In brief: Death toll rises to 100 for faulty GM switches

DETROIT – The death toll from faulty ignition switches in small cars made by General Motors has reached 100.

The families of the victims are being offered compensation by attorney Kenneth Feinberg, who was hired by GM last year. In addition, GM has agreed to make offers to 184 people who were injured in crashes caused by the switches in older-model cars such as the Chevrolet Cobalt.

GM recalled 2.6 million of the cars last year but acknowledged it knew about problems with the switches for more than a decade.

Airlines are improving, but complaints still rise

DALLAS – Consumer complaints against airlines are rising even as the carriers get slightly better at staying on schedule.

The U.S. Department of Transportation said Monday that it received more complaints from consumers in March than it did in either the previous month or March 2014.

While the numbers are still small – only about one in every 50,000 passengers complains to the government – they vary greatly among carriers.

Passengers on Frontier Airlines were 34 times more likely to complain than passengers on Southwest Airlines, which has the lowest complaint rate. Spirit Airlines had the second-worst rate.

Volvo latest automaker to pick South Carolina

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Another automotive manufacturer is coming to the Southeast, and this time South Carolina won the prize.

Volvo Cars announced Monday that it will build a $500 million plant – its first in the U.S. – and eventually employ up to 4,000 people at the Berkley County site, about 30 miles northwest of Charleston.

Volvo is the third foreign automaker to put a U.S. plant in South Carolina. BMW led the way for manufacturing on American soil when it built a plant in Greer more than 20 years ago. Daimler AG is building its Sprinter vans at a plant about 15 miles down Interstate 26 in Ladson.

Volvo was impressed by the worker training programs in place for Boeing, which started building its 787 jumbo jets near Charleston in 2011, Gov. Nikki Haley said Monday.

Airbus military plane hits more turbulence

PARIS – Airbus’ troubled A400M military plane has hit turbulence once again.

The cargo plane whose rollout went billions over budget and years over deadline is being grounded by numerous governments after a crash in Spain this weekend killed two pilots and two flight test engineers.

Though the crash is still unexplained, many of the governments who first ordered the A400M are keeping them in the hangars out of precaution, with leading buyer Germany openly criticizing its design. Shares in Airbus Group fell on the prospect of more trouble with the model.

Starbucks going small with Frappuccino

NEW YORK – If a small Frappuccino seems like too much of an indulgence, Starbucks is now selling a more petite version of the sugary coffee drink.

The Seattle-based coffee chain said it will start selling a “Mini Frappuccino” through July 6. The new size is 10 ounces, compared with 12 ounces for the company’s “tall,” or small, size.

Starbucks isn’t the only chain trying to tempt people with more modest serving sizes. Sonic offers ice cream shakes in a “mini” size and recently ran a limited-time offer for mini hot dogs and mini fried chicken sandwiches. Coke has also been playing up its mini cans.