Concorde manslaughter conviction overturned

A FRENCH appeals court has overturned a manslaughter conviction against Continental Airlines for the July 2000 crash of an Air France Concorde that killed 113 people, ruling Thursday that mistakes by the company's mechanics were not enough to make it legally responsible for the deaths.

The crash hastened the end for the already-faltering supersonic Concorde, synonymous with high-tech luxury but a commercial failure. The program, jointly operated by Air France and British Airways, was taken out of service in 2003.

In the July 25, 2000, accident, the jet crashed into a hotel near Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport soon after taking off, killing all 109 people aboard and four on the ground. Most of the victims were Germans heading to a cruise in the Caribbean.

A French court initially convicted Continental Airlines Inc. and one of its mechanics in 2010 for the crash of the Air France Concorde, and imposed about 2 million euros ($2.5 million) in damages and fines on the carrier.

The lower court ruled that the mechanic fitted a metal strip on a Continental DC-10 that fell onto the runway, puncturing the Concorde's tyre. The burst tyre sent bits of rubber into the fuel tanks, which started the fire that brought down the plane.

"This was a tragic accident and we support the court's decision that Continental did not bear fault. We have long maintained that neither Continental nor its employees were responsible for this tragic event and are satisfied that this verdict was overturned," Megan McCarthy, a spokeswoman for Chicago-based United Continental Holdings, said in a written statement. Continental merged with United in 2010.

Parties including Air France and Continental compensated the families of most victims years ago, so financial claims were not the trial's focus - the main goal was to assign responsibility.

In the original trial, Continental and the mechanic, John Taylor, were also ordered to pay tens of thousands of euros in damages to families of a few victims in the case.

At the time, Continental lawyer Olivier Metzner argued that the U.S. airline was a convenient scapegoat and that there wasn't enough evidence of criminal wrongdoing.

In France, unlike in many other countries, plane crashes routinely lead to trials to assign criminal responsibility - cases that often drag on for years.

In the years it took French judicial investigators to work their way to trial, amassing 80,000 pages of court documents, the Concordes were revamped, retired and finally sent to museums.

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US stocks open higher on growth estimate

US stocks have opened higher, chasing solid gains in markets in Asia and Europe, helped by an expected strong upward revision in the US economic growth estimate for the third quarter.

All major sectors were higher, led by consumer goods and mining stocks.

Five minutes into trade on Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 52.98 points, or 0.41 per cent, to 13,038.09.

The S&P 500 gained 7.34 points, or 0.52 per cent, at 1,417.27.

The Nasdaq Composite added 20.79 points, or 0.69 per cent, at 3,012.57.

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US economy grew stronger 2.7% in 3Q

THE US economy grew at a 2.7 per cent pace in the third quarter, faster than previously estimated, the Commerce Department says in a report that nevertheless points to a weaker fourth quarter.

Gross domestic product growth was revised upward from the prior estimate of 2.0 per cent, reflecting in part increases in federal government spending and private inventory investment, the department said.

Growth in the July-September quarter was the strongest of the year, and followed a meagre 1.3 per cent pace in the second quarter.

Still, growth remained modest as the world's largest economy headed into the fourth quarter.

"This morning's GDP report is one of those rare instances when growth is a lot stronger than in the advance report but the domestic economy turns out to be a lot weaker," said Chris Low at FTN Financial.

Growth in consumer spending, which accounts for 70 per cent of output, was revised down to 1.4 per cent, just slightly above the second-quarter pace.

Inflation slowed slightly from the second quarter. Prices rose 1.4 per cent in the third quarter and the core price index, excluding food and energy prices, increased 1.1 per cent.

Sal Guatieri at BMO Capital Markets said the weaker momentum in consumer and business spending and a jump in business inventories suggested a slower pace in the fourth quarter.

"Outside of the housing market recovery, the economy has little momentum as we edge closer to the year-end fiscal cliff," he said.

The Federal Reserve on Tuesday reported that businesses around the country are increasingly worried about the combination of significant spending cuts and tax increases that will occur in January unless politicians reach a compromise on a less severe deficit reduction plan.

