:: Business News ::

• China February exports jump 45.7 percent (AP)

  AP - China's exports rose in February in a new sign of growing global demand that could help persuade officials to let the Chinese currency rise.

• Curbing derivatives might hurt, not help, Greece (AP)

  AP - Derivatives have become a dirty word.

  
  

• Feds to probe cause of runaway Prius in California (AP)

  AP - The government sent investigators Tuesday to examine a Prius that sped out of control on a California freeway, and Toyota said it wanted to interview the driver as the besieged automaker dealt with a high-profile new headache that raised questions about the safety of its beloved hybrid.

  
  

• Asia markets little changed as China exports surge (AP)

  AP - Asian stock markets were little changed Wednesday even as surging Chinese exports pointed to a pickup in global trade.

  
  

• Kan. mulling new soda tax, raising other levies (AP)

  AP - Kansas would impose a new tax on soda — a penny for every teaspoon of sugar — under a proposal that a key legislator outlined Tuesday while lawmakers considered raising taxes to erase a projected budget shortfall.

• Oil hovers above $81 amid mixed US inventory data (AP)

  AP - Oil prices hovered above $81 a barrel Wednesday in Asia after a report showed mixed evidence about U.S. crude demand.