KOJI WATANABE / Getty Images Katsuaki Watanabe, president of Toyota, attended a news conference yesterday in Tokyo. The company reported the first quarterly decline in profit since 2005.

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TOKYO – Battered by a slumping North American auto market and unfavorable currency swings, Toyota is forecasting a double barrel of bad news this fiscal year: its first year-on-year sales slide in nine years and first profit slip in seven years. The list of problems is growing for Toyota, including soaring material and energy costs and a stagnant auto market in Japan, its home market.

Air travel these days is an adventure with many surprises, some of them unpleasant. That also describes the process of simply buying a ticket. Airlines have raised fares or increased surcharges, partly to cover the rising cost of jet fuel, at least 10 times so far this year – most recently yesterday, when American Airlines and Delta Air Lines raised ticket fees agai

NEW YORK – Caught in the maelstrom of higher gas and food prices, Americans – even more affluent ones – are seeking shelter in wholesale clubs and discount apparel chains. Low-price operators Costco Wholesale, Wal-Mart Stores and TJX Cos. reported better-than-expected sales yesterday, while traditional apparel chains J.C. Penney Co. and Limited Brands struggled.

MOUNTAIN VIEW – Google's top executives yesterday expressed hope that the Internet search leader will be able to form a potentially lucrative advertising partnership with Yahoo – a deal that would lower the odds of Microsoft renewing its attempts to buy Yahoo.

HONG KONG – After months of startling increases, the prices of rice, wheat, soybeans and several other foods have come down recently, a development that could ease some of the panic in global food markets. Prices remain volatile and remarkably high by historical standards, and few agricultural experts expect the days of inexpensive food to return soon.

HARTFORD, Conn. – Facebook, the world's second-largest social networking Web site, is adding more than 40 new safeguards to protect young users from sexual predators and cyberbullies under an agreement with officials nationwide that was announced yesterday.