World stock markets fell Tuesday as Japan Airlines filed for bankruptcy protection and investors awaited a raft of fourth-quarter U.S. corporate earnings with a degree of unease following a fairly mixed start to the results season. In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was down 47.77 points, or 0.9 percent, at 5,446.62 while Germany’s DAX fell 49.39 points, or 0.8 percent, at 5,869.16

Former Goldman Sachs technology-chief-turned-hedge-fund-manager Michael Dubno will join Bank of America Corp. today, according to the Charlotte-based bank.

J apan Airlines filed for bankruptcy Tuesday in one of the nation’s largest corporate failures, entering a restructuring from which it seeks to emerge leaner, smarter and free of crippling debt. Asia’s biggest carrier by revenue, called JAL for short, applied for protection from creditors under the country’s Corporate Rehabilitation Law with the Tokyo District Court. A state-backed turnaround agency said it had decided to assist with the reorganization and pledged to offer the money-losing airline “sufficient funding” during the process

Weigh the Benefits and the Disadvantages of Owning Rental Property Jan 18, 2010 Annabella Gualdoni There used to be a myth that it was impossible to lose money in real estate, but when the housing bubble burst in 2005 more people came to realize that real estate was no long a “safe” place to put down money. Of course there is the potential to make money with investment properties, but it is important to budget carefully and also to consider the lifestyle changes owning rental property will entail. Be Sure to Calculate All the Costs Calculating the potential profits from an investment is not a simple matter of a base cost versus incoming rent

W ell-financed real estate investment trusts that hoarded cash during the recession are lifting the commercial property sector out of one of its worst slumps in a decade. Industry tracker RealNet Canada said $5.4-billion was spent on 990 transactions in the Greater Toronto Area, down from $12.5-billion in 2007, the industry’s best year.

S ome time Tuesday, a United Nations cargo plane is scheduled to take off from Brindisi, Italy, bound for the capital of Haiti. Inside will be thousands of mobile phones, four volunteers and a two-tonne box that may contain the answer to the prayers of aid workers trying to help survivors of last week’s earthquake.

I magine a world with no official brewer of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. No Labatt Blue Lightning Dance Team cheering on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.