Behind Your Business

Reuters – China need not accelerate the
appreciation of its renminbi currency against the US dollar,
the Financial Times quoted a senior Chinese economic
policy-maker as saying.

Reuters – U.S. energy companies shut nearly all
offshore oil production and were racing to bring down
flood-prone Louisiana refineries on Sunday ahead of Hurricane
Gustav’s landfall, which could rival the wrath of 2005′s
Hurricane Katrina.

Reuters – Commerzbank agreed to buy
Dresdner Bank from Allianz on Sunday in a $14.5
billion all-German deal that will break the country’s banking
mould and cost 9,000 jobs.

Reuters – Alitalia’s unions will hold talks with
the government on Monday on a rescue plan for the airline and
on job losses — which a minister said could be under 5,000 —
after it sought bankruptcy protection on Friday.

Reuters – Consumer electronic makers are bracing
themselves for slower growth in the second half of this year
and in 2009, but count on consumers turning to home
entertainment amid tougher economic times and tighter budgets.