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The Coca-Cola Co. is continuing to expand its reach worldwide and turning to a variety of smaller drink sizes to boost profits and keep rising commodity costs in check.

The world’s biggest soda maker on Tuesday reported better-than-expected profit for its first quarter as it sold more of its drinks around the globe.

Although the volume growth came from all regions, the world’s largest soda maker said increases were far greater in emerging markets. In the region encompassing Russia, India, the Middle East and Africa, for example, volume grew 9 percent, compared with a 2 percent increase in North America.

The Atlanta-based company, which has more than 500 brands including Fanta, Sprite and Minute Maid, also had strong growth beyond its sodas as consumers have become more concerned about consuming too many empty calories. Global volume for bottled water grew 15 percent in the quarter, while volume for energy drinks rose 25 percent. That surpassed the volume gains in the company’s namesake Coca-Cola soda, which increased 4 percent.

Even the slight bump in volume in North America was driven largely by the company’s Powerade energy drinks, Dasani bottled water and zero-calorie vitaminwater.

Despite the competition and market saturation at home, CEO Muhtar Kent said: “We believe North America is a growth market for our business.”

Total revenue was $11.14 billion for the three months ended March 30, up 6 percent from $10.52 billion a year ago. Analysts expected revenue of $10.82 billion for the latest quarter.

Coke has managed to offset rising commodity costs in recent years by offering drinks in smaller packages that bring bigger profits. Just four years ago, for example, the company offered only one size for on-the-go occasions in the U.S. _ a 20-ounce bottle.

Since then, Coke has rolled out drinks in 14-ounce, 12-ounce and 12.5-ounce bottles, as well as a 7.5-ounce “mini-can.”

“Moms buy the mini-cans. They love if for their kids,” Kent said.

In addition to improving margins, Kent said those smaller sizes are desired by consumers concerned about reducing their sugar intake.

Although Coco-Cola does not break out price increases, the company said such pricing models helped drive up revenue by 3 percent.

For the quarter, Coke said it earned $2.05 billion, or 89 cents per share, which was a penny per share more than what analysts polled by FactSet expected. In the year-ago period, it had net income of $1.9 billion, or 82 cents per share.

The company also said that the cost-cutting program it began in the quarter is on track. When completed, the measures are expected to save up to $650 million annually by 2015.

Coke is looking to trim costs wherever possible as another way to offset rising prices for ingredients, which continue to eat into profits for food and drink makers industry-wide. Coke said its cost of goods rose 10 percent in the quarter.

Kent also noted that Coke’s global marketing campaign for the summer Olympics in London is set to strengthen its brands by “tapping into emotional passion points like sports and music.”

Shares of Coca-Cola closed up $1.51, or 2 percent, at $73.95.

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Shell Lubricants has informed employees it will close its Wood River Blending Plant in Roxana and its St. Louis regional distribution center in O’Fallon, Mo.

Ninety-six people work at the two facilities.

A Shell spokesperson said the blending plant needed extensive upgrades. She said Shell does not own the plant and the company decided not to renew the current lease when it expires. With closure of the blending plant, the distribution center will no longer be optimally located for its functions, she said.

The blending plant employs 83 people and the distribution center employs 13. They produce and distribute bulk and packaged lubricants, including motor oil.

Shell built the huge Wood River Refinery in 1917 and owned and operated it for many years. The distribution center had operated since 2000. The two Shell Lubricants locations are the only Shell-operated businesses remaining in the St. Louis area. The blending plant is leased from ConocoPhillips, which now operates the refinery.

The blending plant is scheduled to close at the end of 2013. The distribution center will close at the end of this year.

Affected employees will be considered for other positions within the company or offered competitive severance packages, the company said in a written statement.

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JEFFERSON CITY - The gambling industry will fight Gov. Jay Nixon’s proposal to raise casino entrance fees by $1 per patron to help finance the state’s veterans homes.

Casino lobbyist Mike Winter told the House Veterans Committee on Tuesday that the proposal amounts to “a bottom-line hit of $53 million for our companies” each year and could prompt cuts in marketing, capital projects and staffing at the state’s 12 casinos.

Legislators said they’re open to compromise but made clear that they’re adamant about finding a dedicated source of money to operate the state’s seven nursing homes for veterans and possibly, build a new home to accommodate a mounting waiting list.

“Our veterans are out of money in 2013,” said Rep. Charlie Davis, R-Webbb City. “If something doesn’t happen, where are they going to go?”

The Missouri Veterans Commission’s $80 million budget is funded roughly 40 percent from federal money, 35 percent from charges paid by residents of veterans homes and 25 percent by the state.

