Business_Finance

20120104-193920-pic-378276877.jpg

** FILE ** Delta Air Lines Inc., based in Atlanta, is the world's second-largest airline in passenger traffic behind United. Lufthansa is the fifth-largest, and the second-largest in Europe. (Associated Press)

Yahoo CEO_Live.jpg

**FILE** PayPal president Scott Thompson, seen here Nov. 15, 2010, at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, was picked by Yahoo as its next CEO on Jan. 4, 2012. (Associated Press)

20120103-200053-pic-617409750.jpg

Northstar Disposal Services LLC in Youngstown, Ohio, has halted operations at its injection well, which disposes of brine used in gas and oil drilling, after a series of small earthquakes in the area, including a magnitude 4.0 on New Year's Eve. (Associated Press)

ISM Manufacturing_Live.jpg

Chris Keltz polishes a tank for JV Northwest, a manufacturer of stainless steel vessels, in Canby, Ore., on Dec. 14, 2011. Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in December for the 29th consecutive month, and the overall economy grew for the 31st consecutive month, say the nation's supply executives in the latest Manufacturing ISM Report On Business. (Associated Press)

Wall Street_Live.jpg

Peter Tuchman, a trader with Quattro M Securities, works Jan. 3, 2012, from a handheld computer during the first day of trading at the New York Stock Market. (Associated Press)

20120103-155128-pic-92986557.jpg

** FILE ** News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch delivers a keynote address at the National Summit on Education Reform on Friday, Oct. 14, 2011, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

Nigeria Fuel Subsidy_Live.jpg

Cars wait to buy fuel at a petrol station in Lagos, Nigeria, on Jan. 2, 2012. Nigeria is ending fuel subsidies, a move that is sure to be unpopular in the oil-rich nation where citizens have come to expect cheap fuel as one of their few government benefits. (Associated Press)

20120102-200535-pic-130382997.jpg

TIES THAT BIND: North Korea's "supreme leader," Kim Jong-un, speaks with a soldier on New Year's Day during his inspection of a tank division to congratulate members of the Korean People's Army. (Korean Central News Agency via Associated Press)

20120102-192658-pic-708877232.jpg

**FILE** Demonstrators outside the White House march in November with a replica of a pipeline during a protest of the planned Keystone XL pipeline that would bring tar sands oil from Canada to Texas. (Associated Press)

20120102-192658-pic-223147185.jpg

Because oil production from Mexico and Venezuela has fallen drastically in the past decade, Gulf Coast refineries like this one in Deer Park, Texas, now have the capacity to process an additional 500,000 barrels per day of Canadian crude that would come through the Keystone pipeline. (Associated Press)

Occupy Rose Parade_Live.jpg

Occupy activists test a giant octopus made with plastic bags Dec. 29, 2011, in Pasadena, Calif. Activists with the Occupy movement, which protests perceived corporate greed and growing economic inequality, are planning to turn out en masse, on Jan. 2, at the annual Rose Parade accompanied by their own floats of sorts. (Associated Press)

APTOPIX Los Angeles A_Live.jpg

Firefighters extinguish numerous cars on fire in a carport in the Sherman Oaks neighborhood of Los Angeles on Jan. 2, 2012. (Associated Press)

New Years Eve_Star.jpg

Samantha Rhodes, center, and Samantha Mitchell, of North Port, Fl., cheer during the New Year's Eve celebration in New York's Times Square, Saturday, Dec. 31, 2011 (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

Paul_2012#2.JPG

Supporters listen as Rep. Ron Paul of Texas speaks at a campaign event at the Hotel Pattee in Perry, Iowa, on Thursday. All of the Republicans are fielding questions about cutting spending and whether they are the candidate who can do it. (Associated Press)

NYPD Intelligence_Live.jpg

Imam Mohammed Sherzad (right) gives an invocation while Dr. Anthony Marx (left), president and CEO of the New York Public Library, and Father Joseph McShane of Fordham University, listen Dec. 30, 2011, during the mayor's annual interfaith breakfast at the New York Public Library in New York. (Associated Press)

20111229-194419-pic-183998235.jpg

In this Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2011 photo released by the Korean Central News Agency and distributed in Tokyo by the Korea News Service on Thursday, Dec. 29, North Korea's next leader Kim Jong Un, center, with officials, pays respects to late leader Kim Jong Il, during the funeral at Kumsusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang, North Korea. (AP Photo/Korean Central News Agency via Korea News Service)

ITALY.jpg

Two men check a monitor displaying the stock exchange index in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2011. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

20111228-193540-pic-761184596.jpg

Cars parked along Constitution Avenue Northwest this summer were among the more than 1.6 million that received tickets issued by the District in fiscal 2011. "There's no mercy," said AAA Mid-Atlantic spokesman John B. Townsend II. "It's the No. 1 complaint of people who live, shop, dine and work in Washington." (The Washington Times)

20111228-182702-pic-42792624.jpg

A harvester works through a field of genetically modified corn near Santa Rosa, Calif. So-called Bt corn (inset), genetically engineered to make its own insecticide, may be losing its ability to kill pests - a possible result of some farming practices.