The General Motors logo is seen outside its headquarters at the Renaissance Center in Detroit, Michigan in this file photograph taken August 25, 2009.

DETROIT | Thu Feb 14, 2013 3:49pm EST

DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Co (GM.N) reported a weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter profit on Thursday, citing wider losses in Europe and lower vehicle prices plus higher costs in its core North American market.

The largest U.S. automaker also made an accounting change in the quarter, intended to signal confidence that it will continue to be profitable in coming years. The move resulted in a $26 billion charge for the quarter, however.

Shares of GM, which did not change its 2013 profit outlook, initially bounced between positive and negative territory and were off 3.4 percent at $27.69 in late trading.

"An entrenched GM investor may see no need to sell, while a prospective investor may see no need to rush in," Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas said in a research note.

GM went public in the autumn of 2010, after its 2009 bankruptcy restructuring and $50 billion U.S.-taxpayer bailout.

Several analysts said GM's $699 million operating loss in Europe in the quarter was wider than they had expected.

Conditions in the region will be challenging for another few years, said Edward Jones analyst Christian Mayes, who has a "hold" rating on GM's stock. "They're moving in the right direction, but it's difficult over there to move fast because it's so challenging to shut down plants."

GM posted a profit of 48 cents per share before one-time items, 3 cents shy of the analysts' average estimate, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Operating losses in Europe last year more than doubled to $1.8 billion, reflecting rapid deteriorating vehicle demand and weak economic conditions there. It was the 13th straight year of losses in Europe.

"Europe was a little lighter, although I don't think people are going to really punish the stock for a few pennies' miss in Europe, just because we're probably at or near the bottom of that cycle," said Jefferies analyst Peter Nesvold, who rates GM shares at "hold."

Chief Financial Officer Dan Ammann said GM still expects industry sales in Europe to decline in 2013 and is "not betting on" a pickup later in the year, but Chief Executive Dan Akerson reiterated the company's goal of breaking even in the region by mid-decade.

"It's not like we're just hoping for the best," he said about Europe on a conference call. "We have certain levers that we can pull.

"We're going to be smart about how we cut costs. It isn't just 'close plants.' We're trying to play offense."

Akerson pointed to the new Opel Mokka SUV and Adam minicar in Europe, where GM has said it will introduce 23 new vehicles between 2012 and 2016.

Barclays analyst Brian Johnson said in a research note that "investors should take some comfort," as GM Europe will show a $600 million drop in depreciation and amortization expenses due to a writedown of assets. As a result, he now expects GM Europe's loss this year to be closer to a range of $1.1 billion to $1.2 billion, instead of the $1.4 billion he previously anticipated.

LOWER PRICING AT HOME

During the fourth quarter, costs rose by $400 million in North America, GM's most profitable region. But combined vehicle pricing fell by $300 million there as the company offered incentives to cut through its inventory of trucks on dealer lots ahead of its introduction of redesigned versions this year.

It was the first drop in North American pricing for GM since the first quarter of 2011.

Jefferies' Nesvold said the weaker Japanese yen and the deteriorating European market would probably lead to more competitive pricing in North America.

That would continue the trend seen in the fourth quarter, when GM lost one percentage point of U.S. market share despite raising its incentives slightly, according to research firm TrueCar.com.

GM's revenue in the fourth quarter rose 3 percent to $39.3 billion, above the $39.15 billion analysts had expected.

Net income at the Detroit company almost doubled to $892 million, or 54 cents a share, from $472 million, or 28 cents a share, a year earlier.

Operating profit fell 6.8 percent to almost $1.4 billion in North America, but jumped almost 27 percent to $473 million at the international operations unit, which is dominated by China, where GM is a market leader. South America swung to a $99 million profit from a year-earlier loss of $225 million.

The quarterly results included a $34.9 billion reversal of a valuation allowance on U.S. and Canadian deferred tax assets. The move, which rival Ford Motor Co (F.N) made in late 2011, reflects confidence in GM's ability to generate taxable income in those markets.