In recent years, as tax collections have lagged, the state has reduced the general revenue it puts into the veterans commission’s budget, from nearly $31 million in 2009 to $18.6 million this year.

The state now wants to tap the veterans commission’s surplus to help pay operating expenses at the homes, which include one in Bellefontaine Neighbors in St. Louis County.

But that trust fund was designed to cover repair bills when a boiler breaks at a veterans home, as well as the state’s share of construction costs for any new homes. The fund also pays operating costs at the state’s six veterans cemeteries and grants for local programs that help veterans sign up for federal benefits.

While the trust fund now stands at $17 million, it will run dry by June 2013 if it is used at the projected rate of spending, Larry Kay, the commission’s executive director told the House committee on Tuesday.

Kay said the veterans commission needs a funding source that provides at least $35 million a year “just to stay even.”

Nixon’s budget proposal, which he released last week, would pump about $50 million a year into the veterans commission’s budget through a $1 fee increase for every gambler who goes through the casino turnstiles.

The current entrance fee is $2, with half going to the state and half to the home-dock city or county. Last year the veterans trust fund got $6.5 million under a law that divvies up the state’s share of those proceeds.

Winter, who lobbies for the Missouri Gaming Association, noted that casinos also pay a tax equaling 21 percent of their adjusted gross revenue, with most of that money going toward elementary and secondary education.

Combining the tax and the entrance fee, Missouri’s effective tax rate is about 27 percent for casinos now, which he portrayed as high compared to states such as Nevada, which he said charges only 6.75 percent.

However, the Missouri Gaming Commission’s annual report showed Missouri is competitive with most nearby states.

At 27.18 percent, Missouri’s effective tax rate is lower than Illinois (33.92 percent) and Indiana (31.31 percent) but higher than Kansas (25.08 percent), Iowa (22.33 percent) and Mississippi (11.94 percent), according to the latest report.

Legislators pointed out that casinos could pass any entrance fee increase on to their patrons. But Winter said they have no plans to do so. They absorb the current $2 fee.

The gambling industry got some backing from the Missouri Chamber of Commerce & Industry, which said veterans homes were a statewide responsibility that should not be borne by “a single sector.”

But Dewey Riehn, who represents the Veterans of Foreign Wars, said a higher admission fee wouldn’t break casinos, which pulled in $1.8 billion last year.

“If they think they can convince me that a $1 entry fee will cause them to close boats, that’s ridiculous,” Riehn said.

Missouri has the 14th largest population of veterans, according to federal statistics.

In addition to St. Louis County, the state operates veterans homes in Cameron, Cape Girardeau, Mexico, Mt. Vernon, St. James and Warrensburg.

The state’s 1,350 beds are 99 percent full; there are 1,691 people on the waiting list.

In addition to a higher casino entrance fee, legislators are considering asking state voters to pass a constitutional amendment establishing a special Missouri Lottery ticket, with proceeds earmarked for veterans programs.

The sponsor, Rep. Sheila Solon, R-Blue Springs, said a dedicated lottery ticket would not provide a “total fix” but had helped pump money into veterans programs in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas and Texas.

“We need to take care of our veterans,” said Solon, who also sponsors the casino fee increase. “These brave heroes have defended us.”

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South Korean President Lee Myung Bak said a new era in inter-Korean relations was possible if the North begins behaving sincerely, after the nuclear-armed nation accused Lee of

When it comes to Christmas sweaters, even thrift stores lower their standards.

As she climbed through a stack of boxes in the back of the Goodwill store in south St. Louis County, a district manager explained that sweaters that are too faded, or have too many lint pills on them, are usually recycled.

“This sweater would normally never make it (to the sales floor) in a million years,” said Latrice Clayborne, as she pulled out a lint-infested brown cardigan with a snowman, a sprig of holly and white snowflakes on it.

But when it comes to “ugly Christmas sweaters,” Goodwill, like many resale shops around town, has started to make exceptions. They know that no matter the condition, these items of questionable fashion won’t last long once they put them out on the racks.

Yes, the holidays are approaching, which means that “ugly Christmas sweater” season is also in full swing no faxing payday loan. The sweaters, popular in the 1980s, have found a second life in recent years as part of an ironic fashion trend that pokes fun at the aesthetics of the garments.

“People are calling, desperate to see if we have any,” said Faith Sandler, executive director of the nonprofit that runs the ScholarShop. “They are going to events where they are trying to outdo one another with how ugly the sweaters are. The more stuff hanging from them, the better!”

