Business & Finance

Donations by US businesses to the relief and cleanup efforts following last week's terrorist attacks soared past the $100 million mark and were being supplemented by foreign companies. Among the prominent contributions: $1 million by Cantor Fitzgerald LP, a New York brokerage whose entire 700-person World Trade Center staff is believed to have died. One of the earliest overseas donors was Germany's giant Deutsche Bank, which committed $4 million to relief operations.

Continental Airlines, which said it is losing $30 million a day in the wake of the terrorist attacks, announced an immediate 20 percent reduction of its long-term flight schedule and said it would release details "within the week" on laying off about 12,000 employees. The US's fifth-largest carrier blamed the moves on the current and expected impact of the terrorist attacks and the cost of new security requirements. Other airlines said they also could not rule out layoffs.

An estimated 50,000 passengers were left stranded and more than 16,000 workers lost their jobs as Ansett, Australia's second-largest airline, was shut down by its legal administrators. PricewaterhouseCoopers said Ansett had run out of cash to continue operations less than a week after the carrier went into voluntary receivership.