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UPS Inc. Thursday announced the start of direct air service from Shanghai, China, to Europe along with the addition of three new flights connecting Shanghai to the United States.

The number of workers filing initial unemployment claims fell 5,000 last week to a five-year low, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

Wal-Mart Stores said its same-store sales rose 1.4% in March, the smallest gain in a year, it said Thursday.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The sprawling Mid-America Trucking Show here, the largest of its kind, was bigger than ever in 2006 as about 80,000 people crisscrossed more than 1.2 million square feet of exhibit space, organizers said.

Control Instruments Ltd., a South African maker of electronic onboard vehicle computer systems, said it has acquired a majority interest in Tripmaster Corp. for $3.5 million.

Crude oil jumped 87 cents to $67.94 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Thursday, a two-month high, Bloomberg reported.

The Transportation Department’s transportation services index fell 0.9% in February from January, and the index’s freight component also declined, DOT said Thursday.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. said Wednesday it intends to close a tire plant in the United Kingdom as part of its strategy to reduce costs in its worldwide operations.

Crude oil inventories gained last week but gasoline and distillate stockpiles declined, the Department of Energy reported Wednesday.

The Shevell Group said late Tuesday it named Michael Bare chief executive officer of the Shevell Group of transportation companies.