She noticed an uptick in traffic to the stores’ holiday sweaters rack last year. But this year, they seem to be even hotter commodities, she said, so much so that they can hardly keep them in stock.

“I’m just so glad they’re cool, because for a while I was embarrassed by the rack,” she added.

Josh Goldman, 26, of Chesterfield, went to several stores over the weekend in search for an over-the-top sweater that would elicit chuckles

As stock markets continue their roller-coaster ride, even investors who profess to adhere to a buy-and-hold strategy have become eager users of mobile technologies that allow them to track their portfolios almost minute by minute.

That tendency apparently goes double for private banking clients, who investment managers say demand more information than the average investor and are embracing smartphone use at a fast clip.

And yet, for a variety of reasons, wealth managers were slow to embrace mobile applications for their clients. The reasons most often cited included concerns about security and a general impression that private banking clients did not want that kind of relationship with their bankers.

That appears to be changing.

JPMorgan Chase, Merrill Lynch and UBS are among a small number of banks that have released smartphone apps to their wealth management customers. The use of the apps is often restricted regionally; the JPMorgan and Merrill apps are available only to clients based in the U.S., and only Swiss clients have access to the UBS app.

“Private banks have been trailing behind retail banks with this type of offering for consumers, and even when they do offer an app, those have pretty poor functionality,” said Steffen Binder, managing director of MyPrivateBanking, an independent research firm based in Switzerland.

To keep up with competition and customer demand, banks will have to start interacting with their clients more through social media, said Nick Pollard, chief executive of RBS Coutts Asia, whose parent bank is using YouTube, Twitter and Facebook to reach out to its clients and is developing a smartphone app cashadvance.

“It’s less about today’s clients and more about tomorrow’s clients,” Pollard said. “Whether we like it or not, this generation and certainly the next one has no boundaries when it comes to accessing information.”

This year, Merrill Lynch introduced mobile applications for Apple and BlackBerry devices for clients of Merrill Lynch Wealth Management and the online discount brokerage service Merrill Edge. The applications allow clients to view their portfolio holdings and account activity; transfer money among linked Merrill Lynch brokerage and Bank of America banking accounts; and trade stocks, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds and options in approved accounts. Clients can track market news and headlines and gain access to the bank’s latest research reports.

Buoyed by clients’ positive feedback, the bank now plans to release Android versions in December.

The bank is evaluating how the new technologies “can create value for advisers and the firm while at the same time having prudent supervisory and compliance oversight,” said Paul Fox, head of Merrill Lynch Online Platforms. The bank is now running a limited pilot program with LinkedIn to allow clients to communicate with the bank.

The adoption rate of JPMorgan’s iPad and iPhone apps has been rapid, said Stephen Clifford, a managing director at JPMorgan Private Bank in New York, responsible for the client experience. The bank made the apps available this year to its high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth U.S. clients

Forecasters say Hurricane Kenneth is weakening rapidly and has been downgraded to a Category 2 storm in the eastern Pacific.

There is no threat to land from what had been the strongest late-season hurricane in that area on record when it earlier reached Category 4 status.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Wednesday that Kenneth has maximum sustained winds near 110 mph (175 kph). The storm was centered about 840 miles (1,350 kilometers) south-southwest of the southern tip of Baja California, Mexico best payday advance.

It is moving west at 9 mph (15 kph)

Kenneth is expected to weaken further and could be downgraded to a tropical storm by Thursday. There are no coastal watches or warnings in effect.

The eastern Pacific hurricane season ends Nov. 30.

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Economist Mario Monti formed a new Italian government without a single politician Wednesday, drawing from the ranks of bankers, diplomats and business executives to make sure Italy escapes looming financial disaster.

The 68-year-old former European Union competition commissioner told reporters he will serve as Italy’s economy minister as well as premier for now as he seeks to implement “sacrifices” to heal the country’s finances and set the economy growing again.

Monti and his new cabinet ministers will be sworn later Wednesday, formally ending Silvio Berlusconi’s 3 1/2-year-old government as well as his 17-year-long run of political dominance.

Monti said he would lay out his emergency anti-crisis policies in the Senate on Thursday, ahead of a confidence vote. A second vote, in the lower Chamber of Deputies, will follow, likely on Friday. He stressed that Italy’s economic growth is a top priority.

Hopes for Italy’s new administration won it some respite in financial markets Wednesday. The yield on its ten-year bonds dropped 0.16 percentage point to 6.77 percent. In the last week, that borrowing rate had flirted over 7 percent _ the level that forced fellow eurozone members Greece, Ireland and Portugal to seek international bailouts.

