Clear Channel posts first-quarter profit

SAN ANTONIO - Clear Channel Communications Inc.'s earnings grew 64 percent for the first quarter to $116.5 million, buoyed by asset sales and strong outdoor advertising revenue.

The nation's largest radio station operator said Tuesday it earned 19 cents per share during the January-March period and was up from $71 million, or 12 cents a share, for the year-ago period.

San Antonio-based Clear Channel said revenue rose to $1.97 billion from $1.78 billion in the same period one year ago.

GM reports mediocre U.S. sales for April

DETROIT - General Motors Corp.'s new car and truck business rose less than 1 percent in April, a lackluster result that wrapped up a month in which consumer demand failed to meet industry expectations.

GM, the world's largest automaker, said Tuesday overall sales rose 0.4 percent last month. Truck sales, aided by heavy incentives, rose 1.2 percent, while car sales were off 0.8 percent.

GM reported April results a day after most major automakers because of a glitch late last week in its vehicle delivery reporting system.

Boeing hires outside monitor for ethics

CHICAGO - Hoping to move past a year of scandal, Boeing Co. has hired an outside ethics watchdog as part of a settlement being negotiated with the Air Force and is stepping up public efforts to defend its much-criticized air tanker contract.

The independent officer will monitor the implementation of Boeing's ethics reforms and alert the government about any future ethics violations, spokesman Dan Beck said Tuesday. He declined to identify the monitor.

The compliance officer will oversee Boeing's newly overhauled ethics-compliance programs, file progress reports with the Defense Department and take note of any questionable activities or missteps by company officials, Beck said.

Security experts decry patch ignorance

NEW YORK - Far fewer computers would have been disabled by the latest Internet worm had their owners configured them to automatically get the latest security fixes.

Sasser's spread began to stabilize Tuesday, but not after infecting hundreds of thousands of computers since Friday by exploiting a known Windows flaw for which Microsoft Corp. issued a software patch three weeks ago.

Enquirer wire services