European hotels, car rental companies and government tourism agencies are ramping up marketing and turning to creative payment plans, complimentary cellphone use and deep discounts to salvage the summer travel business.
These efforts aimed at American tourists are intensifying as fluctuating exchange rates, rising airfares, and a gloomy economic outlook threaten to deter the world’s most [...]

Light, sweet crude for May delivery dropped $1.81 to $100.03 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midday in Singapore.The contract on Thursday fell 70 cents to settle at $101.84 a barrel. The market was closed for Good Friday.Shum said oil’s price swoon may not last for long.”The U.S. [...]