THE electronics sector appears to be on the brink of a robust recovery, if the latest Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) is anything to go by.

The index, an early indicator of upcoming manufacturing demand, showed a surprisingly strong leap in the segment last month, signalling an impending turnaround in the industry.

PARIS - THE Air France jetliner that crashed in the Atlantic a month ago with 228 people on board did not break up in mid-air, the French bureau leading the investigation said on Thursday.

'The plane was not destroyed while in flight,' said Alain Bouillard from the BEA accident investigation agency, which released its first report on the June 1 disaster.

LONDON - BRITAIN'S health minister Andy Burnham says the country could have 100,000 new cases of swine flu every day by August.

Britain has officially reported 7,747 cases and three deaths, but officials acknowledge the real number of swine flu cases is far higher, since many cases are not identified.

WASHINGTON - US EMPLOYERS cut 467,000 jobs in June, far more than expected, while the unemployment rate rose to 9.5 percent, the government said on Thursday in a report that showed a labour market continuing to struggle with a deep recession.

The June job losses were more than 100,000 greater than the 363,000 consensus of Wall Street economists polled by Reuters and broke a four-month trend of moderation in job losses.