Finance & Business World

South Korea added workers last month and the unemployment rate held at two-month low as demand increased for jobs in health, social welfare and education.

The rate was 3.4 percent in April, Statistics Korea said today in Gwacheon, south of Seoul, matching the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of 12 economists. The number of employed people increased 1.9 percent to 24.76 million last month from a year earlier.

South Korea

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An official says remains of several victims of a jetliner crash on the slopes of an Indonesian volcano have been airlifted to the capital for identification.

Search teams who climbed the near-vertical volcano face have been struggling to retrieve the bodies of the 45 people who were aboard the Russian-made Sukhoi Superjet-100 that crashed during a demonstration flight for potential buyers.

Search and rescue agency spokesman Gagah Prakoso said a thick fog that had shrouded the slopes finally lifted Saturday, allowing helicopters to land.

Prakoso says the aircraft brought four body bags with remains to Jakarta.

There is still no sign of the black box recorder that might explain why the jetliner crashed about halfway into Wednesday’s 50-minute flight.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

MOUNT SALAK, Indonesia (AP) _ Search teams who scaled a volcano’s steep slopes found at least 12 bodies Friday near the wreckage of a Russian-made jetliner that crashed in Indonesia during a demonstration flight for potential buyers, an official said.

All 45 aboard the Sukhoi Superjet-100 that crashed Wednesday are feared dead.

“Today we have discovered 12 victims, all dead,” Rear Marshal Daryatmo, head of the national search and rescue agency, told reporters Friday.

Many of the bodies found Friday had been torn apart in the crash, said Lt. Col. Oni Junianto of the Indonesian marines, whose search team found eight corpses before returning to base camp further down the mountain.

“We see many other victims … but the ravines and steep cliffs prevent us from reaching them,” Junianto said in a statement.

Local television showed what appeared to be the plane’s tail with the blue-and-white Sukhoi logo, part of a wing and bits of twisted metal scattered along the slope like confetti.

About 85 soldiers, police and volunteers used ropes to climb up to the wreckage through jungle on the near-vertical slopes of Mount Salak, search and rescue agency spokesman Gagah Prakoso said by telephone.

Thick fog and the mountain’s jagged slopes kept helicopters from landing at the crash site, so the bodies remained there along with the search teams.

The soldiers, police and volunteers fashioned a landing area by hacking down trees, but Prakoso said the helicopters were recalled to Jakarta late Friday because the fog limited visibility to only about 5 meters (15 feet).

The jetliner slammed into the dormant volcano at nearly 800 kph (480 mph) during drizzle. Russian and French investigators have joined the investigation into the cause.

The Superjet-100 is Russia’s first new model of passenger jet since the fall of the Soviet Union two decades ago and was intended to help resurrect its aerospace industry.

The ill-fated Superjet was carrying representatives from local airlines and journalists on what was supposed to be a 50-minute demonstration flight. Just 21 minutes after takeoff from a Jakarta airfield, the Russian pilot and co-pilot asked for permission to drop from 10,000 feet to 6,000 feet (3,000 meters to 1,800 meters). They gave no explanation, disappearing from the radar immediately afterward.

It was not clear why the crew asked to shift course, especially since they were so close to the 7,000-foot (2,200-meter) volcano, or whether they got an OK, officials have said.

Communication tapes will be reviewed as part of the investigation, but it’s unlikely they will be released to the public any time soon.

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Clayton-based Furniture Brands has named Vance Johnston as its new chief financial officer.

He is currently the company’s senior vice president for growth and transformation. He will begin the new position on May 18.

He will replace Steven Rolls, who is resigning business card.

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U.K. house prices dropped the most in 1 1/2 years in April as a stamp-duty exemption for first-time buyers ended and the economy fell into its first double-dip recession since the 1970s, Halifax said.

Prices dropped 2.4 percent from March, the largest monthly decline since September 2010, to an average 159,883 pounds ($258,700), the mortgage unit of Lloyds Banking Group Plc (LLOY) said in a statement in London today. Prices had risen 2.2 percent in March. From a year earlier, values were down 0.6 percent.

Italy

Air Canada and its largest union, which represents 8,600 baggage handlers, ground crews and machinists, have agreed to return to the negotiating table.

The move comes amid rumblings of another possible illegal disruption on Friday afternoon by members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

But with the promise to restart talks, organizers have called off the 1 p.m. sitdown.

In an email to employees, Air Canada

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Six world powers and Iran are meeting in an attempt to find common ground over concerns that Tehran’s nuclear program could be used to make weapons.

Iran insists it has no such ambitions, but the international community fears it could use its uranium enrichment program not only to make reactor fuel but also the fissile core of nuclear weapons.

After years of futile meetings, both sides have expressed optimism that enough progress could be achieved this time for a second round of talks business card.

The six _ the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany _ hope Iran will commit to at least discussing their concerns over its enrichment program on Saturday. That is something Tehran has refused to do during the most recent meetings.

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China’s economic growth slowed to its lowest level in nearly three years in the first quarter amid lending controls and weak trade.

The world’s second-largest economy grew by 8.1 percent in the three months ending in March, its weakest expansion since the second quarter of 2009, data showed Friday. It grew 8.9 percent in the last quarter of 2011.

China’s growth has declined steadily since mid-2010 as global demand for exports weakened and Beijing tightened lending and investment curbs to cool an overheated economy and surging inflation.

Most analysts expect China to achieve a “soft landing,” with its slowdown bottoming out later this year and growth rebounding. But some worry growth might fall too abruptly, raising the risk of job losses.

A sharp slump could have global repercussions, hurting demand for oil, industrial components and consumer goods at a time when U.S. and European growth are weak.

Other data reported Friday showed China’s factory output, retail sales and other economic indicators weakening, though still at robust levels. Factory output rose 11.6 percent over a year earlier in the first quarter. Retail sales were up 10.9 percent.

Source

Payrolls in the U.S. probably increased by more than 200,000 workers in March for a fourth consecutive month as companies became more optimistic about the outlook for growth, economists said before a report this week.

Employment rose by 205,000 after climbing by 227,000 in February, according to the median projection of 54 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The last time hiring advanced at a similar pace and period was in late 1999-early 2000. The jobless rate probably held at a three-year low of 8.3 percent.

The pickup in hiring has boosted consumer confidence to a four-year high, raising the odds that gains in household spending, which accounts for 70 percent of the economy, can be sustained. The improvement in the job market may also help Americans weather the rising cost of gasoline, which Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said posed a risk to growth.