IN BRIEF (Page 16)

Business International

Swedish firms vie to keep staff satisfied

High-tech gyms, free breakfasts, and programmes to help people lose weight or stop smoking: modern Swedish companies pamper their employees in a bid to combat one of Europe's highest absenteeism rates.

Is the US ditching the SUV?

Automotive trends traditionally don't change nearly as fast as fashions in clothing or music.

IPO set to net a billion for Sprott

Sprott Asset Management Inc's initial public offering this week will make a billionaire of the hedge fund company's founder, spurring speculation Canada's decade-old commodities boom is ending, investors say.

Buffett says financial pain largely self-inflicted

Billionaires Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger say the pain many financial institutions are feeling because of the credit crunch is well deserved.

IN BRIEF (Page 16)

Business International

Writedown sends bank into the red

Deutsche Bank AG, Germany's biggest bank, reported its first quarterly loss in five years after writing down the value of loans for leveraged buyouts and asset-backed securities by 2.7 billion euros.

Investors say Time Warner should dump cable unit

Shareholders of Time Warner Inc, the world's largest media company, are urging Chief Executive Jeffrey Bewkes to get rid of the cable-television unit and buy back shares after the stock fell 30 percent from a 2007 high.

Shell Q1 profit rises 25%

Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe's biggest oil company, said first-quarter profit climbed 25 percent, boosted by record crude prices and higher natural gas.

IN BRIEF (Page 16)