Up until summer, Italy had mostly avoided the European debt turmoil despite having a jaw-dropping amount of debt: euro1.9 trillion ($2.6 trillion), or is nearly 120 percent of its GDP. But after frequent delays and backtracking on austerity measures, markets lost faith that any Berlusconi government could fix Italy’s economic issues.

Restoring confidence in Italy’s financial future is crucial because, as the third-largest economy in the eurozone, it is too big for Europe to rescue. A debt default by Italy would threaten the euro itself and shake the global economy.

Monti gave few hints about his political program Wednesday, sidestepping a question about whether the government would dip into citizens’ bank accounts as it did decades ago during another debt crisis.

“You may ask,” he replied, but went no further.

Explaining why his Cabinet contained no one from Italy’s fractious political parties, Monti said that his talks with party leaders led him to the conclusion “that the non-presence of politicians in the government would help it.”

His ministers include Corrado Passera, CEO of Italy’s second-largest bank, Intesa Sanpaolo SpA, to head Development and Infrastructure; Piero Gnudi, a longtime chairman of Enel utility company, as Tourism and Sport minister in a country heavily dependent on tourist revenues; and the current Italian ambassador to Washington, Giulio Terzi di Sant’Agata, to be foreign minister.

A historian of the Catholic church with close ties to the Vatican, Andrea Riccardi, was named minister of international and domestic cooperation, a choice that seemed to reward pro-Vatican lawmakers in Parliament.

A Monti government is “an historic and significant turn of events,” said Francesco Rutelli of the pro-Vatican centrists payday loans lenders.

Still, his choices raised some eyebrows.

“This government, ties to banks, to business, to the Vatican, to private universities _ to the usual names _ is the opposite of what this country needs,” said Paolo Ferrero, leader of Rifondazione Comunista, a tiny, far-left party.

Passera also sits on the board of directors of Milan’s Bocconi University, which forms Italy’s business elite. Monti is currently the head of the Bocconi.

But analysts gave Monti’s selections a top mark, insisting the Cabinet ministers were independent.

“I think the quality of the people is very high,” said Roberto D’Alimonte, a political science professor at Rome’s LUISS University. “All these people are very high-caliber, and highly respected, independent.”

Italy’s economy is hampered by high wage costs, low productivity, fat government payrolls, excessive taxes, choking bureaucracy and low numbers of college graduates. But Monti says Italy can beat the crisis if its largely polarized citizenry _ often bitterly divided over Berlusconi’s long tenure _ can pull together. He has also met with union leaders and business representatives.

“I hope that, governing well, we can make a contribution to the calming and the cohesion of the political forces,” Monti told reporters.

The head of Italy’s largest union confederation, Susanna Camusso, backed Monti but hoped he “won’t put his priority on pensions.”

Parliament on Saturday voted to raise the retirement age as part of an austerity package to 67 by 2026 and 70 by 2050, but critics say those reforms are meaningless because they are so far in the future. The new changes also call for the sale of state property and privatizing some services but contain no painful labor reforms. They also offer tax incentives to companies that hire young workers to fight Italy’s 25 percent unemployment rate for people ages 15 to 24.

The shift in power away from career politicians had caused bickering within Berlusconi’s conservative People of Freedom Party, which eventually endorsed Monti. But Berlusconi’s main coalition ally, the Northern League, has announced it will stay in the opposition during Monti’s government.

Rutelli predicted on Sky TG24 TV that Monti’s government would win the confidence votes and last until the end of the legislature in spring 2013, to the dismay of many of Berlusconi’s allies, who want elections in a few months.

“The economic crisis won’t be solved in a brief time,” he noted.

Not everyone was enthusiastic about an unelected, technocratic government.

“When governments of technocrats are needed, it means democracy and politics are considered useless, so it’s something negative that has to be for a limited period of time,” said skeptic Giuseppe Drago on the streets of Rome.

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Fast-expanding Gulf carrier Qatar Airways says talks with Airbus over an expected large plane order are now stalled.

The company’s CEO, Akbar al-Baker, said the negotiations were at an impasse Tuesday. He added that he is “pessimistic” about an accord before the end of this week’s Dubai Airshow.

Doha-based Qatar Airways’ fleet of 101 aircraft is dominated by Airbus planes, though it does have orders or options for nearly 90 Boeing jets.

On Tuesday, Qatar Airways announced plans to buy two Boeing 777 cargo planes.

Qatar Airways is increasingly challenging Dubai-based Emirates in the race for long-haul customers that use the Gulf as a transit hub.

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