New York, January 30 : U. S. President Barack Obama's liking for its two flavours has raised a tea making company's hopes for increased sales in the near future.

A representative for organic beverage makers Honest Tea has revealed that Obama favours the Green Dragon Tea and Black Forest Berry flavours, and that he has stocked the White House with the drinks.

The company's representative says that Obama even keeps a stash on the official presidential helicopter.

New York - AOL is to cut 700 jobs or 10 per cent of its workforce as the economic downturn reduces advertising income, the company announced Wednesday in an email to employees.

The company, which is part of media conglomerate Time Warner, will also reorganize into three main business groups focusing on advertising, social networks and media content, said the email, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. AOL will also not be granting pay raises this year to employees.

New York  - The New York Times publishing group is feeling evermore the economic downturn, with dropping revenues from advertising, the company said Wednesday.

Fourth quarter earnings for 2008 dropped 47.5 per cent to 27.6 million dollars from the same quarter in 2007.

For the year, the company recorded losses of 57.8 million dollars, compared to a profit of 208.7 million dollars in 2007, according to a story posted on its online website.

New York, Jan 28: A former Hooters girl, whose dream has been to work at the theme restaurant Hawaiian Tropic Zone, has instead sued it for discrimination.

Melody Morales had been very eager to work as one of the bikini-clad beauties at the Times Square restaurant, but a manager there rejected her because of her accent and told her to get lost.

"You don''t speak white and you are ghetto," the New York Daily News quoted Morales as recalling the managers words.

"I am not going to ruin my business with your Latin accent," he had told her when she had gone with her mother to the restaurant last March to look for a job.

New York, January 28 : Madonna, who is reportedly enraged after unappealing pictures from her album cover shoot were leaked online, enjoyed some quality with "beau" Alex Rodriguez last weekend, it has emerged.

The Queen of Pop was spotted with the ace power-hitting baseball player at the East Hampton residence of Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld.

But sources claimed the break barely succeeded in calming down the singer who is apparently still mad at her label after the leak.

New York  - Delta Air Lines ended the year with steep losses in the final quarter of2008 as it completed its merger with Northwest, the company said Tuesday.

Losses for the year at what is now the world's largest airline came to 1.4 billion dollars in the final quarter of the year, compared with losses of 70 million dollars in the year-earlier period. Excluding one-time costs related to the merger, the loss amounted to 340 million dollars, or 50 cents per share.