GM took a non-cash goodwill asset impairment charge of $26.2 billion related to the valuation allowance, wrote down $5.2 billion worth of assets in Europe, and took a charge of $2.2 billion for its action last summer to cut its U.S. salaried pension obligation.

The company also wrote down $220 million, or about half, of its investment in French alliance partner PSA Peugeot Citroen (PEUP.PA). GM, which paid $423 million for its 7 percent stake in Peugeot, warned last August that it might take such an action due to the deepening fiscal crisis in Europe.

Ammann said on Thursday that GM had no plans to put more cash into Peugeot, with which Akerson said the company has a good relationship.

GM did not change its 2013 outlook from last month, when it forecast its operating profit to rise modestly.

For the first quarter, Ammann said GM expects to take a $200 million charge for the devaluation of the Venezuelan currency. He also said the company has no plans to contribute to its U.S. pension plans this year.

Akerson also said the company would probably not fill its vacant global marketing chief position. Instead, it will have global heads for each brand.

GM would like to boost the number of plants in North America operating on three shifts to increase output and reduce structural costs, a strategy it is following globally, said Chuck Stevens, CFO for the region. Eight of GM's 19 plants there currently operate a third shift.

GM also is targeting a full-size pickup truck market share in the United States of 36 percent to 38 percent this year, Stevens said. That would be up from 36 percent last year.

Ammann told reporters in a later conference call that GM had completed the repurchase of a 1 percent stake in its joint venture with its top Chinese partner SAIC Motor Corp (600104.SS). He said the Chinese government approved the purchase last year.

The deal restored GM's stake in Shanghai GM to 50 percent. However, SAIC retains a 51 percent share in the sales side of the business. In the run-up to its 2009 bankruptcy filing, GM sold the 1 percent share to SAIC for $85 million.

For all of 2012, GM earned $4.9 billion, down from a record $7.6 billion in 2011 due to higher tax rates and weakness in Europe. The results in 2011 included $1.2 billion in gains from asset sales, while 2012 had $500 million in unfavorable items.

(Reporting By Ben Klayman and Deepa Seetharaman; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn, John Wallace, Maureen Bavdek and Nick Zieminski)

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1 of 2. Member of the Commission of Inquiry on Syria Carla del Ponte addresses a news conference at the United Nations European headquarters in Geneva February 18, 2013. Syrians in ''leadership positions'' who may be responsible for war crimes have been identified, along with units accused of perpetrating them, United Nations investigators said on Monday.

GENEVA | Mon Feb 18, 2013 6:39am EST

GENEVA (Reuters) - Syrians in "leadership positions" who may be responsible for war crimes have been identified, along with units accused of perpetrating them, United Nations investigators said on Monday.

Both government forces and armed rebels are committing war crimes, including killings and torture, spreading terror among civilians in a nearly two-year-old conflict, they said.

The investigators' latest report, covering the six months to mid-January, was based on 445 interviews conducted abroad with victims and witnesses, as they have not been allowed into Syria.

The independent team, led by Brazilian Paulo Pinheiro, called on the U.N. Security Council to "act urgently to ensure accountability" for grave violations, possibly by referring the violators to the International Criminal Court for prosecution.

"The ICC is the appropriate institution for the fight against impunity in Syria. As an established, broadly supported structure, it could immediately initiate investigations against authors of serious crimes in Syria," the 131-page report said.

It added: "Individuals may also bear criminal responsibility for perpetuating the crimes identified in the present report. Where possible, individuals in leadership positions who may be responsible were identified alongside those who physically carried out the acts."

Karen Konig AbuZayd, one of the four commissioners on the team of some two dozen experts, told Reuters: "We have information suggesting people who have given instructions and are responsible for government policy. People who are in the leadership of the military, for example."

"It is the first time we have mentioned the ICC directly. The Security Council needs to come together and decide whether or not to refer the case to the ICC. I am not optimistic."

But its third list of suspects, building on lists drawn up in the past year, remains secret. It will be entrusted to U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, upon expiry of its current mandate at the end of March, the report said.

