said Monday that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC said Monday it would give homeowners who miss mortgage payments at least six months before starting repossession action - double the three months it used to give.

Beijing said Monday it has already reached its target number of 256 "blue-sky days" this year, with the help of ambitious environmental measures the city imposed to cut emissions for the Olympic Games.

The European Union and Australia signed an agreement Monday that will protect such European names as "Champagne" in Australia while further opening European markets to wines from Down Under.

Retail sales in Europe's biggest economy fell 1.5 percent in October from last year as recession fears dampened spending by German consumers.

Qimonda AG, the memory chip company majority owned by Infineon Technologies AG, said Monday it may face bankruptcy if it fails to find new investors or the cash needed to operate in the coming weeks.