AAA towing flooded cars; other business briefs

LONG ISLAND

AAA towing flooded cars

Superstorm Sandy has temporarily altered a big part of AAA's job, from Lindenhurst to Staten Island, an area that experienced some of the worst of the storm's flooding. The nation's largest motorist organization has been towing "hundreds" of mostly flood-damaged cars that insurance companies will likely consider totaled, said spokesman Peter Crescenti, of the Garden City-based New York area office. "This has been a nonstop operation," he said Tuesday. "The numbers are just staggering." Normally, the service comes to the aid of drivers whose cars are temporarily disabled. But the storm has thrust it into recovery work. At the request of owners, AAA is towing the cars back to drivers' homes or to service stations or dealers. And many owners believe the cars can be repaired or will be drivable once they dry out. But insurers will likely consider them a loss, Crescenti said. "Most of these people will not get these cars back on the road," he said. -- CARRIE MASON-DRAFFEN

NEW YORK

News Corp. net income triples

News Corp. said Tuesday net income for the latest quarter tripled from a year ago, reflecting a one-time gain from the sale of its stake in digital video technology company NDS. Revenue rose 2 percent thanks to growth at pay-TV networks such as Fox News Channel. The company, controlled by CEO Rupert Murdoch, said fiscal first-quarter net income came to $2.23 billion, or 94 cents per share, compared with $738 million, or 28 cents per share, a year ago. The company said one-time charges related to the phone hacking scandal in Britain came to $67 million, up from $17 million a year earlier. Shares rose 72 cents, or 2.97 percent, to $25 in after-hours trading following the release of results.

NATION

Mixed picture on home prices

A measure of U.S. home prices jumped 5 percent in September compared with a year ago, the largest year-over-year increase since July 2006. The gain reported Tuesday by CoreLogic offered more evidence of a sustainable housing recovery. The real estate data provider also said prices declined 0.3 percent in September from August, the first drop after six straight increases. The monthly figures are not seasonally adjusted. CoreLogic says the monthly decline reflects the end of the summer home-buying season, which is usually slow, and not a softening in the housing recovery. Steady price increases should give the housing market more momentum when home sales pick up in the spring. Rising prices encourage more homeowners to sell their homes and entice would-be buyers to purchase homes before prices rise further.

Profitable Freddie quarter

Mortgage giant Freddie Mac posted net income of $2.9 billion for the July-September quarter, its second straight profitable quarter. The government-controlled company attributed the gain to rising home prices and fewer mortgage delinquencies. Freddie paid a dividend of $1.8 billion to the U.S. Treasury and requested no additional federal aid.

WORLD

Strike, protests in Greece

Greek trade unions launched a general strike and nationwide protests on Tuesday against a new package of austerity measures to be voted on this week that would mean more years of hardship for Greece in exchange for rescue loans. Flights to and from the country stopped for three hours at the start of a 48-hour strike that closed schools, halted train and ferry services and left Athens without public transport or taxis while state hospitals ran on emergency staff. More than 35,000 people marched in two separate demonstrations in Athens organized by labor unions. The demonstrations are expected to culminate Wednesday, when lawmakers vote on a $17.3-billion package of spending cuts and tax increases over the next two years. -- AP