Manufacturers said they were worried about the economy in 2013 "in part due to the uncertainty regarding the outcome of the fiscal cliff", the Fed said in its Beige Book survey of regional economies.

Economists say the $US500 billion ($A480 billion) amalgam of tax hikes and spending cuts required by last year's debt-ceiling deal could pitch the US economy back into recession in 2013.

Meanwhile US jobless claims fell back to 393,000 in the most recent week, the Labor Department said on Thursday, still showing the impact of superstorm Sandy, which blasted the Northeast in late October.

Claims in the week to November 24 fell from 416,000 the previous week and 451,000 in the November 10 week.

But they remained well above the 360,000-380,000 range held most of this year.

The three weeks of high claims, much the result of the shutdown of the economy in and around New York due to the storm, pushed the four-week rolling average to 405,250.

Many companies in the region, especially small businesses, are still struggling to get back to normal nearly one month after the storm struck.

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CNN names Jeff Zucker as new chief

CNN has named former NBC Universal chief Jeff Zucker as its new top executive.

Mr Zucker is replacing Jim Walton, who announced he was leaving this past summer.

Mr Zucker takes over a network that was the first in cable news but has lagged behind Fox News Channel and, often, MSNBC in the ratings and has been searching for direction.

Since leaving as chief of NBC Universal, Mr Zucker has been working with Katie Couric to put her talk show on the air. He spent many years as the top producer on NBC's Today show during its glory years in the 1990s.

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Syria 'shuts off the internet'

TWO US-based internet-monitoring companies say Syria has shut off the Internet nationwide.

Activists in Syria reached Thursday by satellite telephone confirmed the unprecedented blackout, which comes amid intense fighting in the capital, Damascus.

Renesys, a U.S.-based network security firm that studies internet disruptions, says Syria effectively disappeared from the internet at 12:26pm local time.

Akamai Technologies, another U.S-based company that distributes content on the Internet, also confirmed a complete outage for Syria.

Syria has partially cut Internet connections during the 20-month uprising against President Bashar Assad but a nationwide shutdown is unprecedented.

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S&P affirms China's credit rating

STANDARD & Poor's has affirmed China's sovereign credit rating, another sign that the world's second largest economy is rebounding as Beijing prepares to usher in new leaders.

The ratings agency said China's "exceptional growth prospects" and "modest government indebtedness" were key factors supporting its creditworthiness. It also said China's outlook was "stable".

China's AA- long-term and A-1+ short-term sovereign credit ratings rank just below S&P's highest rating of triple-A.

S&P's credit analyst Kim Eng Tan said the upbeat assessment comes amid expectations of no major policy changes following the unveiling of new leaders at the Communist Party's pivotal congress earlier this month.

"We expect no major change in policy directions in China in the wake of the recent top leadership changes," he said.

"Efforts toward deepening structural and fiscal reforms are likely to continue.

"We expect the Chinese economy to continue its strong growth while the country maintains its large external creditor position in the next three to five years."

China's economic growth hit a more than three-year low of 7.4 per cent in the third quarter this year, but recent data has fuelled optimism that its economy is rebounding.

China is set to install new Communist Party general-secretary Xi Jinping as president in March, replacing incumbent Hu Jintao. While Li Keqiang is expected to replace current Premier Wen Jiabao.

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Halloween stampede claims fifth victim

A FIFTH young woman has died from injuries sustained in a stampede during a Halloween dance party in Madrid arena.

Spanish National Radio said 20-year-old Maria Teresa Alonso died in Madrid's Fundacion Jimenez Diaz hospital from brain injuries.

Three young women died in the stampede early Nov. 1 while a fourth woman died days later in another Madrid hospital.

Madrid authorities investigating the tragedy are probing whether the venue's maximum capacity of 10,600 people was exceeded on the night of the disco party that starred American DJ Steve Aoki.

The stampede occurred in a passageway leading to the central concert area of the Madrid Arena venue.

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