In brief: No spending sanctions for France, Italy

BRUSSELS – The head of the European Union’s executive branch is opting not to sanction France or Italy just yet over their failure to meet targets on their public finances.

Instead, EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker is giving them until spring to deliver on commitments.

In an interview with eight European papers, published Friday, Juncker says he has “made the choice not to sanction” for the failure of Paris and Rome to meet rules that force the euro member states to observe strict limits on spending.

France and Italy have been accused of being too profligate in their budgetary spending plans at a time when the EU and the 18-country eurozone have been advocating strict austerity as the best way to get their public finances into shape.

U.S. fights WTO ruling on national meat labels

WASHINGTON – The United States is appealing a World Trade Organization decision that would make it harder for U.S. consumers to know where meat in the grocery store came from.

The WTO in October rejected U.S. rules requiring labels on packaged steaks, ribs and other cuts of meat identifying where the animals were born, raised and slaughtered. The WTO said the “country of origin labeling” requirements put Canadian and Mexican livestock at a disadvantage.

On Friday, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative appealed the ruling.

U.S. farmers who compete with Mexican and Canadian ranchers welcomed the appeal. National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson on Friday called it “the right thing to do for American family farmers, ranchers and consumers.” But meatpackers oppose the labeling requirements, saying they impose costly paperwork.

Originally, the U.S. Department of Agriculture allowed the labels to say simply “Product of U.S.” or “Product of U.S. and Canada.” The WTO rejected that approach in 2012.

So the USDA made the labels more specific in an attempt to win WTO approval. For example, they can say the animal that produced the meat was “born in Mexico, raised and slaughtered in the United States” or “born, raised and slaughtered in the United States.” But in October, the WTO also rejected the revised rules.

Operating losses mount for Malaysia Airlines

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Malaysia Airlines on Friday said its loss widened last quarter.

In its last public financial result before a planned privatization and overhaul, the flag carrier said its net loss in the July-September quarter rose 53 percent from a year earlier to 576.1 million ringgit ($170.3 million).

The airline’s business has suffered after a Malaysia Airlines jet with 239 people on board, mostly from China, went missing March 8 while en route to Beijing. No trace of it has been found. In July, a Malaysia Airlines jet was shot down over Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board.

The airline said its quarterly revenue fell 12 percent from a year earlier to 3.33 billion ringgit ($976 million) amid poor market sentiment due to the double whammy of the disasters and intensified competition.

The airline will be delisted and taken completely under the wing of the government by the end of the year under a $1.8 billion overhaul by majority shareholder, state investment arm Khazanah Nasional.

Khazanah aims to restore the airline to profitability by the end of 2017 and then relist its shares on the stock exchange by the end of 2019.