Lima - Canada and Colombia signed a free trade agreement in Lima as their leaders prepared to attend an Asia-Pacific summit there.

"We are taking a very important step at a moment of great difficulty because of the world financial crisis," said Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, who with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper witnessed the signing of the pact Friday by the two countries' trade ministers.

Both Uribe and Harper called on the US Congress to ratify a US-Colombia free trade pact, which was signed long ago.

Dubai - US singer Kylie Minogue launched the 2-billion- dollar Atlantis Palm Jumeirah resort in the Gulf emirate of Dubai with a 45-minute performance set on the beach late on Thursday.

Kylie's debut concert in the region was part of the ceremony that continued into the early hours of Friday and had cost around 20 million dollars.

A fireworks display, reportedly seven times the size of the one opening the Beijing Olympics, had cost more than 10 million UAE dirhams (2.7 million dollars).

Stockholm - Swedish engineering group Sandvik said Thursday it planned to cut 1,040 jobs and reduce production over weakened demand mainly in the automotive and engineering industries.

The group has some 47,000 employees worldwide and operations in 130 countries.

Its core operations include tools for metal-working, machinery and equipment for rock excavation, as well as stainless and high-alloy steels and other metals.

Vienna - Austrian steelmaker voestalpine AG on Thursday reported strong increases in revenue and profit for its second business quarter, as it was able to pass along higher commodity prices to customers.

Net profit for the period from July to September (voestalpine's business year runs from April to April) increased to 279 million euros (352 million dollars), from 192 million euros in the same period last year.

Operating profit rose to 428 million euros, compared with 302 million euros in the second quarter of 2007.

Sales climbed by 17 per cent, to 3.23 billion euros, as the company passed higher material prices on to the market.

Paris - French-Dutch airline Air France-KLM said Thursday that profits for the first half of fiscal year 2008-9 slumped because of the economic slowdown and the high cost of fuel.

Operating income fell by 43.9 per cent, to 639 million euros (800 million dollars), in the period ending September 30, the carrier said in a press statement.

Earnings per share plunged by 84 per cent, to 0.66 euros, while turnover stood at 12.983 billion euros, up a modest 4.4 per cent, for the first half of the fiscal year.

Madrid - The Spanish government will do all it can to keep the oil firm Repsol "independent and Spanish," Industry Minister Miguel Sebastian said Thursday, amid rumours that Russian oil giant Lukoil was considering a swoop for up to a third of the company's stock.

Spanish national radio reported that Lukoil was reportedly targeting a 20-per-cent stake in Repsol held by the construction company Sacyr Vallehermoso, which has been hit by Spain's construction crisis.

Criteria, a holding company of La Caixa bank, meanwhile admitted that it had maintained "informal contacts" with an unidentified party about the possibility of selling all or part of its 12.5 per cent stake in Repsol.