From wire reports

Snow: Bush intends permanent tax cut

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is committed to making its tax cuts permanent at the same time it intends to cut the budget deficit in half within five years, Treasury Secretary John Snow said Wednesday.

Snow warned that Congress would threaten the economic recovery if it rolled back the administration's tax cuts, something that President Bush's Democratic opponents are urging.

IBM again reduces software jobs

ARMONK, N.Y. - IBM Corp. is slashing 300 software jobs in a realignment of resources, executives said Wednesday. The cuts affect fewer than 1 percent of IBM's 38,000 software employees. But they follow similar actions recently - IBM cut 400 software jobs in September and 200 in November.

Lee Conrad, who heads the AllianceAtIBM, a division of the Communications Workers of America union that is trying to organize IBM employees, said he believes even deeper cuts are planned throughout the company.

United Airlines keeps to bankruptcy schedule

CHICAGO - United Airlines says it remains on target to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy by the middle of 2004.

In a bankruptcy-court filing made available this week, the nation's No. 2 carrier said it aims to exit bankruptcy by June 30 - in keeping with previous statements.

United made the filing to seek court approval of its agreement with J.P. Morgan Chase and Citigroup to underwrite $2 billion in loans in order to enable its exit from bankruptcy. The banks' loans hinge on United receiving $1.6 billion in federal loan guarantees.

Chrysler counts 34,000 fewer jobs since 2000

DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler unit has cut 34,000 jobs, more than a quarter of its total, since December 2000 as part of efforts to stem losses, the company said.

Chrysler, which has lost $4.4 billion since unit Chief Executive Officer Dieter Zetsche announced in 2001 a three-year plan to return to profit, expects nine new models this year to put the third-largest U.S. automaker on the "offensive," according to a presentation for analysts today.

Zetsche said this week that the new models for this year, part of 25 new models in the next three years, will boost U.S. sales from 2.1 million and lift Chrysler's 12.8 percent market share after five straight years of declines.Auburn Hills, Mich.-based Chrysler cut its employment 27 percent to 93,000 in November from three years earlier, according to the slides. The unit said it sold or closed nine businesses or factories, reducing net assets to $11.5 billion from $19.9 billion since December 2000.

Bankers asked what they knew, and when

ROME - Prosecutors in the Parmalat case reportedly spoke to representatives of international banks Wednesday, as investigators studied whether the institutions knew the real state of the finances of the food giant before it made a stunning admission of missing billions.

In Milan, investigating magistrates spoke to Citigroup lawyer Nerio Dioda. Prosecutors in Parma spoke with four people whom Italian reports identified as Deutsche Bank officials.

Italian news reports say Parmalat's former chief financial officer has cited relations with Bank of America, Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase, among others.

DVR maker sorry for too-sweet offer

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Digital video recorder maker ReplayTV is apologizing to customers after many were lured to buy a machine through an offer of three years of free service that the company now says it made by mistake.

The company said Tuesday that boxes of its lowest-end model were "mistakenly labeled" with the reduced price offer. DVRs are the latest alternative to VCRs. An unknown number of customers recently took advantage of ReplayTV's dramatic price drop to $149, thinking the deal included three years of service, which is needed for the devices to work. The devices previously sold for $499 and service costs $12.95 a month or a one-time payment of $299.

ReplayTV said it would honor the three years of service offer "for those customers who were confused by these mistakes." A spokeswoman was unsure how many customers qualified.