Pillay, a former judge at the ICC, said on Saturday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should be probed for war crimes and called for immediate action by the international community, including possible military intervention.

"The evidence collected sits in the safe in the office of the High Commissioner against the day it might be referred to a court and evidence would be examined by a prosecutor," said a European diplomat.

The death toll in Syria is likely approaching 70,000 people, Pillay told the Security Council last week in a fresh appeal for it to refer Syria to the ICC, the Hague-based war crimes court.

Government forces have carried out shelling and aerial bombardment across Syria including Aleppo, Damascus, Deraa, Homs and Idlib, the independent U.N. investigators said, citing corroborating evidence gathered from satellite images.

"In some incidents, such as in the assault on Harak, indiscriminate shelling was followed by ground operations during which government forces perpetrated mass killing," it said, referring to a town in the southern province of Deraa where residents told them that 500 civilians were killed in August.

"SPREADING TERROR"

"Government forces and affiliated militias have committed extra-judicial executions, breaching international human rights law. This conduct also constitutes the war crime of murder. Where murder was committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population, with knowledge of that attack, it is a crime against humanity," the U.N. report said.

They have targeted queues at bakeries and funeral processions, in violence aimed at "spreading terror among the civilian population", it said.

"Syrian armed forces have implemented a strategy that uses shelling and sniper fire to kill, maim, wound and terrorize the civilian inhabitants of areas that have fallen under anti-government armed group control," the report said.

Government forces had used cluster bombs, it said, but it found no credible evidence of either side using chemical arms.

Rebel forces fighting to topple Assad in the protracted and increasingly sectarian conflict have committed war crimes include murder, torture, hostage-taking and using children under age 15 in hostilities, the U.N. report said.

"They continue to endanger the civilian population by positioning military objectives inside civilian areas," it said. Rebel snipers had caused "considerable civilian casualties".

"The violations and abuses committed by anti-government armed groups did not, however, reach the intensity and scale of those committed by government forces and affiliated militia."

Foreign fighters, many of them from Libya, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Iraq and Egypt, have radicalized the rebels and helped detonate deadly improvised explosive devices, it said.

The two other commissioners are former chief ICC prosecutor Carla del Ponte and Vitit Muntarbhorn of Thailand.

"It is an investigative mechanism and its evidence can be given to relevant judicial authorities when the time comes. In the interim, it is the one piece of U.N.-approved machinery shining a light on abuses," the European diplomat said.

Referring to del Ponte, who joined in September, the diplomat said: "She brings a harder-edged prosecutorial lens so when they are looking at the evidence she is very well placed to know what sort of evidence would assist a later judicial process."

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Alistair Lyon)

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The grave of Ben Zygier (R), the Australian whom local media have identified as the man who died in an Israeli prison in 2010 and who may have been recruited by Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, is pictured at a Jewish cemetery in Melbourne February 14, 2013.

CANBERRA | Mon Feb 18, 2013 6:17am EST

CANBERRA (Reuters) - A suspected Mossad agent who died in an Israeli jail in 2010 was arrested by his spymasters who believed he may have told Australian intelligence about his work with the Israeli spy agency, Australian media reported on Monday.

The Australian Broadcasting Corp said dual Australian-Israeli citizen Ben Zygier, 34, had met officers from Australia's domestic spy agency ASIO and had given details of a number of Mossad operations.

Quoting undefined sources, the ABC, which broke the initial story about Zygier's secret arrest and death in prison, said on one of his four trips to Australia, Zygier had also applied for a work visa to Italy.

But Mossad became concerned when it discovered Zygier had contact with the Australian spy agency, the ABC reported, adding it was worried he might pass on information about a major operation planned for Italy.

It said Zygier was one of three Australians who changed their names several times and took out new Australian passports for travel in the Middle East and Europe for their work with Mossad.

The closely guarded case has raised questions in Australia and Israel about the suspected use by Mossad of dual Australian-Israeli nationals.

