Business briefs: Dish, Fox sign multiyear deal

NEW YORK – Dish Network subscribers once again have access to Fox News after the companies agreed on a multiyear deal.

The Fox News Channel as well as Fox Business Network had been off the air for Dish customers since Dec. 21 as 21st Century Fox Inc. and Dish Network Corp. negotiated a new contract.

Cable and satellite TV providers have been fighting with networks over the fees they must pay to carry channels.

Englewood, Colorado-based Dish Network has more than 14 million satellite TV customers.

Unemployment apps jump 19K

WASHINGTON – The end of the holiday shopping season led to more Americans seeking unemployment benefits last week, raising the number of applications to an 18-week high. The number is near historically low levels.

The Labor Department said Thursday that applications for benefits jumped 19,000 to a seasonally adjusted 316,000.

The four-week average, a less volatile measure, rose 6,750 to 298,000. That average has plunged 11.4 percent over the past 12 months and has remained near historically low 300,000 levels since September.

The unemployment rate is at its lowest point since 2008, and the addition of nearly 3 million jobs during 2014 was the highest annual total since 1999.

New soy, cotton seeds OK’d

ST. LOUIS – Agriculture business giant Monsanto Co. said Thursday it received approval from the Department of Agriculture for new cotton and soybean seeds designed to be used with a new herbicide formula.

Monsanto’s business is built on genetically modified seeds and herbicide. The company’s seeds are designed to increase yield, deter pests and tolerate weed-killing chemicals, particularly the company’s Roundup, a staple for farmers worldwide.

But many weeds have grown resistant to traditional Roundup, so the St. Louis company has developed a new version.

The Environmental Protection Agency is reviewing that herbicide, which adds an ingredient called dicamba. The single active ingredient in traditional Roundup is glyphosate, a chemical patented in the 1970s.

Mortgage rates fall again

WASHINGTON – Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates fell for the third straight week, with the benchmark 30-year rate again marking its lowest level since May 2013.

Mortgage company Freddie Mac said Thursday the nationwide average for a 30-year mortgage slid to 3.66 percent this week from 3.73 percent last week. The rate for the 15-year loan declined to 2.98 percent from 3.05 percent.

New Airbus A350 debuts

DOHA, Qatar – The world’s newest jetliner, the Airbus A350, took to the skies Thursday carrying its first paying passengers from the Gulf Arab nation of Qatar.

The Qatar Airways flight departed the Qatari capital of Doha in the morning and landed around 12:30 p.m. local time in Frankfurt, Germany. It marks the debut of the relatively lightweight, twin-aisle, long-range plane, which promises to connect smaller cities with major aviation hubs nonstop at a cheaper cost for airlines.

The A350 is the third – and final – major new aircraft in a decade. First there was the double-decker Airbus A380, which debuted in October 2007. It’s the world’s largest passenger jet, designed to carry up to 525 passengers between some of the largest cities on the planet. Then came the lightweight Boeing 787, which carried its first passengers in October 2011. Thanks to its lower operating costs, the jet, marketed by Boeing as the Dreamliner, has led to new nonstop flights between cities that previously didn’t have enough passengers to merit such service.