Israeli lawmakers on Sunday announced plans to investigate Zygier's death, which a judge has ruled was suicide. Australia's Foreign Minister, Bob Carr, has initiated an inquiry into his department's handling of the case.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday sought to reduce media attention on the case and said he "absolutely trusts" Israel's security services and what he described as the independent legal monitoring system under which they operated.

Australia's Attorney-General, Mark Dreyfus, who is in charge of ASIO, on Monday said he would not comment on intelligence matters or suggestions ASIO had exposed Zygier's identity.

He also said he saw no need for a review of how the intelligence agencies handled the case.

"I haven't seen any need either, for any such review to take place within the Attorney General's Department," he told reporters.

(Reporting by James Grubel; Editing by Ron Popeski)

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An Iberia worker looks at a plane as he takes part in a march towards Madrid's Barajas airport February 18, 2013. Workers at loss-making Spanish flag carrier Iberia began a five-day strike at midnight on Monday, grounding over 1,000 flights and costing the airline and struggling national economy millions of euros.

MADRID | Mon Feb 18, 2013 6:46am EST

MADRID (Reuters) - Dozens of Iberia flights were canceled on Monday as workers at the loss-making Spanish flag carrier began a five-day strike over job cuts that is expected to cost the airline and struggling national economy millions of euros in lost business.

There was little sign of chaos on Monday morning in Barajas airport in Madrid, Iberia's hub, as the airline had already rescheduled most passengers on other flights or returned them their money.

Staff, including baggage handlers and air stewards, are holding the strikes in February and March to protest management plans to axe 3,807 jobs and cut salaries at the airline.

Workers kicked off the action with demonstrations at airports and plan a street protest in central Madrid on Wednesday evening.

Unionists began an 8 km-march (5 miles) around Barajas on Monday, telling reporters the airline was under threat, as was the future of the airport.

"Nobody is safe from being sacked," said Elias Gonzalez, a maintenance supervisor at the protest who has worked for Iberia for 27 years.

"There was an initial deal with the company when the merger with the British was agreed, but now there is disagreement."

In anticipation of the strike, Iberia had already canceled 415 flights between Monday and Friday, and as many as 1,200 flights operated by various airlines will be disrupted because of the lack of handling services at Spanish airports.

Domestic flights were the worst affected, with almost half grounded between Monday and Friday, Iberia said, while 10 percent of its lucrative, long-haul flights were canceled[ID:nL5N0BEAXS].

The February 18-22 strike, the first of three scheduled week-long stoppages, coincides with school holidays in Britain, Spain's biggest source of tourists.

Tourism accounts for around 11 percent of Spanish economic output and is one of the country's very few growth sectors in a prolonged recession that has pushed the unemployment rate above 26 percent.

Iberia, which merged with profitable British Airways in 2011 to form the International Airlines Group, reported a loss of 262 million euros ($349.78 million) in the first nine months of 2012.

SURVIVAL

The airline argues restructuring is vital to return the Spanish unit to profitability while unions say the IAG management is degrading pay and benefits in Spain through its low-cost airline Iberia Express.

Some 70,000 passengers will be affected during the Monday to Friday strike this week. About 86 percent have been given a different flights, including those operated by other airlines, while 14 percent had asked for refunds.

On Monday 37 flights due between 0800 and 1400 GMT (3 a.m. ET and 9 a.m. ET) were canceled at Madrid's Barajas airport, most of them Iberia flights but also three British Airways flights to London and a Luxair flight to Luxembourg.

Since the unions notified the strike two weeks ago and the transport ministry obliged them to offer a skeleton service under Spanish strike law, virtually no passengers were stranded at Spanish airports.

Iberia is just one of several companies in Spain, including Vodafone and bailed-out lender Bankia, to lay off workers.

It is fighting an uphill battle against low-cost operators, a depressed domestic economy and competitors that are in better shape after having already gone through restructuring processes.

Sabadell Bolsa analysts said the total 15 days of strikes could cost Iberia between 50 million euros and 100 million euros of losses. ($1 = 0.7490 euros)

(Additional reporting by Robert Hetz, writing by Clare Kane and Sarah Morris, Editing by Angus MacSwan)

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